We are all feeling stress right now and with the prospect of a months-long lock down due to the coronavirus, we’re going to have to manage that stress. There are many resources to help you come up with a plan that is best for you and your family. SEL4Newton has a page filled with links that can be very helpful. https://sel4newton.org/covid-19-sel-mental-health/
The stress we feel is toxic and continual. It harms your health, drives down the body’s immune system and can lead to depression. Stress can be caused when you feel you have no control and the future is unpredictable, which clearly is our predicament. Children, who long for stability and consistency, will especially feel the mental strain.
Before Covid-19, the American Psychological Association (APA), which periodically surveys for stress in the American public, says that since 2013, teens have reported higher levels of stress than adults. In the 2018 APA survey, teens reported worse mental health and higher levels of anxiety and depression than all other age groups. https://www.developmentalscience.com/blog/2019/5/7/our-teens-are-more-stressed-than-ever
Right here in Newton, you only have to look at the Health and Human Services Department Youth Risk Behavior Survey to see the stress level in our children in middle and high school. http://www.newtonma.gov/civicax/filebank/documents/97603 There are no way of knowing what effect this has on elementary school children, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that this pandemic is and will continue to cause emotional harm. Balancing what information you are giving your children with calmness and assurance will go along to helping to mitigate their stress levels.
As I’ve written in this space before, in a population of 4000 high school students, each year 80 will attempt suicide, 400 will purposefully harm themselves and 800 report being clinically depressed. https://village14.com/2019/11/17/at-stake-the-emotional-well-being-of-our-children/#axzz6Hy6TlCLh),
This past October, to combat these disturbing and stubborn figures, I asked for us to change our mindset by talking openly about emotional well-being. Now, more than ever, bringing out into the public the emotional component that this pandemic is causing is essential to our coming through this crisis with the least amount of scarring. Just like the pandemic, mitigating the emotional damage now is an important factor in determining the severity.
Post Covid-19, we should be expecting a wave of emotional trauma and post traumatic stress disorders in ourselves and, more importantly, in our children.
Dr. Yuval Neria, a specialist in PTSD at New York t State Psychiatric Institute and a professor of psychology at Columbia University Medical Center, says, “The scale of this outbreak as a traumatic event is almost beyond comprehension.”
Dr. Elena Newman, Professor of Psychology at University of Tulsa says that there is research on how humans cope with quarantine, mass disasters and ongoing stressors but not all three. “This is a mass community disaster…” with “a fear component… ongoing fear.”
Closer to home, Dr. Scott L. Rauch, President and Psychiatrist in Chief at McLean’s Hospital recently said, “We are mindful of the mental health toll that will accompany this global health crisis, and we anticipate seeing increased need for our services in the weeks and months ahead.”
In a small sample, “Chinese citizens showed acute posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) during the outbreak of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, according to study results published in medRxiv.” https://www.psychiatryadvisor.com/home/topics/anxiety/ptsd-trauma-and-stressor-related/in-china-covid-19-outbreak-leads-to-posttraumatic-stress-symptoms/
Our school budget for 2020-2021 should include a large influx of student support services. Currently, there is no planning for this in the proposed budget that is going through the last steps of confirmation. I urge for us to plan for what is surely going to come. I fear that the Youth Risk Behavior Survey figures will only increase as the impact of Covid-19 will last longer than the virus itself.
A failure to plan for these needs now will put our children in peril – again.
. — Mitch Lyons, President of the Social-Emotional Learning Alliance for Massachusetts and coordinator for SEL4Newton
Hear, hear!
As a benefit for student educational as well as psychological/emotional needs, a number of private schools around the country are proceeding with online teaching/learning, at least in the interim.
I would propose that the City of Newton ask the Teachers Unions to allow the Newton Public Schools to proceed wherever practical with similar online teaching/learning.
This is a very important post. We are all emotionally drained trying to keep our families and ourselves safe. We have no idea what the world will become after this pandemic is over. The post epidemic trauma will be overwhelming. The longer we stay home the more traumatic our existence becomes. We definitely need to be prepared to help our children deal with the aftermath.
I know successful parents who are struggling with how to approach this with their children and how to deal with their reactions. Some kids are afraid their grandparents are going to die. Some are depressed because they cannot be with their peers or they’re missing the end of senior year – supposedly the most fun thing about high school. Kids in some towns and cities are having structure maintained by regular zoom classrooms with their teachers but others are just left to their own devices and see chaos all around them.
@Jim Epstein – NPS is starting on-line learning, system wide on Monday
I’m very concerned about the mental health of students and teachers. I can’t imagine the pressure to do all their work at home.
My neighbor has three kids in the NPS system. God bless her she is home schooling them right now. She has a daily routine which I believe has helped with the adjustment. Saw kids doing a scavenger hunt the other day. She is very creative.
On a side note Apparently NPS doesn’t allow for the words ‘online learning’ to be referenced by teachers. What??? Are the kids doing their work offline then mailing to teachers…i don’t think so.
Jerry or Greg can you get an answer from the union president Zillow if online learning is happening.
@FredZ Knowles -I think that’s just a terminology choice. They call the program “distance learning” rather than “on-line learning”. Here are the details of the plan.
Thanks @jerry
are all staff getting full pay? Teachers, assistants, admins, staff, custodians, etc?
NPS is directing distance learning, not NTA.
So everyone is still on the payroll @jane ? If so explain to me what everyone does minus the teachers?
Fred Knowles, the NPS is finally ready to continue with the students’ education and to give them the structure they need – which is terrific! It’s been a hassle to get this up and running in a city this size when the system didn’t already have one-to-one laptops that students can take back and forth between school and home. This plan includes special needs students with IEP’s and 504’s (medical). I think most people on the NPS payroll are doing there part.
I’m also sure that with the health crisis we are in and people going berserk having to either stay at home, go to work in hospitals and other essential jobs without proper equipment or join the millions who have lost their jobs – not to mention those sick or dying – no one needs to read derogatory comments insinuating that NPS (or erroneously the NTA) are conspiratorially and behind the scenes paying workers they shouldn’t be. Find another axe to grind preferably somewhere else.
Fred Knowles – Did you read the plan? (link above) The teachers will be working remotely with the students starting Monday across the system. Like many of us they’ll all be doing their job as best they can without physical contact.
This week,though the formal program had not yet started, my high school daughter had already been in contact with her teachers and attended an on-line class meeting. As for the administrators, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in their shoes. Over just a few weeks they are tasked with completely revamping all the school’s operation to an on-line model.
How well will this all work? We won’t know for a while. I for one am very pleased to see the school department get up and running on this program and am anxious to see how well it goes.
Aside from the educational benefits themselves, I think there is also a huge non-educational benefit to the kids getting back into a daily routine, with regular assignments, and regular connections with their classmates and teachers. It just helps restore a bit of normalcy amidst this decidedly not-normal situation. There’s an extra bonus for parents, especially of younger children, who are working from their home and trying to juggle all of this craziness.
I think the Distance Learning Plan, developed by NPS and sent to families Thursday evening, is perhaps the biggest leap in educational philosophy we will see in a long time. We basically took some of the best educators in the world and sat them down with blank paper. This is what that came up with.
It does a stellar job at keeping equity, maintaining trusted relationships with teachers, providing continued support for special needs students, balancing the needs for the social emotional toll this is taking, providing faculty with realistic goals that are fair and educating our students in a way is accessible and inspired.
As I recently said to the School Committee Members, it must be overwhelming for NPS to try to re-invent the wheel while driving the car. I applaud them for their hard work in trying to make a new system work. I’m sure there will be modifications as they learn what works and what doesn’t. I hope that everyone can see people are doing the best they can and show respect and patience – two SEL skills by the way.
Some notes I took of what I learned at the CASEL SEL at Home Webinar that was held yesterday afternoon:
Suggestions:
Give children power to make choices at home wherever possible.
Let them make mistakes without correcting by asking questions instead of making judgments, e.g. “How did you think that worked out”
Your attitude matters – be excited about learning at home. Be a positive coach! Articulate Positivity
Conduce a Feelings Check-in several times a day! A simple question: How are you feeling? Encourage honesty. Normalize emotions. For instance, who is not anxious today?
As a routine, notice feelings (name it, express it) Develop coping skills – don’t bury feelings but discuss them. Discuss coping strategies. Repeat or reframe what your child says so they know you hear them.
Create a safe space in your home where you or they can be alone, even if it’s just a corner of a room.
Some coping strategies:
Deep breathing (big intake and then slow exhale makes calming physical changes in your body), or having hot chocolate, drawing, writing, blowing bubbles, taking a bath, wiggle your finger and toes.
@marty so your saying you think this online public schooling is really going to work? Some teachers have no clue with tech. Some teachers are my age 60+ and teach old school pen and paper. I know bc my cousin did it up until last year. She was lucky and retired last June from Needham with 80 percent pension. Life is good for her.
Any hoot, Your kids must be out of The NPS system bc anyone with kids knows this will be a disaster. My neighbor agreed with me yesterday and said her friends feel the same way. However, if you are right next year parents should have option of online school paid for by city or in school instruction. Only fair right?
In the meantime, I’m glad my grandkids are in private school. Smaller class sizes, intelligent instructors, and an online platform already in place. The other day we Skyped and they were building an App in their programming class. Amazing!
Finally, is anyone going to the block party in the Highlands tomorrow? I’m a bit reluctant but might take a walk by.
@Fred: Articulate Positivity
Words matter. Do we think it’s going to work? Well we think that those responsible will try their best to make it work. And they will adjust when it doesn’t.
I hope your grandchildren are learning in private school that attitude matters. Negativity, doubting everything, lacking trust, having no empathy for others facing a difficult task are self-fulfilling. I hope if you comment on the brief article I wrote again, you’ll try in earnest to be hopeful, positive, encouraging, and supportive.