Robinson is changing….

1. Robinson is changing…. Inside & Out!

2. Norms • 1. Promoting a Spirit of Inquiry • 2. Pausing  responding vs. reacting • 3. Paraphrasing • 4. Probing • 5. Putting ideas on the table • 6. Paying attention to self and others • 7. Presuming positive intentions • 8. It’s going to be messy.

3. So, what’s changing? • 30 % non-white • 25% Free and Reduced lunch • A new level of transiency • Students with IEP’s • Mental health issues used to be seen more in secondary, rarely at elementary. • Children are entering Kindergarten already diagnosed with mental illness.

6. A mental illness can be defined as a health condition that changes a person’s thinking, feelings, or behavior (or all three) and that causes the person distress and difficulty in functioning.

7. Many kinds of mental illness present at 803 Couch • Depression * • Schizophrenia * • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) * • Autism * • Obsessive-compulsive disorder * • Anxiety disorders * • Eating disorders • Bi-Polar *

8. Scientists estimate that one of every four people is affected by mental illness either directly or indirectly.

9. One in five people will suffer a severe mental illness at some point in his or her life. On average, one in five children in classrooms nationwide are likely living with someone who has a mental illness. • Mental illness is second only to heart disease as the leading cause of disability in this country and worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Harvard University. • Four of the top ten causes of lifetime disability are severe mental illnesses, including depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. The leading cause of lifetime disability is depression. • Twelve percent of children and adolescents have a diagnosable mental illness requiring treatment. Of those needing treatment, less Adolescents who may be experiencing a mental illness often turn to drugs and alcohol to self medicate, finding it more socially acceptable than going for treatment. • Half of the people who develop a mental illness show symptoms before the age of 14.

10. You cannot snap out of mental illness. • Mental illnesses are biological-based brain disorders. They cannot be overcome by will power and are not related to a person’s character or intelligence.

11. “There is a particular kind of pain, elation, loneliness, and terror involved in this kind of madness. When you're high it's tremendous. The ideas and feelings are fast and frequent like shooting stars, and you follow them until you find better and brighter ones. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to captivate others a felt certainty…. But, somewhere, this changes. The fast ideas are far too fast, and there are far too many; overwhelming confusion replaces clarity. Memory goes. Humor and absorption on friends' faces are replaced by fear and concern. Everything previously moving with the grain is now against-- you are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of the mind.” Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness

12. How do we respond?

13. We are catching up… • Plans are made • Behavior plans are on the Share Drive • Plans change regularly as we learn more about a student. Please follow the lead of the person responsible for a student. • Behavior team is growing • Transitions for 2012-2013 began in February • Staff education

14. What doesn’t help anyone… • Gossip • Questioning a decision made by the team, unless you bring it to the team or join the team. • Questioning a student’s placement at Robinson. We are their home school.

15. On gossip and questioning process… • “We take it personally because we pour our thoughts, hearts and actions into serving. When we find ourselves ill-equipped to have an effect, walls go up, we shut down.” • “Getting out of shutting down takes a willingness to revisit…and someone else's flame needs to relight mine.” • Robinson Teacher

16. Now that we know…. • We need to roll with it • Have ongoing conversations to adapt to kids • Support the teachers that are support the students and handling all issues. Follow their lead. • Stay positive • Respect the plan that is in place and the teachers that are working on the plan • Hear celebrations • Keep positive intent • Have compassion for ALL kids (and teachers) • Articulate the SPED process • Understand that the adult with the students struggling try to move them to a place that is least impacting other students, but sometimes they won't move. • We will increase email communication about need to know items about kids. Please exercise extreme confidentiality.

17. Celebrations…