People with special needs are more vulnerable to mental health problems than the general population. Encouraging good mental health is important for all children, but particularly when your child has a learning disability. Children need to develop the skills to understand and express their emotions from an early age.
October is Mental Health Awareness month and SAG will be discussing ways of understanding and demonstrating Mental Wellness. By encouraging open dialogue with each other we are helping to eliminate the stigma attached to mental illness and teaching kids how to identify their emotional needs along with tools and strategies for coping.
Although learning disabilities and mental health concerns are two completely different things, we recognize that students that do struggle in school can be vulnerable to mental health problems. Over the next month, we are encouraging our students to be proud of their accomplishments and not to let their challenges hold them back. Our students may have more struggles in school demonstrating what they know, but that doesn't mean they are any less intelligent or can't be as successful as someone without a learning disability. Some of the greatest minds of all time were known to have a learning disability as well; people like Thomas Edison, Walt Disney, Richard Branson, and even Albert Einstein!
We are asking our students to share their successes on Twitter this month with the hastags: #sag #ownmyLD! Please encourage your children to tweet out some positive messages over the next month and we will collect them all and share them on the blog at the end of the month!
