Academic achievement

• Supporting student mental health is important because students of all ages can experience stressors that negatively affect their well-being and sometimes lead to mental health diagnoses.
• However, some have suggested we can either support academic success or mental health — and that mental health is more important than academic achievement.

Well-being in education

• Education policymakers, schools and educators must attend to student well-being holistically rather than targeting one area at the expense of other areas.
• A great deal of research shows that early academic performance predicts mental health and well-being.

Recent reports from both Ontario and Saskatchewan human rights commissions highlighted the important role of strong reading instruction for student well-being, confidence and academic engagement.

Read more:
Reading disabilities are a human rights issue — Saskatchewan joins calls to address barriers

Stronger reading abilities, positive outcomes

• In the example of reading and mental health, gaining reading skills increases positive student outcomes.
• These positive outcomes are related to reading skill development, an important early indicator of academic success.

Poorer reading skills, worse outcomes

• They also have poorer self-concept and self control, difficulty with relationships, shame, anxiety, depression, suicidality and delinquency.
• Students who drop out of school are more likely to be poor readers, and poor readers are more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system.

Students with dyslexia

• The relationship between dyslexia and poor well-being and mental health further reveals the interaction between academic success and mental health.
• Students with dyslexia, which is characterized by difficulties gaining reading skills, have more difficulty making friends, and having friends is an integral part of mental health.

Equity, reading instruction and well-being

• Further, students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds are at greater risk both of not gaining adequate reading skills and of worse mental-health outcomes.
• Language and literacy researchers Joan F. Beswick and Elizabeth A. Sloat contend that adequate access to strong reading instruction is a social justice issue.
• Their research, and other findings, document how students from poorer neighbourhoods are less likely to receive adequate reading instruction.

A two-way relationship

• It is important to note, nevertheless, that the relationship between academic achievement and mental health is bidirectional.
• The relationship between academic success and mental health is complex and likely interactive with both poor achievement and excessive competition for high marks contributing to poor mental health.

Unhealthy academic competition

• Strong academic performance supports mental health and well-being, but unhealthy levels of academic competition negatively impact mental health and well-being.
• Reining in this unhealthy focus on intense academic competition is important.

Need to support both

• If we want to support student well-being and mental health, we need to support mental health directly by developing healthy school climates, teaching social emotional learning, and providing psychological services in schools.
• We don’t have to choose: we can and should support students’ academic success and mental health.

Gabrielle Wilcox is affiliated with Learning Disabilities Association of Alberta and the Learning Disabilities & ADHD Network Calgary Region.

• As a speech pathologist, university lecturer and parent of young children, I often get asked a version of the following:
  My child isn’t talking yet.
• Is that a problem?
• But by the end of the conversation, I nearly always end up saying “it’s worth looking into”.

Who are late talkers?

• Late talking is not an official diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders so clinical cut-offs vary.
• The most common definition is that late talkers do not have 50 words and/or do not use two-word combinations by two years of age.
• Children are generally assessed for late talking between two and three years via observation by a speech pathologist and parent reports.

Will my late talker grow out of it?

• Firstly, late talkers may not fully catch up.
• So, while a late talker may improve, they may face ongoing but perhaps more subtle difficulties at a later age, when language skills are critical to academic success and socialisation.
• Such behaviours are more common among late talkers, likely because they lack the words to express feelings or wants.
• This disorder occurs in at least one in five late talkers and can have substantial lifelong impacts on everyday functioning.

What are the risk factors for ongoing language problems?

• While is no single predictor that allows us to know for sure which children will face ongoing language problems, potential factors include being born male, a family history of language disorders, socioeconomic status, low birth weight and vocabulary size (both speaking and understanding).
• Disorders of speech and language cluster in families with genetic inheritance a significant factor.
• Socioeconomic status and how parents interact with their children are risk factors found in research, but they are difficult to separate from the intergenerational impacts of language disorders.

Encouraging early talk

Speech pathologists now take an active but cautious view: intervene rather than watch and wait. Intervention can be very helpful, consisting of training for parents. Techniques can include:
• Importantly, a recent systematic review examined the results from 34 different intervention studies and found that 93% of them reported improvements in expressive vocabulary for late talkers.
• If your child isn’t speaking as much as other children of the same age, it’s worth looking into it.

• MALVERN, Pa., March 22, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- CubeSmart (NYSE: CUBE), the third largest owner/operator of self-storage properties in the United States, is being recognized as one of Achievers 50 Most Engaged Workplaces® of 2023.
• This award recognizes top employers who demonstrate leadership in employee experience, recognition, and company culture.
• “It’s an honor to once again be recognized for the engagement of our team in 2023.
• However, building a workplace that effectively engages and supports all employees is no easy feat,” said Jeff Cates, CEO, Achievers.

• The American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation and the American Family Insurance Institute for Corporate and Social Impact have committed to supporting this pilot project, joining a growing list of corporate philanthropic organizations.
• "We are grateful for their generosity and hope that other corporate foundations will follow their lead to help the school districts strengthen their mental health programs."
• "We are strongly committed to supporting equity in healthy youth development, especially mental health," said Shayna Hetzel, American Family community and social impact director.
• The American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation builds on our long-standing commitment to communities by offering unrestricted, general operating grants to eligible non-profit partners.