Introduction
You may likely find children with mental health challenges. Amongst other areas, these mental health issues affect their learning in negative ways.
Mental health challenges influence a child’s academic performance.
It also affects his/her zeal to learn, and general behaviour at school.
Ready to learn more about the effects of mental health issues on your child’s learning? Continue reading this review.
5 Causes of Mental Illness on your Child’s Learning
Lack of Attention
Children who struggle with their mental health often have difficulty concentrating in class. These children are easily distracted during learning.
They make a whole lot of noise and hardly stay in a place. They are unable to stay focused for a short period. They tend to be hyperactive during lessons.
This makes them miss out on the lesson in class. They view class concentration as a huge task. Thus, they become a distraction to other children.
Such children pose as a disruption to class activities and stress their teachers. Hence, their behaviour attracts constant punishment from teachers and adults. This drives children into social isolation.
Social Behavior
Mental health issues can affect your child’s social life. The child becomes withdrawn when they discover their differences from other children.
Constant punishment from adults also affects a child’s social life. Children often tease their fellow children who have mental health challenges. They are usually not invited to play with their mates.
Such children are prone to frequent emotional outbursts, boredom and aggressive behaviours. This leads to disobedience in children.
All these behavioural problems make it difficult for them to form good relationships with their classmates.
Moreover, good connections and relationships with classmates can foster teamwork. It also improves a child’s academic performance.
Poor Academic Performance
If your child struggles with his/her mental health, he/she may likely perform poorly in school. Mental health issues make it hard for children to focus on schoolwork and put in their best effort. . They lose interest in learning, thereby achieving low grades. They stand a risk of repeating a school year and dropping out of school.
Difficulty Sleeping
Sleeplessness is one of the effects of mental health challenges on your child. Psychological impairment has a way of disrupting sleep. When your child gets worried or depressed, he/she hardly finds sleep.
Sleep deprivation affects how children think. They get moody or silly when they are tired. A sleep-deprived child easily get distracted in class and can make careless errors.
Lack of sleep can have a negative effect on your child’s memory. It is very hard for a sleep-deprived brain to focus, so it is harder for it to remember new things. All these make it harder for them to learn.
Lack of Motivation
Emotional disorders in children cause a lack of learning zeal. Children who have mental health problems often stay away from school. Oftentimes, they call in with physical illnesses.
However, a child’s absence from school might be for fear of getting embarrassed by the teacher or peer.
On the other hand, children avoid school for fear of getting bullied. Moreover, children suffer a great deal of stress and anxiety from peer groups.
Excess workloads and social pressure also trigger mental health issues. This affects their learning negatively.
Conclusion
Parents and teachers must encourage children to speak out when they are struggling. Physicians and psychologists should educate teachers on how to recognize mental health problems.
They should also enlighten them on the best ways to combat these problems. This will enable timely detection of those stress factors in order to eliminate them.