Students At Risk
- lperry94
- Oct 28, 2020
- 4 min read
Updated: Nov 21, 2020
Students at risk do not fit into a specific category for exceptionalities regarding special education and related services, but they do need special interventions to support them in school and life. These children can come from any culture, social status or environment but the most common areas for high risk students are students; who are abused and neglected; who use drugs and alcohol; who live in poverty; who become pregnant; who are in trouble with the justice system; who have high scores on adverse childhood experiences ACES assessment; who have learning exceptionalities and/or other exceptionalities, who are in minority groups and whose family's history is low income and low education level.
These children often have difficulty with academic skills and present social and emotional behavioural problems. Their young lives present many challenges that can often go unseen and they are vulnerable to making choices later in life that do not serve their well-being, such as the use of drugs and alcohol, high risk activities and may even take their own life.
For these children, personal, social and emotional growth is very important to address along with building resiliency. Resiliency is the ability to thrive through the challenges that occur in life. Building self-esteem, strengthening relationships and connections, and practicing kindness towards self and towards others, contribute to greater resiliency. Often, children who may feel helpless can feel empowered by helping others.
Providing a safe, supportive, positive, organized and committed environment allows these students to have a rest from the stress, anxiety, uncertainty, fears and sadness that they may be experiencing outside the classroom and school.
The resiliency skills, that children at risk need support in developing, are not unique to them. Every individual, at some point, will have significant challenges to overcome throughout their lives. The practices for developing resiliency will benefit all and contribute to the inclusive environment. The same can be said regarding other practices around self-regulation, self-awareness, self-monitoring and building a healthy self-concept, that are also important for all students to strongly develop throughout their early stages in life. These skills, in my opinion, are equally if not more important than the academic requirements in our schools.
To note, there are many highly successful people that were considered students at risk. Through resiliency, courage, determination, persistence, passion and a desire to serve others, they have thrived in life and empowered and inspired others to do the same. Oprah Winfrey is one of these individuals and look what she chose to create for her life. Empowerment is key. As stated in the Key Points Promoting Inclusion blog post, maintaining high expectations (that are within their grasp) for all students will empower students to face and overcome their fears and limitations.
Facebook Challenge Activity:
Take a walk outside for 3-5 min and breathe in the fresh air. Reflect on a time where you helped someone else that really needed it. How did you feel? Who was helping who?
If you have the time today, show kindness to someone. Lend them a hand or a smile. See how you feel when you bring awareness to these actions. A little kindness goes a long way, not only towards the other but also towards ourselves.
An important piece about poverty...
Did you know that 39 percent of all homeless persons are children--with 42 percent of these children under the age of five (National Coalition for the Homeless, 2006)? And in Canada, 12% of children under the age of 12 live in poverty (Government of Canada 2009). This continues to be a concern in our country and we must not turn our attention away from it. With more awareness we can influence change through empowering programs and empowering supportive actions. By empowering, I am referring to believing in these individuals and knowing that they can heal and change their situation if they truly desire to do so. As we continue to create and improve the programs and services provided to these individuals, it is up to them to take the action to heal and change their situation. If we give them the option to not take action, then likely they may not. No matter how great the support, programs and opportunities may be they may choose differently, because it is in our human nature to take the familiar path. Change is hard and that is why building resiliency is important and believing that we, each individual, has it in us to change and grow, we just have to really want it and be committed to the effort it takes to heal and move in a new direction. Never stop believing in people and the power that they have in caring for themselves and changing their situations.
This is a very thought provoking documentary on homelessness in Lethbridge, Alberta.
Where is Home? (2016) Documentary on Homelessness in Southern Alberta, Canada. (74 minutes)
AWESOME VIDEO:
At risk students: Great video…students singing about their challenges. Give it a listen :)
One of my most Favourite books:
These websites are great resources around building resiliency:
ACES resources links:
Oprah Winfrey:
References in this post:
National Coalition for the Homeless. (2009). Homeless families with children. Retrieved January 1, 2010, from www.nationalhomeless.org/factsheets/families.html.
Government of Canada. (2009). The chief public health officer’s report on the state of public health in Canada 2009: Growing up well-priorities for a healthy future. Ottawa, ON: Author. Retreived from http://publichealth.gc.ca/CPHOreport.
Comments