Mental health conditions that challenge class attentiveness
I had one student who would always be trying to read paperbacks in class. His excuse was Aspergers syndrom and this was how he learned. I explained that in the field he chose, he would be attending meetings where his focus needed to be on the meeting and not on a paperback text. Especially since some of his meetings might also include clients or family members. Reading a paperback could be viewed as being very non-committed to the client or uninvolved with the care of the client, just to name one problem it could cause. We decided together that he would need to be able to listen in a meeting and that he would practice this in class and we wrote up a contract that covered his behavior not only in my class, but in all classes he was attending. His behavior improved dramatically, but not without some setbacks, but we all (all of his instructors) enforced his contract and reinforced the student. He did sucessfyully complete his course of study and graduate.
I'm a psychologist and teach psych. classes at a local college. This past semester I had a student with a documented history of Schizophrenia and PTSD. It was a real challenge but by the end of the semester he turned out to be one of my best students in spite of clear set backs during the semester. The bottom line with any kids/students suffering from mental health conditions is to talk, talk, talk and see how you as the educator can make the learning environment better for him/her. Often times teachers shy away from talking to students with disabilities because they fear the fear of not knowing what to say or do. I think there should be more education provided in this area for our teachers in primary, secondary and post-secondary setings.
I have several students with documented bipolar disorder. These students are a particular challenge as one day they are excellent students, and the next day they have nothing but complaints. Often with these students, it is best to have discussions with them on their "down" days. Most of my bipolar students are aware of their situation, but just need the incidences to be pointed out. They can often bring down the morale of the entire class.
