This practical guide details the strategies that practitioners can use in their setting to build better outcomes for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disabilities. A clear rationale is outlined that highlights how many factors outside of the child′s control can be addressed to minimise the risk of longer term mental health problems and social exclusion. Case studies, points for practice and questions for reflection are used to explore the principles around working with children with a range of disabilities including: - ADHD - Dyslexia - Visual Impairment - Autism Written by an experienced teacher and educational psychologist, this text carefully considers the existing evidence base surrounding emotional well-being and positive psychology before outlining the practical implications for the classroom. This book will guide practitioners in implementing strategies to pro-actively promote emotional well-being for children with SEND in their settings. Dr. Gail Bailey is a Child Psychology Consultant based in West Wales.

Supporting the Emotional Well-being of Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities is an essential and practical resource for helping children with severe and complex learning difficulties, their classmates, their teachers and the schools that they attend. The highly adaptable materials, activities and ideas presented in this book will be useful both in the classroom and in staff training to promote understanding of emotional well-being and mental health of all pupils who may need support. Fox, Laverty and Chowdhury cover a range of topics that engage with the school as a whole, inclusive classrooms and the individual student. Their frameworks and practical suggestions aid teachers to support the well-being and mental health of students in a variety of ways, with material tailored for classrooms and the individual student. Supporting the Emotional Well-being of Children and Young People with Learning Disabilities is a comprehensive resource for teachers and management in special needs schools, recognising current government policies and helping teachers to understand and appropriately engage with students as individuals and as classes.

Written by an experienced team of practitioners and scholars, this text attempts to fill the gap in texts that specifically address the needs of Learning Disabilities (LD) students in the socioemotional and mental health domains. By providing a foundational understanding of some of the salient issues facing students with learning disabilities, we hope to empower all of those who are working to ensure their success by providing the particular challenges that LD students and their families may face, and strategies and best practices for building creativity, resiliency, prosocial behavior, and positive mental health. As a practitioner and family-oriented text, this book seeks to offer a truncated review of relevant literature followed by suggestions to guide practice.

The impact of finding out your child is disabled can be wide ranging. The author's experience as a psychologist and parent of a disabled child informs this book which focuses on what helps, and hinders, parent-carers' emotional wellbeing. Research shows that mental health, relationships, family life, access to work and leisure activities, as well as finances can all be affected. For many parents the focus of those around them is solely on the child and their own needs become neglected. The author re-focuses attention onto the wellbeing of the parent. This includes acknowledging emotions, connecting with positive others, empowering yourself, regularly engaging in self-care and finding your own sense of meaning and purpose in life. Identifying the myriad of different emotions parents may experience as an understandable reaction to an unexpected situation the book includes quotes from parent carers. Connecting to psychological theories, such as positive re-framing and post-traumatic growth, the book applies these in practical ways to the parent-carer experience. She acknowledges that the journey is neither linear nor simple and transitions such as secondary school, puberty and adulthood require further periods of adjustment. Parents rarely get the time or support to stop and reflect on how they are feeling as they are caught up in the day to day busyness of caring. The difficulty is exacerbated by limited resources and battling for services.

Decades of research have demonstrated that the parent-child dyad and the environment of the familyâ€"which includes all primary caregiversâ€"are at the foundation of children's well- being and healthy development. From birth, children are learning and rely on parents and the other caregivers in their lives to protect and care for them. The impact of parents may never be greater than during the earliest years of life, when a child's brain is rapidly developing and when nearly all of her or his experiences are created and shaped by parents and the family environment. Parents help children build and refine their knowledge and skills, charting a trajectory for their health and well-being during childhood and beyond. The experience of parenting also impacts parents themselves. For instance, parenting can enrich and give focus to parents' lives; generate stress or calm; and create any number of emotions, including feelings of happiness, sadness, fulfillment, and anger. Parenting of young children today takes place in the context of significant ongoing developments. These include: a rapidly growing body of science on early childhood, increases in funding for programs and services for families, changing demographics of the U.S. population, and greater diversity of family structure. Additionally, parenting is increasingly being shaped by technology and increased access to information about parenting. Parenting Matters identifies parenting knowledge, attitudes, and practices associated with positive developmental outcomes in children ages 0-8; universal/preventive and targeted strategies used in a variety of settings that have been effective with parents of young children and that support the identified knowledge, attitudes, and practices; and barriers to and facilitators for parents' use of practices that lead to healthy child outcomes as well as their participation in effective programs and services. This report makes recommendations directed at an array of stakeholders, for promoting the wide-scale adoption of effective programs and services for parents and on areas that warrant further research to inform policy and practice. It is meant to serve as a roadmap for the future of parenting policy, research, and practice in the United States.

Using a developmental perspective, the authors offer a new, integrated model for supporting people with intellectual disability (ID). This concept builds upon recent advances in attachment informed approaches, by drawing upon a broader understanding of the social, emotional, and cognitive competencies of people with ID, which is grounded in developmental neuroscience and psychology. The book explores in detail how challenging behaviour and mental health difficulties in people with ID arise when their basic emotional needs are not being met by those in theenvironment. Using individually tailored interventions, which complement existing models of care, practitioners can help to facilitate maturational processes and reduce behaviour that is challenging to others. As a result, the "fit" of a person within his or her individual environment can be improved. Case examples throughout the book illuminate how this approach works by targeting interventions towards the person's stage of emotional development.This book will be of interest to a wide range of professionals working with people with ID, including: clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, learning disability nurses, speech and language therapists, and teachers in special education settings, as well as parents and caregivers.

Healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral (MEB) development is a critical foundation for a productive adulthood. Much is known about strategies to support families and communities in strengthening the MEB development of children and youth, by promoting healthy development and also by preventing and mitigating disorder, so that young people reach adulthood ready to thrive and contribute to society. Over the last decade, a growing body of research has significantly strengthened understanding of healthy MEB development and the factors that influence it, as well as how it can be fostered. Yet, the United States has not taken full advantage of this growing knowledge base. Ten years later, the nation still is not effectively mitigating risks for poor MEB health outcomes; these risks remain prevalent, and available data show no significant reductions in their prevalence. Fostering Healthy Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Development in Children and Youth: A National Agenda examines the gap between current research and achievable national goals for the next ten years. This report identifies the complexities of childhood influences and highlights the need for a tailored approach when implementing new policies and practices. This report provides a framework for a cohesive, multidisciplinary national approach to improving MEB health.