7B - Ashley Forbes Response to Kathryn Meleky

I really enjoyed reading your paper and all of the information that you have provided with detailed research! I think that one of the reasons why this topic flowed so easily is because I was able to compare it to my own life and some of the students that I see on a regular basis. I went through a period of time as an adult suffering from anxiety disorders. I always felt frightened or uneasy about practically everything. There was even a time when I had myself believing that I had a form of cancer. I was unable to perform in college courses because it was just too stressful. Looking at that situation, it is difficult to even think about how that scenario would apply to a young child who not only suffered from anxieties but who also had special needs or an underlying disability. Often times, especially in the city schools it is not uncommon for students to worry a lot about the health and wellbeing of their family members because they are also a provider or supporter.

 It is sometimes tricky to identify these students as having anxiety disorders. That is where your paper really did a great job at breaking down the identification process. I didn’t know that questionnaires were a form of identification for these students. This was something that was extremely interesting to me and I’m happy that you discussed it among other parts of the process. I also found it important when you said that classroom teachers make many observations throughout the day. I think that because teachers spend so much time throughout the day with each of their students, there should be a specific binder with files kept in it that provides this type of information. Sometimes parents are aware of odd behaviors or changes within their child but aren’t fully ready to pursue it in any way. For example, a child may have signs/symptoms of generalized anxiety but the parents aren’t certain. They may just allow the behaviors to continue because they don’t want to assume that anything is wrong. Acceptance was a large part of my stress relief counseling sessions that I took when I suffered from anxiety. 

I feel like this paper has enough information to provide a classroom teacher in both regular and special education with the foundation to begin to monitor and support these students. The entire section on cognitive behavior will become something that I will reference in the near future. I genuinely enjoyed reading and found it difficult to choose just one part to respond to because there’s so much great information! I hope others read too!