Final Project Write-Up

This write up was created to highlight the information that was presented in the
directions for this assignment. I did not want to overburden my website itself with
quotes and my thoughts on what I was trying to convey to educators on the subject
of anxiety disorders. I wanted to keep it open for various types of uses and various
types of needs while providing pertinent information and resources on the subject. If
you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me at
crf_cronkdb@cuchicago.edu
Danielle Cronk
Clear workshop that focuses on three objectives:
Objective 1: Informing educators about anxiety disorders, IDEA, and their role
in the identification process.
Objective 2: Informing teachers on different individual and whole-class
strategies they can utilize in the classroom.
Objective 3: Empowering teachers to feel they can discuss anxiety disorders
with parents (with the support of the IEP team).
A balance of activities:
Visual:
YouTube videos
Power Points
Pictures
Direct instruction:
Youtube videos
articles
websites
Use of technology:
web-based, websites,
Power Points,
Youtube videos
the presentation itself is web-based
Handouts:
Accommodations
screening tools
articles
parent resources
Strategies for further action:
Since this presentation is web-based and has a wealth of knowledge in it,
this presentation can be utilized again and again to enhance knowledge
on anxiety disorders. There is also a contact section for parents and
teachers where they can, if they wish, contact groups or professionals in
the field of anxiety disorder studies. I also tried to include content that
would spark further interest and discussion: content that would prompt
strong, knowledge-seeking educators and teams to complete more

research on the topic to better serve the students in their school or

classrooms.
Evaluation tool:
On the last page of the presentation there is a printable evaluation tool
that presenters can utilize gauge how effective the presentation and its
features were to those taking part. I would be most willing to share this
presentation to others in such a way that they can tweak ti to their own
needs and add resources that are most beneficial to the staff and or
parents of their particular district. Just as each student will have different
needs, so will a parent, teacher, classroom of students, and school within
a district. This presentation should fluctuate with those needs.
Reference list:
References are throughout the website, utilized in a variety of formats on
each page. Explanations of their benefits are posted near the reference
itself.
Key Concepts and strategies acquired within the course:
Page 1: What is Anxiety Disorder?
Key Concept: Educating educators on the basics of anxiety disorders
This presentation can be done in small groups or independently. I do
find that educators vary in their knowledge level so this presentation
was created to be adaptable to that idea. The various components of
each page can be viewed independently of each other so that the
needs of each specific group or individual viewing the presentation can
be addressed.
Page 2: Classroom Strategies:
Key Concept: Assisting general education teachers in accommodating
students who have anxiety disorders.
This page allows for the educator to focus on the strategies that might
work for the specific student in his or her classroom. By learning more
about strategies that can assist students with anxiety disorders, the
teacher can then present ideas for accommodations to the other
members of the IEP team and parents themselves. This could help with
the identification process because some strategies could have already
been utilized before the first identification meeting.
Page 3: Parent Involvement:
Key Concept: This page is meant to, with the assistance of the IEP team,
help teachers discuss anxiety with parents and provide a way to clearly
communicate what they are seeing in the classroom. It is also meant to
give parents some resources to assist in understanding what their parents
are going through.
Page 4: Why Anxiety?
Key Concept: This page holds my write-up for the presentation itself, an
evaluation form, and my works cited page for all of the links and resources
within my website. My works cited section of this write-up is at the bottom
of these pages.

 Discussion of insights gained through the analysis and synthesis of

these concepts and strategies.
Key Concept 1: Educating educators on the basics of anxiety disorders
Teachers must have the primary role in determining students
eligibility for special education and deciding how children and
youth will be served. (Kauffman and Landrum, 2011, p. 8)
This was an extremely powerful quote for me and one of the reasons I
decided to dedicate the first page of this presentation to educating
teachers on what anxiety is, how IDEA defines anxiety, and the basics
of the IEP process/identification of a student with an anxiety disorder.
In order for us to more readily identify students with anxiety, teachers
must know the sometimes subtle hints that a student with anxiety
exhibits.
We know that a variety of factors are important, but experienceincluding the experience a teacher can provide for a student in
school-is at least as important as biology and is a factor the
teacher can do something about, (Kauffman and Landrum, 2011,
p. 8)
As mentioned above, experience and knowledge of anxiety is, I
believe, the key factor in early identification of students with anxiety is
educating teachers on the topic. Teachers are the people who spend
the most time with students every day so they need to be aware of
signs and symptoms!
EBD isnt identified at the same rate among age groups due to
the way society responds to the nature of the disorders. Hardly
any are identified in the early grades but there is a steady
increase in identification from the early years into the teens. The
problems of these children being neglected until they become
serious issues for adults which could be anywhere from 6-8 years
for mood disorders and as long as 20 years or more for anxiety
disorders. (Kauffman and Landrum, 2011, p. 41)
The first time I read this quote I was so saddened by it. I know that it
may be hard to diagnose a young child with such a serious condition
like an emotional/behavioral disorder (and we must make sure we are
not just putting naughty kids in this category) but what a disservice it
is to the child to wait until it is socially acceptable to do so. Students
are missing out on years of service because we feel uncomfortable
with doing so. Why is it fair to deny a child the services they need
because we cannot accept who they are as people? If we truly want to
celebrate diversity in our students we must get rid of the idea that
some diversity is bad while other kinds are good.
Key Concept 2: Assisting general education teachers in accommodating
students who have anxiety disorders

We cant depend on our students to learn by some magical,

mysterious, internally guided process; their learning will be
ensured only by a skillful and sensitive adult who makes the
expectations for their behavior appropriately difficult. (Kauffman
and Landrum, 2011, p. 12)
This is extremely true, especially at a younger age and in the society
we are now living in. Students are coming into the younger grades with
less of an ability to relate to others and self-address basic feelings they
might have. As educators we must take the time to point out various
feelings and how to best deal with them so students have the skills to
self-manage as they grow older!
Students should be taught cognitive behavior modification
techniques, such as self instruction, rehearsal, and guided
practice, to make them as self-sufficient as possible in controlling
their own behavior. (Kauffman and Landrum, 2011, p. 15)
This is closely tied to the quote above. The more specific we get with
the emotional instruction we are giving, the more effective it will be! I
really connected with the Wellness Classroom video on the
Classroom Resources page. It worked in a way that made it very easy
for the young students to identify and deal with their feelings!
But for a teacher of students with EBD not to ask, Exactly what
does this student do or not do that is a problem? and then not
measure the behavior as objectively and precisely as possible is
unconscionable. (Kauffman and Landrum, 2011, p. 11)
Although it is much easier to leave the assessing of this nature up to
other members of the IEP/identification team, I do believe that it is
necessary for teachers to do so in a basic way. If teachers are, as
mentioned above, going to be the first people to take the first steps in
identifying students for services, they must be able to do so in a
proper, data-driven way!
One of the great ironies of RTI is that it calls for evidence-based
instruction but RTI itself is supported by extremely little
evidence, although it is a good idea to address problems early,
provide effective and positive behavioral support before
referrals, not confuse cultural difference for EBD, and provide
good general education that RTI claims to support. (Kauffman and
Landrum, 2011, p. 64)
I think this outlines a big problem with special education itself. There is
a huge requirement of data-driven research in creating programs,
choosing and providing accommodations and interventions, and
picking appropriate program. However, there are huge gaps in
research for certain key programs, such as RTI, that are used on a
frequent basis. We cannot expect a concept or program to function

correctly if we do not have the same expectations and standards for all
pieces of said program across the board!
Key Concept 3: Assisting teachers in talking with parents about anxiety
disorders.
Too often we forget to consider the lives of parents and families
as well as the lives of the teachers and students involved.
(Kauffmann and Landrum, 2011, p. 17)
Yes, the life of the student is of great importance, but we must never
forget to support parents and teachers when trying to serve students
with anxiety disorders. Teacher support can come through co-teaching
options, instruction and training in the disability and strategies or
accommodations to provide in the classroom that one person is
capable of working with (while teaching). I stress accommodations that
ONE person is capable of working with because, so many times,
teachers must accommodate for several students and if the
accommodations are too complicated it can become a huge burden in
instruction and use of time in attending to just one student when
upwards of 20 are needing instruction. Parent support can come
through phone calls and other forms of frequent communication,
conferences aside from the one typical parent-teacher conference each
year, recommendations of resources and support groups, and
completion of scales, etc they can bring to their doctors if needs be.
Parents can, I am sure, feel very alone throughout this process so I can
only imagine how relieving it must be to have the support and
understanding of the teachers and staff within their childs school.
Attending and participating in IEP meetings where parents are
faced with six or more educators and psychologists can be very
overwhelming so schools should make every effort to support and
respect the rights of parents and help them become advocates
for their children (Mercer and Pullen, 2009, p. 450)
Again, as mentioned above, I cannot imagine how overwhelming and
isolating it might feel to know that your child is struggling in some way
with a problem you do not know how to help them with. Some parents
may not also have the understanding (through language or educational
barriers) of some of the terms, assessments, and services their child
might be receiving so the more time we take to help them understand
where we are going and how those services or assessments will
positively assist their child in the learning process, the better!
With a trend towards more parent involvement in the
identification and placement process, teachers must be
supportive, sensitive, and informative during critical parent
adjustment periods and work with the parent to develop precise
assessment techniques while gathering information about

resources, techniques, and materials. (Mercer and Pullen, 2009,

p. 452)
Again, this just emphasizes the need for teachers and parents to
support each other in getting the services to a child that he or she
needs. If it turns into a battle between parent and teacher, all concern
and push for helping the child is lost. Focus must always be on doing
what is best for the children we serve, and part of that is assisting
parents in understanding our processes and reasoning, especially when
it comes to special education!
Interesting and Effective presentation strategies to engage all
members of the class.
Visual, hands-on, listening, and verbal components are present on each page
of the presentation so that all styles of learning can be addressed.

Works Cited:

Kauffman, J. M., & Landrum, T. J. (2013). Characteristics of Emotional and Behavioral

Disorders of Children and Youth. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Mercer, C.D., & Pullen, P.C. (2009). Students with Learning Disabilities. (7th ed.). Upper Saddle
River, NJ: Pearson Educational Inc. ISBN: 978-0-13-222842-8