School Teams
School Team
Community
Partners
Student
PowerPoint April 2011
Parents/Guardian
This resource was developed as a
result of discussions with community
partners in the eight counties to
help address the goals of the SSLI
(Student Support Leadership
Initiative).
Counties of:
Lanark, Leeds, Grenville, Stormont,
Dundas, Glengarry, and PrescottRussell
 To
help children by building a useful
resource to help guide professionals in
responding effectively to the children we all
care about.
 Promote a collaborative approach within our
community and to increase the level of
awareness of community services.
“We all have a piece of the puzzle.”
 School
Staffs
 Administrators
 Parents
 Community Partners
 Reinforce

“upstream” thinking
Catch a concern early before it has a chance to
become entrenched.
A
guide that focuses on a collaborative
response and uses consistency within.

Community partners learn with and about each
other.

Shared understanding, language, strategies,
mandates etc.
Provides information and education only.
 May
assist in determining when to ask
questions and seek out help.
 Provides
action strategies-practical ways to
help the student.
Chapter 1, 2, 3
Chapter 4,5,6,7
Chapter 8,9
Where to go section
 Chapter
One
Introduction-Background information

 Chapter


Resilience is that capacity that helps us thrive even when
faced with adversity. Resilient students are more likely
to weather difficulties, resolve problems, and see their
education through to completion.
All students will experience hardship at some point
during their school career and their lives. Resilience
helps students overcome those hardships.
 Chapter

Two
Three
School Success (alerts), attendance (absenteeism)
Introduction
 Consistency
chapter
of Format for each
Fact Sheets- concise, 2 pages
Chapters 4,5,6,7
 Chapter
4-Mental Health- 13 fact sheets
 Chapter
5-Impact Issues- 5 fact sheets
 Chapter
6-Special Education- 6 fact sheets

Chapter 7-Areas for Focused Attention- 3 fact sheets
Fact Sheets





General information
General characteristics (in the classroom, home)
Impact on School Success
Connection to Where to go for help
Action Strategies
GENERAL INFORMATION
Children whose early life experiences have left them with the
belief that adults cannot be trusted to keep them safe and that
they have only themselves to count on are at risk of suffering
from attachment-related difficulties. Sometimes these children
have been victims of long-standing neglect and abuse, without a
consistent and nurturing primary caregiver, or have had to
endure multiple moves. Understandably, these children may
find it very difficult to form healthy relationships with those
around them.
Children who have had to figure out how to manage their world
on their own, without having been given the requisite care and
instruction about how to do so, are at a clear disadvantage.
They often seek out the attention and approval of teachers and
peers, only to “ruin” what they have tried to secure.
.
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS TO LOOK FOR:
•inappropriately demanding
and/or clingy
•indiscriminately affectionate with
strangers
•manipulative—superficially
charming and engaging
•lack of cause and effect thinking
•demonstrates little or no capacity
for empathy
•hypervigilant/hyperactive
•learning gaps/delays
•speech and language problems
•intense control battles, very bossy
and argumentative
•destructive to property, self, and/or
others
•incessant chatter and/or questions
•stealing
•sexual acting out
•lies about the obvious for no reason
•poor peer relationships
•denial or lack of accountability—
always blaming others
•may appear to swing back and forth
between high anxiety and high selfreliance
IMPACT ON STUDENT SUCCESS:
• Students can suffer delays in motor, language, social, and cognitive
development.
• Their behaviours may leave them isolated from peers, and they
may withdraw from the social growth opportunities afforded by
school life.
• They may gain but then quickly lose the trust of teachers,
administrators, and other adults, leaving the adults around them
feeling defeated.
• They may not always feel motivated toward success.
• They may not be motivated by some of the more tried and true
strategies used to engage students at risk.
• Students dealing with attachment issues who are in the care of the
Children’s Aid Society (CAS) may have to contend with placement
changes, and this in turn may affect their ability to commit to school
life.
WHERE TO GO FOR HELP
See Mental Health in the Where to
Go for Help section at the back of this
guidebook.
The chapters in the WHERE TO GO FOR HELP SECTION are listed by chapter in
numerical order. Specific information is included for some individual fact sheets.
These are organized in alphabetical order within their chapter headings.
CHAPTER 4 Mental Health Promotion
In Lanark
In Leeds and Grenville
Open Doors for Children and Youth
1 877 232 8260
Smiths Falls 613 283 8260
Carleton Place 613 257 8260613 264 1415
www.opendoors.on.ca
Child & Youth Wellness Centre
Toll free 1-800-809-2494
Brockville 613-498-4844
Elgin-613-359-6588
Gananoque-613-382-4016
Kemptville-613-258-7204
Prescott-.613-925-5940
www.cywc.net
In Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry
Cornwall Community Hospital
Child’s Mental Health
613-932-1558
www.cornwallhospital.ca
In Prescott Russell
INTEGRA for Children and Adults of
Prescott-Russell
613-673-5148 or 1-800-675-6168
www.integra-pr.ca/
Ministry of Children and Youth Services www.children.gov.on.ca
link to mental health services at
www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/topics/specialneeds/ment
alhealth/index.aspx
EMentalHealth: This site is a rich source for local mental health
help. www.ementalhealth.ca
ABCs of Mental Health: A Teacher Resource
www.brocku.ca/teacherresource/ABC/index.php
Talking About Mental Health (TAMI):
www.camh.net/education/Resources_teachers_schools/TAMI/index.
html
Mental Health Crisis Line 1-866-281-2911 www.rohcg.on.ca (ages 16
and up)
KIDS Helpline 1-800-668-6868 www.Kidshelpphone.ca/en or
http://org.jeunessejecoute.ca/fr/
Eating Disorders – www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
 What
We Can Do Together
 Teachers
and Support Staff
 Administrators
 Parents
and Caregivers
 Community
Partners
What Can We Do Together
Become a good observer of children's nonverbal responses (facial expressions, body
position and movements, eyes, voice tone, etc.), the most accurate signs of what is
going on inside the child.
Avoid power struggles- present your request in a light and matter of fact style. This
reduces the student’s desire to control the situation.
Consider the student’s behaviour as his/her attempt to solve a problem that they
cannot find means to express in words. Try and give it “words” for them – i.e. “Maybe
you broke your pencil so you didn’t have to finish work you are worried you can’t do
well today”.
Consistently reinforce the concept of choice – the ideas of people making choices
and having responsibility is not something they have experienced. They need to have
it pointed out, matter of factly, over and over, that they are making choices all the time.
Then discussion can begin to move towards making better vs. worse choices.
Inquire in order to unmask the child’s hidden agenda. Student’s reactions will tell you
much more than their answers.
Teachers and Support Staff



Teach appropriate social behaviours. One of the best ways is to model
the behaviour and then narrate for the child what you are doing and why.
Make sure rewards are absolute and not contingent upon anything. This
effectively subverts the student’s strong tendency to self-sabotage and
thereby prove to the adults they can’t “make them succeed” This
approach puts the student’s succeeding under the complete control of the
teacher.
Identify a supervised place for the student to go to regain composure
during times of frustration and anxiety.
Community Partners






Consult with schools to help them contain and manage the unique
profile of a student with attachment difficulties.
Support use of recreation and mentors to help build a student’s
sense of capacity and accomplishment across all environments.
Be mindful of the need for consistency for students dealing with
attachment problems – consider how to maintain relationships with
therapists, coaches, former caregivers, and other significant
relationships.
Increase communication around clarifying roles, responsibilities
and limitations of each other’s mandate or service provision.
Engage in ongoing joint training initiatives.
Focus on “up stream” prevention initiatives.
Consistent language and understanding
 Chapter
8-Children in Need of Protection
 Chapter
9-Youth Justice







Consistent language
Legal status
Continuum of relationships
Resiliency
Where do teachers fit in?
Duty to report
Where to go for help








Consistent language
Community options
Youth Justice Committees
Confidentiality
Where teachers fit in?
Offences on School Property
Community Threat Assessment Protocols
Where to go for help
Directly to resource website at
http://web.me.com/markee/Guidebook/Start.html
or
Linked into Every Kid in Our Communities website
through the members section at
http://www.everykid.on.ca/
After the writing team completed the draft version with
community agency support the next steps were:
The draft version was presented to focus groups on April 20th, 2010.
Used feedback from focus groups held on April 20th to complete
“Checkered Flags” Guidebook-version 1. (The guidebook was in the
process of being professionally edited.)
Version 1 was presented at the June 24th, 2010, Community Launch.
The feedback was used to complete “Checkered Flags” Guidebook.
Guidebook was ready for distribution to schools and agencies
in September 2010.