Mental Health
Supporting educators to confidently diagnose and treat students’ mental health conditions
Academic excellence is no longer the “be all and end all” for educators in the Asia Pacific region. Students' emotional and social wellbeing is increasingly prioritised in schools, colleges, and other institutions. And with sufficient support, educators can be one of the first lines of defence in identifying mental health challenges in young people.
Research reveals a troubling trend: across the Asia Pacific region, students grappling with academic stress, anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g. learning disabilities) can often drift into disengagement and academic underperformance, leading to elevated school dropout rates.
“There are two inter-related sides to this problem: mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders,” says Kate Crosher, an educational and developmental psychologist based in Melbourne, Australia. “Mental health issues are obviously going to impact on learning, and vice versa.”
The problem is far-reaching. A 2018 World Health Organization report revealed that as many as 20% of adolescents face mental health conditions, with half of all cases emerging by the age of 14 – yet most remain unidentified and untreated.
Across Asia Pacific, schools have witnessed an alarming decline in student health and wellbeing, only adding to the pressures that teachers and other educators face:
- Anxiety, depression, and conduct disorders have emerged as leading mental health concerns among Australia’s youth, with a 2019 study revealing 1 in 7 young people aged 4 to 17 suffer from a mental disorder and 1 in 6 adolescents experience troubling levels of loneliness.1
- In Singapore, a 2017 report showed that mental illness was the largest contributor to years lost to disease among people aged 10 to 34, and the second largest contributor across all age groups. Even more alarmingly, suicide is the leading cause of death for Singaporeans aged 10 to 29.2
Kate says the urgency surrounding students' mental wellbeing has prompted education institutions to re-evaluate their approaches, yet many educators lack the time, tools and training to identify and support at-risk students.
“Educators are very busy, with competing priorities, and many lack the training or skills to help prevent or alleviate mental health issues. But with the right support, knowledge and resources, educators can be part of a combined effort to address mental health issues and retention rates in schools,” says Kate, who is Director of AEDPA, a member organisation for educational and developmental psychologists.
“Keeping kids in high school reduces a number of risks, including developing serious mental health challenges, falling into the juvenile justice system, or ending up in poverty. While student retention doesn't prevent these altogether, it does reduce the risks.”
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Tools and assessments to gauge students’ progress
There are a range of psychological assessments available to health professionals and/or educators, which can be transformative for at-risk students.
Kate, an experienced psychologist with over two decades’ experience in child, family, and school interventions, says having objective assessment data to supplement subjective observations is key to gaining a full picture of a student’s strengths and weaknesses.
“Psychological assessments either validate or challenge our observations, so that we can develop a recommendation on how best so support each young person,” Kate explains.
In terms of which assessments to use, Kate says she often begins with the Wechsler Scale to measure a student’s intellectual ability. She then supplements this with other tests, such as the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test (WIAT-III) to measure listening, speaking, reading, writing, and maths skills; and the Wide Range Assessment of Memory and Learning (WRAML3).
She also commonly uses the Behaviour Assessment System for Children (BASC-3) for students with behavioural issues, and the Brown test for young people presenting with symptoms of ADHD.
Kate accesses these assessments from the Pearson Clinical Assessments platform, which allows her to share results of individual tests directly with families and other professionals as needed.
“I love the fact that I can put the email address in for a client and I can send the test straight out to them. And then I get an email back saying your test has been completed and all the data is there. I don't have to do any scoring anymore. It's there ready to go, which is very convenient,” she says.
Kate emphasises that standardised assessments are particularly valuable for identifying learning difficulties.
“Part of the diagnostic criteria for learning difficulties is to be able to show a response to intervention. And the only way to track a response to intervention is to have pre- and post-data. So you need to test a student before the intervention, and then you need to test them during/afterwards to see if there's been any progress. And the assessments provide the perfect way to do that,” she says.
The beauty of these tests, Kate adds, is that they don’t all need to be performed by a psychologist. Some assessment tools in the Pearson battery are appropriate for a teacher to conduct.
Keeping kids in high school reduces a number of risks, including developing serious mental health challenges, falling into the juvenile justice system, or ending up in poverty. While student retention doesn't prevent these altogether, it does reduce the risks.
- Kate Crosher, Educational and Developmental Psychologist
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Practical tips to maximise the benefits of assessments
In her work, Kate supervises many early career psychologists, guiding them as they use both standardised assessments (like the Wechsler Scale) and questionnaires.
One common mistake when using standardised assessments, she says, is incorrect data entry, which can lead to misleading conclusions.
“I would say to practitioners that if something looks strange, go back and check the scoring for errors. Issues can arise if people put the wrong data in, or they score a couple of items incorrectly,” she says.
As for the questionnaires, Kate encourages professionals to look beyond the summary information provided. On Pearson’s Q-global platform, for example, users can drill down and review a wealth of information to gain a deeper understanding of a student’s abilities and challenges.
“Sometimes people just look at the summary information and forget the rest. So, I'd say make sure you understand everything else that's available in that test – it's there for a reason.
“People can also forget to look at the various levels of assessment within a questionnaire, which can explain why there's an elevated score in a particular index,” she says.
Kate’s last piece of advice for psychologists and educators is to interpret the data for their audience.
“Another common mistake people make is writing too much or repeating what's in the table. Instead, I encourage assessors to consider their audience. What do students and their families need to understand? Avoid jargon, use plain English to interpret the data, and tailor your communication to explain what this means in real, everyday life.”
Used effectively, these assessments can better equip educators and clinicians to prevent, identify and address mental health challenges. When we do that, Kate says, then student drop-out rates improve, paving the way for a more resilient educational environment where students can flourish.
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Laying solid foundations for growth
The final stage of the assessment process is to provide feedback to the parents, to explain the findings and describe any diagnoses. A face-to-face discussion can serve as a counselling session where parents begin to come to terms with the findings and understand what it means for them and their child. Clinicians might also conduct a separate session with the child themselves, too.
A written report should also be prepared to provide an accurate record for the family and the professionals who work with them in future. The report can also suggest the most effective interventions, including how and when to structure and sequence these, and how progress can be monitored.
In short, a comprehensive assessment process is much more likely to result in a comprehensive diagnosis and a comprehensive action plan. And that’s a solid foundation to bring out the best in a child in the short, medium, and longer term.