Special Educators Shine

As the format of education has altered, Forsyth County continues to put students fi rst. Leaders in our country and state are engaged in discussions around school safety and how to best serve the mental health needs of our students and families. The Forsyth County Special Education Department strives to provide resources that help students and families who are struggling with stress, trauma, and other mental health issues.

One way the Special Education Department plans to address this need is through continuing to teach skills for Dialectical Behavior Therapy or DBT. DBT is a type of cognitive behavior therapy that aims at assisting people who have diffi culty regulating their emotions, maintaining relationships, and handling stress eff ectively.

Since 2014, DBT skills have been taught in select classrooms throughout the county. The program has expanded over the years to include multiple elementary, middle and high school classes. In order to adapt DBT for the school setting, the skills are taught to small groups. The DBT skills are a combination of various coping skills that are presented in ways that help people remember them.

In the classroom, skills are taught in a specifi c lesson and reinforced through additional social emotional lessons. Additionally, continuous professional learning has been provided for staff to better understand these skills and how to implement personalized coping skills to maintain their own mental wellness.

In the months ahead, the Special Education Department will continue to develop resources around social-emotional learning that will support students, parents, and teachers as we all strive to manage emotions and cope with stress.

As we look forward to the 2020-21 school year, we adjust our ideas of traditional education delivery and how we connect with our students and families, and we remember that our students’ social-emotional growth continues to be a priority.

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