Psych Savvy

Psych Savvy is written by the Anchorage School District's Psychology Department

• Cyberbullying, August 2007
  When parents think of a bully, they might imagine a mean kid on the playground or a tough guy waiting around the corner; however, their students could have a completely different idea. These days, some of the biggest bullies may never be seen nor heard. Worst of all, these bullies have the ability to engage in “electronic bashing” twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

• Self-Injurious Behaviors: Parent Handout, December 2006
  Self-injury is the deliberate and repetitive action of harming one’s body without intending to cause death. It can be cutting, burning, repeatedly hitting your head, scratching, biting, or even picking at scabs so that wounds will not heal. This behavior is usually done secretly and often in a way that wounds can be concealed afterwards.

• Television: Implications for Child Development, November 2005
  Does television viewing affect your child's development? Many people are interested in whether television adversely affects a child's attention span, activity level, and concentration. For example, Christakis, Zimmerman, DiGiuseppe, and McCarty (2004) concluded parents and caregivers could reduce the chances a child might develop ADHD by limiting television viewing of young children.

• Improving School Attendance, November 2004
  Regular school attendance is important for so many reasons. Strong attendance is highly related to academic progress, self-esteem, graduation rates, and exposure to a variety of learning experiences and persons of diverse backgrounds.

• The Teenage Brain, January 2004
  There is strong research emerging about how changes to the brain during adolescence influence the typical adolescent behaviors of moodiness and recklessness. The brain has been found to make major changes between the ages of 10 -20.

• Thinking of Moving?, September 2003
  Moving means a change of teachers, friends, and often curriculum. Students must adjust to different teacher and school expectations. Students who change schools are likely to find their new teacher is not using the same textbook as the previous teacher. If the same text is being used, it is highly likely the students are in a different part of the book. You may find your child ends up skipping some chapters and repeating other chapters.

• Helping Middle School Students Make the Transition into High School, August, 2003
  Starting high school is a major rite of passage for adolescents. Young adolescents entering high school look forward to having more choices and making new and more friends, though changing schools and especially moving to a large school can be an academic and social risk factor.

• Developing Assets: A Framework for Success, April 2003
  Too few young people grow up experiencing key ingredients for healthy development, including support from adults, relationships that cross generations, and/or hear consistent messages about boundaries and values. Much of the responsibility and capacity for the healthy development of youth is in the hands of the general public, America ’s people.

• First Steps for Dealing with Attention Problems in the Classroom, February 2003
  Every year teachers will have students whose difficulties paying attention, completing work, staying organized and maintaining self control negatively impact their school progress. Attention problems exist on a continuum from mild to severe and can have a variety of causes (e.g. ADHD, depression, anxiety, learning disabilities, epilepsy, acculturation/language acquisition issues, hearing problems, autism, traumatic experiences and health problems).

• Talking with Children About Cancer, January 2003
  A parent getting the news that she or he has cancer has many decisions to make. Among them is what to say to the children. Family routines will change, priorities shift, and children will always know that something is different. They deserve to be told, but what is appropriate to share at differing developmental levels?

• Fluctuating Hearing Loss in Young Children: Social and Educational Implications, November 2001
  Children who have a history of recurrent middle ear infections (chronic otitis media) have a significantly higher incidence of the following social and educational characteristics.

• Depression in Adolescents, October 2001
  Depression is a common and universal part of the human experience. It can occur at any age and have multiple causes and symptoms. The onset of depression can be gradual or sudden, brief or long-term. Recognizing depression can be very difficult in teens because it co-exists with other disorders such as anxiety, drug/alcohol abuse or Attention Deficit Disorder and because of the normal mood swings common in adolescence.

• Children and Divorce, September 2001
  Each year about one million children experience a family divorce. Over half of these children have no contact with their fathers after divorce. Many children do, however, have regular contact with the non-custodial parent. These visits are very important to a positive divorce adjustment. Divorce is distressing for children, but most children adjust to this change in their family within two years. Divorce is increasingly being seen as a difficult experience on the path to growth, rather than a tragedy from which no one recovers.

• School Dropout Prevention, April 2001
  A school dropout is likely to earn one-half as much as a high school graduate. They are three times more likely to live in poverty in comparison to persons who complete their high school education. Over the course of a person’s lifetime, each year’s dropouts will cost $200 billion dollars in lost earning and tax revenue.

• Battling Bullying, February 2001
  Bullying can be manifested as physical or verbal threats, racial or sexual harassment, name-calling or rude gestures, which aim to intimidate, extort or provoke fear in the victim. This harassment usually occurs repeatedly over a period of time and is unprovoked. Boys tend to be more physically aggressive than girls who use more ridicule and teasing in their bullying.

  Other bullying resources:

• Aggressors, Victims, and Bystanders (AVB): Learn about the anti-bullying curriculum used as the middle school level in the Anchorage School District.
  www.asdk12.org/MiddleLink/AVB/

• Stop Bullying Now: from the US Department of Health Resources and Services Administration
  http://stopbullyingnow.hrsa.gov/

• National PTA resources to help stop bullying, teasing, & taunting:
  www.pta.org/bullying/

• National Bullying Awareness Campaign (NBAC) from the National Education Association
  www.nea.org/schoolsafety/bullying.htm

• Victimization and School-Age Populations, April 1999
  Victims are not significantly different in behavior, appearance or ability from non-victims except for possible lesser physical strength. Both sexes are equally vulnerable for victimization. Olweus describes at least two types of victims: "passive" who are anxious, insecure, fail to defend themselves and "provocative" who are hot-tempered, restless, irritating and teasing.

• Study Skills, September 1998
  September: The beginning of a new school year. For most of you the year begins with a fresh start and high hopes for your children’s success in school. Even the youngest school aged children can begin to develop patterns now that will speak to their future organization and planning skills.

• Testing, Testing 1, 2..., April 1998
  As students proceed through the education system they will take many tests. This article will explain some of the tests a student may experience and what the various test scores mean.

• Children and Responsibility, April 1995
  Society today places a high priority on responsibility in children. However, with the conflicting advice offered in books, magazines, and newspaper columns, parents may feel confused as to exactly what a responsible child is, and what, if anything, can be done to encourage responsibility in children.

• Children and Organizational Skills, December 1993
  All too often we take for granted that the ability to organize, plan and work efficiently is somehow present in all individuals. Even more surprisingly, we seem to assume that children have such skills. Consequently, when problems exist in these skill areas, they are often blamed on lack of motivation, procrastination, laziness, avoidance, or irresponsibility. Organization program cut across race, age, intellectual level and economic status. Many bright, emotionally stable children exhibit poor organizational skills.

• Children and Holidays: A Holiday Survivors Guide Parent Handout , November 1992
  The holiday season is rapidly approaching. Along with good times and good food, all too often, comes a bit of STRESS. A season full of goodness and merriment becomes taxed with increased tension, headaches, heartburn, and STRESS for many families.

• Praise and Rewards, February 1991
  Most of us appreciate a "pat on the back" recognition for our accomplishments. Children and teens are not exceptions. Acknowledging the attempts and successes of young people can help promote positive relationships between adults and children. Acknowledgment can also assist children and adolescents in development positive feelings about themselves.

• Homework - Whose job is it anyway?, February 1990
  Homework, work assigned for completion outside the school day is a fact of school life. In the early grades, it may be as simple as studying spelling words. As students progress, assignments become more complicated and include projects that take weeks to finish.

• Goal Directed Conferences; What to do after Parent/Teacher Conferences , October 1989
  The short informational parent teacher conferences held in the fall are often seen as an end in themselves. While in many cases a short conference is all that is needed, for some students further longer conferences designed to meet a specific goal are necessary.

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