It is only in the last few decades that mental health has become a stronger focus for school districts and those who work with school-aged children. Even with all the research and data available to us in the 21st century that indicates the need for behavioral health interventions, there is still a long way to go.
Years ago, a common response to students with social-emotional and behavioral challenges was to refer them to special education programs. The main issues? Screening practices were not in place to help school officials identify mental health issues, and there was a serious lack of intervention programs to aid the staff with actionable steps.
3 Phases of Prevention
There are essentially three main categories of screening and prevention that schools can implement to improve student outcomes. The current status of these categories varies depending on what district you are analyzing and the steps they have taken to invest in better outcomes for students.
Phase 1: Vision, Hearing, and Speech
Most schools have screening practices in place to detect if students have a visual impairment, hearing loss, or speech challenges. Additionally, supportive measures are typically in place across the country to care for students who are facing these obstacles, such as intense speech therapy or classroom accommodations for visual impairment and hearing loss.
Phase 2: Literacy
The next stage of prevention is literacy. While many school districts have detailed procedures for helping students with dyslexia, reading delays, or other literacy challenges, there are still plenty of gaps to fill, especially within districts that lack funding. The use of data and tiered models for intervention has improved the landscape for students struggling with literacy, but there is room for improvement as progress is still being made.
Phase 3: Mental Health
The final phase is where we see the most significant lack of progress. Schools are slowly coming around to the idea that intervention is needed at all ages for detecting and supporting students with behavioral struggles. This is a major reason for the genesis of the BIMAS-2 system. With the right tools available to districts, they can effectively create an intervention plan that can improve outcomes for students in all categories, from early detection to curriculum learning to individual intervention. A universal screener is an essential tool that can form the foundation of better social-emotional learning programs that promote student mental health.
Learn More About the BIMAS-2 System
Is your district struggling to sufficiently care for students and support their mental health needs? The BIMAS-2 assessment system was designed to equip administrators and fill in the social-emotional learning gaps that allow students to slip through the cracks. Learn more about the BIMAS-2 to see how it can make a positive difference in the lives of children.