School mental health assessment
Why psychological tests in school
Psychology involves the art and science of understanding human behavior. Psychometric analysis enables assessment of conduct of the child at school. It also includes intellectual functions like intelligence, memory, focus and attention span. By assessing cognitive functions, we aim to understand the dynamics and the mechanics of the mind, which if improper may sometimes lead to abnormal attitudes and dysfunctional behavior. All these factors influence the child’s performance for the better or worse. When we know what is going wrong, we have a better direction to set it right. The tests results make it easier for children, parents, and the school staff to take the appropriate steps towards correction of the problem to prevent an ill impact on the child’s curricular as well as extracurricular performance.
Why psychological assessments?
An eye or ear check is deemed important in order to ensure optimum vision and hearing so that the child can pay attention in the class and excel in his/her studies. Likewise, assessing the intellectual abilities, filtering emotional problems, anxiety, phobias, aggression, depression and specific learning disabilities; is imperative to assure that the child is psychologically equipped to focus on studies and excel in life (that is the aim of education after all). Identification of the problem is the first step towards correcting it. Children are poor with expression. Teachers are receptive to the emotional needs of children; however with their heavy workload, an occasional poor performance on account of emotional indicators may pass their eye.
The Vicious Cycle
All psychological problems can affect the child’s learning and performance in a significant manner at every stage. Aggression and hyperactivity hamper academic progress by disallowing the child to focus so do inferiority complex and low self-esteem. At the same time, the poor performance lowers their confidence, diminishes morale and self-esteem, which further deteriorates their condition, forming a vicious cycle. Unless there is an understanding of this evil cascade, the child continues to silently suffer. Children need to have their unspoken voice heard.
How Schools can contribute
Promotion of psychological wellness in schools seems to have its constraints: time, availability of resources, costs, implementation, and manpower. However when feasible options are available, the benefits usually outweigh the costs. An accurate diagnosis of the child’s problem can point to appropriate management and utilization of all the available resources to offer the best care. MINDFRAMES offers simple, affordable and reliable screening instruments that can assist schools in detecting problems that can stem up in school children at their vulnerable age, and influence their overall progress negatively. These can be managed with therapeutic modalities before the situation gets out of hand.