Oh dear Lord
May. 29th, 2013 02:02 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
charisstomaMental Health Training May Soon Be Required For Texas Teachers
http://news92fm.com/355593/texas-teachers-may-soon-get-mental-health-training/
Supporters of a bill that would require Texas teachers to be trained to recognize signs of mental health problems in their students say this law could save children’s lives. The legislation has cleared both houses of the Texas Legislature, and is awaiting Governor Perry’s signature.
If the Governor signs the bill, teachers would get training that might help them detect when a student is at risk for suicide, or is suffering from other emotional or mental health issues. This would allow teachers to reach out to students and their parents if they grow concerned that a student is exhibiting signs of deteriorating mental or emotional health.
Mental health training would become a requirement for a teacher to become certified in Texas.
Andrea Usanga is the Director of Policy and Government Relations for Mental Health America of Greater Houston. She’s among the mental health advocates who helped craft the bill, and she does believe it will save lives. She says teachers have the kind of access to students that might allow them — if they are properly trained – to recognize when something is going wrong with a child, behaviorally or emotionally. Usanga thinks this will lead to earlier interventions that could save children from unnecessary suffering or even suicide.
Opponents of the proposal argue it could cause teachers to intervene in private family matters, and it could lead to excessive use of medication. Usanga calls those arguments, “Bogus.” She says teachers could only go as far as informing parents of their concerns. Parents would take it from there. It would then be a parent’s choice whether to pursue further assessment of their child’s mental health. It would be between a parent and their child’s doctor to decide whether medication is an appropriate treatment. Usanga says training teachers to detect potential mental health problems would not “open up the floodgates” for the use of psychotropic (medication) in children.
The bill was authored by Texas Senator Bob Deuell (Greenville-R), and he has said about a million students in Texas suffer from illnesses and addictions that contribute to failing grades, misbehavior, crime and sometimes suicide. He also has said an understanding of mental health issues will help teachers manage their classrooms.
Houston Representative Garnet Colemen (D) was the House sponsor of this bill.
http://news92fm.com/355593/texas-teachers-may-soon-get-mental-health-training/
Supporters of a bill that would require Texas teachers to be trained to recognize signs of mental health problems in their students say this law could save children’s lives. The legislation has cleared both houses of the Texas Legislature, and is awaiting Governor Perry’s signature.
If the Governor signs the bill, teachers would get training that might help them detect when a student is at risk for suicide, or is suffering from other emotional or mental health issues. This would allow teachers to reach out to students and their parents if they grow concerned that a student is exhibiting signs of deteriorating mental or emotional health.
Mental health training would become a requirement for a teacher to become certified in Texas.
Andrea Usanga is the Director of Policy and Government Relations for Mental Health America of Greater Houston. She’s among the mental health advocates who helped craft the bill, and she does believe it will save lives. She says teachers have the kind of access to students that might allow them — if they are properly trained – to recognize when something is going wrong with a child, behaviorally or emotionally. Usanga thinks this will lead to earlier interventions that could save children from unnecessary suffering or even suicide.
Opponents of the proposal argue it could cause teachers to intervene in private family matters, and it could lead to excessive use of medication. Usanga calls those arguments, “Bogus.” She says teachers could only go as far as informing parents of their concerns. Parents would take it from there. It would then be a parent’s choice whether to pursue further assessment of their child’s mental health. It would be between a parent and their child’s doctor to decide whether medication is an appropriate treatment. Usanga says training teachers to detect potential mental health problems would not “open up the floodgates” for the use of psychotropic (medication) in children.
The bill was authored by Texas Senator Bob Deuell (Greenville-R), and he has said about a million students in Texas suffer from illnesses and addictions that contribute to failing grades, misbehavior, crime and sometimes suicide. He also has said an understanding of mental health issues will help teachers manage their classrooms.
Houston Representative Garnet Colemen (D) was the House sponsor of this bill.
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no subject
Date: 2013-05-30 02:31 am (UTC)If the opponents of the bill are worried about over-medication, perhaps they should push for more investment in talking therapies and other alternate means for addressing mental health?
no subject
Date: 2013-05-30 08:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-30 10:24 pm (UTC)Yes, maybe. But in some schools when would the teacher teach for all the paperwork they have to do outside of instructional time? Sending a student to the nurse for a papercut requires a standardized form. Misbehavior requires a standardized form that then you have to document the various ways you've dealt with it in various steps if the behavior persists and you document what the parent then said.
You can't fail a student without going through a similar step program and some of those steps is trying to get in touch with the parent by phone, e-mail and in person.
I'm probably saying all this wrong. I only get to see little bits because teachers can't talk about most of the stuff they have to do.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-01 02:11 pm (UTC)So it's not the idea that teachers see things and could maybe help there...it's the way it will probably be implemented to prevent lawsuits and make clear (in administrative ways) what the teacher has done for the student. *sigh* Yeah, I can see where this would lead to overburdened teachers *nods*
At least, that's what I think you mean. Did I get it right?
no subject
Date: 2013-06-01 05:52 pm (UTC)You said this much better than I did. Thank you.
I know that one teacher has tried to report something but there was no action taken. So it's not that teachers don't do what the law is trying to put in place. It's that there wasn't any follow up from people above. The additional paperwork will be further busy work for the teachers. Multiple all that with 7 - 8 class periods and classes that can be 30+ some of which are "problem children" even without the 11 to 14 age grouping at one of my schools.
The other school with the international students ... the district won't let them do the mental learning disabilities tagging because the district wants to blame it on language difficulties. Many of those kids are coming from refugee camps in Africa or Asia.
I think the psychologist that diagnosised Krag's Asperger's Syndrome is probably gone now, whether due to budget cuts made necessary by the cuts done on the state level which trickled down to the district level or because even 18 years ago, the paperwork was interfering with her being able to do the actual work with the students.
*sighs* ends ranting.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-02 04:52 pm (UTC)It's not that the teachers don't see....it's the follow up...the support system (for students and teachers) needs to be in place and work! *sigh*
*hugs*
no subject
Date: 2013-06-02 05:47 pm (UTC)I whine alot. *sighs* This is life, me whining *grins* and what I whine about.
no subject
Date: 2013-06-02 06:30 pm (UTC)Hey, life is not fun sometimes, and then it's allowed to whine about it *nods*
And what you whine about here...it's quite aggravating this. Especially since it COULD be quite good, but you see it from five miles away that they are just going to require without providing the means (money and people)!