Millions of kids suffer from mental health disorders called Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors, or BFRBs, which are subconscious behaviors that are physical, repetitive movements or gestures of the hands, focused on the body. They include but are not limited to: hair pulling (Trichotillomania), nail biting (Onychophagia), and skin picking (Dermatillomania / excoriation disorder). For many kids, these disorders cause not only physical but emotional and mental harm and can affect their learning in school.
Courtney Spainhower, mom to Maela, an 11-year-old with Trichotillomania, always makes sure to contact her teachers at the start of school to try to accommodate her as well as possible:
“Most schools have paperwork allowing you to make the school aware of medical or other issues your child may have. This is a great time to jot down a bit about your child’s BFRB so that it’s on file. I email my daughter’s teachers at the beginning of each year to let them know that she has Trichotillomania, I give a run-down of what Trich is since it’s widely unknown, how we help her with her pulling at home by keeping her engaged, wearing her Keen tracking bracelet , using fidgets, and I let them know that she will have her Keen and her quiet fidgets with her at school to be used as needed.”
“We’ve been fortunate in that we’ve never had a teacher take issue with any of it. In fact, we had the same teacher two years in a row who adored our daughter so much and made it part of his routine to keep an eye her and communicate with us whenever he saw a change in her pulling habit. He would contact us if he didn’t see her pull at all that week, or if he saw her pulling more than normal, and he took it upon himself to redirect her to disrupt the behavior. It’s important that your child’s teacher is aware that the fidgets aren’t toys and they aren’t to be a topic of conversation. The way her teacher addressed this last year was by telling the class that she had certain tools to help her work and that they were not to be touched by another student, period. He became an integral part of her journey, and a blessing to our family in the peace of mind he gave us.”
Courtney’s efforts have helped Maela thrive and succeed in school. Parent and teacher involvement and communication have been absolutely key in her situation.
Comments
The dedication to raising a child with such disorders is no short of inspirational. In a world where we can be consumed with social networks and micro computers in our palms it’s nice to see true parenting. Caring for the well being of your child without a disorder is hard enough. It takes the most patient, focused parent to focus on all the details required to ease a disorder of this nature. Our children are blessings and I’m inspired by parents that fully step up to the undesired health issues so many of our youth deal with day to day.
It is with great gratitude for wonderful teacher's to provide such tools in school for these students to succeed.
i just found this and am crying. my daughter has this. thank you to this mama for sharing how she handles it with school.