International Journal of Emergency Mental Health and Human Resilience
Open Access

Abstract

Purpose: The aim of this workshop is to focus on how teachers can peel the educational onion to convey essential tools to students who exhibit complex scholastic experiences. Our educational canvas is painted with student diversity and varied learning styles. In addition, mental health vulnerabilities and their impact on the learning process only add intricacy to the teaching domain. As a special need’s educator working with students presenting enmeshed educational/emotional portraits and have observed general instructive strategies often fall short in “success for all” for student reading proficiency.

Method: The instructional tools utilized within a psychiatric unit’s therapeutic classroom, consists of merging research findings and interventions for students with reading disabilities and psychiatric vulnerabilities. Strategies designed to engage, motivate, and challenge students who demonstrate anxiety, depression, helplessness, or negative behavioral manifestations when faced with the realities of their reading/learning difficulties, will be shared.

Conclusion: Although results consist of observations in the field, they demonstrated that presented interventions are helpful and make a difference in reading proficiency for students with emneshed educational and emotional profiles.

Biography

Moira Laura Eva Dechef is working within a large multi-disciplinary team, composed of psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, and teachers, on a variety of different cases regarding evaluation, creation of treatment plans, carrying out of treatment plans, in addition to treatment plan modification. She is serving as a liaison between various elementary schools, school boards, and parents to ensure students/clients are attending an educational environment best suited to their needs, as well as suggesting/facilitating changes on a case-by-case basis. She is providing individualized instruction for students with diagnosed psychiatric disorders, behaviour disorders, and severe learning disabilities; application of behavioural and cognitive behaviour therapy techniques to modify student behaviours within the classroom setting; teaching and application of social skills, to strengthen student social interactions and; production of progress reports, discharge summaries, and IEPs included in hospital psychiatric chart.

E-mail: eva.decheftweddle@mail.mcgill.ca