Adolescence+In+Schools

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__DRUG TESTING OF ADOLESCENTS IN SCHOOLS (above)__


 * Adolescents in school**

The ecological model in schools for adolescents is: School Social Ecology: Students who have positive friendships and acceptance have good connectedness with school. They related the functions and structures of the school and the family environment, which is considered critical components that make up a students academic success. The Connection to School : School social context shows the interaction with peers and how they influence one's choices on engagement and other academic outcomes. Believing that a student's ambition and support systems are what can determine the outcome of the students performance in academics. Person Environement Fit: During the time of adolescence is when students are more likely to get support from their peers rather than family. To add the external supports, such as a sense of boundaries, constructive use of time, healthy relationships all relate to how important education is to the student and which will add to the development of adolescents. Health Outcomes: A student with high connectedness to school is more likely to have better health, self esteem, and be more physically active. Also, they are more likely to be at risk of depression and anxiety. Students who're connected with school are less likely to be involved with behaviours such as; early sexual acitivity, substance abuse, and/or violence. Students who're not connected to school show more frequent use of drugs, are more likely to smoke and have greater possibility to dropout. @http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=44605254&site=ehost-live


 * [[image:pr92524.jpg]]1,850 school age children were examined in regards to their achievement and self-perceptions in 4 activity domains (math, English, social activities, and sports) as well as self-esteem during the transition from elementary to junior high school. Self-esteem scores declined across the transition to junior high, but increased during 7th grade. Self-concepts of ability for math, English, and social activities declined after the transition, but perceptions of social ability increased during 7th grade. Perceptions of sports ability declined across 6th and 7th grades. The students interest in math and sports declined with age, whereas their fondness of English and social activities declined immediately after transition but increased across 7th grade. Many of these changes are attributed to changes in the school and classroom environments encountered on entering junior high school. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)

In adolescents, school becomes a place of convergence for the 3 processes of life-span development because cognition is greatly effected by both socio-emotional development and biological processes. Hormonal changes, the restructuring of the brain, body image, and the increasing importance of a social life are as much a part of the teen's world as math, English, history, and physical education. As anyone who has ever been in junior high or high school can attest, the classroom often takes a secondary role to other life situations. Although teens have reached Piaget's last stage-formal operations- the development is uneven; for example, one person may excel in math, another in English, and a third may hate school altogether. Schools make every effort to enrich the learning environment for everyone, but in spite of a great effort, they are unable to meet the needs of every student equally, and fail to meet the needs of some students altogether. (Leung, K. H., MacKenize-Rivers, A., Malcomson, T., Santrock, J. W., 2005. Life-Span Development 2nd Canadian Edition.)

High School provides many opportunities for growth and challenge for students. They have more choices for courses, after school activites, and their responsibility is increased. Paid employment, volunteer work, community work and homework teaches the students responsibility. In high school there are more risky behaviours : Students are more likely to do risky behaviours through the transition from junior high to high school and studies found that within a 30 day period : - 50% have one or more drinks of booze -1 in 3 rode with a driver under the influence -One third smoke cigarettes -Almost a third used drugs -About one- eigth made bad decisions with their sexual behaviour Students are going through new experiences and are under different kinds of pressure throughout adolescence, and need positive supports from the school, parents, and freinds, and must be taught proper awareness, as there will be a time when decisions must be made which can affect their entire future; knowledge about difficult adolescent issues will at least give them the opportunity to make the best choice knowing the serious consequences. (Cathy Austin,Eric Bascik,Linda DeCesare.( 2010) Adolescents and School. Amity Region #5)



//__Learning Disabilites while in school__// : Learning disabilities can affect how children listen, think, store, retrieve, write, read and communicate information or perform mathematical calculations, and can cause her to have a short attention span without having ADHD. It is common for children with ADHD to also have learning disabilities. Among the ways that a learning disability can affect the way your child learns is by interfering with the **input** of information to the brain. This can be a **visual** perception disability, causing your child to reverse or rotate letters and numbers or to not be able to focus on specific letters and words on a page, or it can be an **auditory** perception disability, so that similar words sound alike and cause confusion or she may not be able to process words that she hears as fast as people are speaking them. Learning disabilities can also cause problems with the **integration** of sensory information, or how the brain processes the sensory data that is sent to it. This can affect the information received from vision, touch, and balance and can affect your child's gross and fine motor skills. . They can also have **abstraction**, **organizational**, and **memory** disabilities. Children with learning disabilities can also have problems with the way that they **output** information. These output disabilities can affect the way they talk or the way that they write or draw. Most children with learning disabilities have one or more of the above problems, affecting the way that they input, integrate or output information. These problems can cause them to have difficulty at school, but can also cause problems at home and when forming relationships with peers. Children with learning disabilities may only have trouble with certain subjects, such as math or reading, and may do well in other classes. They will also have normal intelligence and may do well on standardized tests. If students with disabilites can learn to improve their skills with organization, and have daily routines, and get enough time to complete homework and attain help when needed for certain subjects, for example: a tutor. Have a good chance of being less stressed out throughout the transition to adolescents. Children with disabilites are facing the same pressures and stress as anyone else throughout adolescents, and while learning how to manage their disability. Children who have the proper support and modifications from the school and teachers ,as well as students, can be very successful and enjoy their time in school. (Vincent Iannelli. March 12, ( 2002). School Performance Problems. keep kids healthy. )