Lesson 15: Mental Health The emotional well-being of young children is directly tied to the emotional functioning of their caregivers and the families in which they live. ~National Scientific Council on the Developing Child Learning Outcomes Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:
Teaching
Early Childhood Mental Health – quality of the emotional, behavioral, and social development in the early childhood years
By age 3, more than half of the children in the US have had an adverse event, one-third have had more than one adverse event. An adverse event is an instance of something having a negative impact on mental well-being. Mental stress can impact the ability to learn, plan, remember, and react. Stress responses might be enhanced or diminished and can change the way the nervous, immune, and hormone system react. Children can develop sleep and eating issues, physical ailments (stomach upset, headaches), and behavioral issues. Emotional and behavioral issues can impede normal development. Anxiety disorders and disruptive behaviors are most common. According to the National Health Institute (reference below) - Mental health conditions and disorders don't only affect adults. Children and teens can experience mental health problems too. In fact, research has now shown that most mental disorders follow a developmental course that typically starts early in life. This is true not only of conditions such as autism and ADHD, which are well known for having onset in childhood, but also for mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders. So, many people who suffer from depression, social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia showed signs before they were 24 years old. Like adults, children and teens can sometimes experience intense emotions as they get older or go through stressful or traumatic events in their lives. For example, it is common for children to feel anxious about school or friendships, or for teens to have short periods of depression after a death in the family. Mental disorders are different. They can cause ongoing, severe symptoms that affect how a child feels, thinks, acts, and handles daily activities, such as going to school, sleeping, or eating. It is important to know the signs and seek help if needed. Retrieved from the Mental Health Institute website at Self-care Because the work we do can be exhausting, early childhood educators must also remember to take care of themselves. Burnout is a very real problem in the field. Educators put in long days and sometimes feel like they can never do enough. Some signs of burnout are exhaustion, negativity, anxiety, feeling overwhelmed, loss of creativity, and isolating self. It is important to be able to recognize and acknowledge burn out in self and co-workers. Some things you can do to combat burnout:
To learn more about stress reducing strategies, read: How to Reduce Stress and Beat Burnout
Assessment Lesson 15 Assignment
Lesson 15 Discussion B
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