Family Resources

In my self guided search for information about different Emotional Issues found in children I came across a website for The National Association of Parents with Children in Special Education (NAPCSE). It has a lot of good resources such as books and publications for families. While browsing the site I came across this information: Children with the most serious emotional disturbances may exhibit distorted thinking, excessive anxiety, bizarre motor acts, and abnormal mood swings. Some are identified as children who have a severe psychosis or schizophrenia.

This statement made me think of one of my placements. Within the building that I was placed there were a high number of students diagnosed with "Anxiety" some of which had visible symptoms and others in which many staff members questioned. I can remember the principal saying at one staff meeting that he couldn't believe the number of students with anxiety, and how he thought that it was crazy. When he was younger there was no such thing: young children with anxiety.

It just so happened that I had a young boy with anxiety in my classroom. He was a perfect student with perfect grades (3rd grade). If you were to come in the classroom at any given time, you would not see any sort of "out break". His anxiety had to do with food. He would not eat at school (at all). I can remember thinking, he has to be hungry he hasn't ate anything all day and each day his parents would pack his lunch. The point to sharing this story is some disorders aren't what you think they would be, some go unnoticed unless you really know the child.

Below is a link to the NAPCSE site, I think this is a great resource for anyone interested in learning more about Special Education and Emotional Disturbances.

http://www.napcse.org/exceptionalchildren/emotionaldisturbance/