Emotional, cognitive, and physical consequences

I would expect children and their families that I work with to experience isms that are related to their mental health. My clients are typically diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, RAD, health problems and many other mental health disorders. These children also take medications that control impulsivity, hyperactivity, emotional outbursts, and inattention. Each of these characteristics contributes to the potential bias opinions of teachers, parents of other students, and peers. While working in the early childhood field, I witnessed children choosing not to play with the children who were labeled as problem children. Even when the children were behaving, the other children were nervous around them and didn’t want to interact with them. These kinds of negative responses can help change their behavior but may also make them feel that they are whatever they have been labeled. I have also seen the same behavior while working with my current elementary school clients. For example, a client that sometimes experiences emotional outbursts within the classroom may experience bias ,even if they are behaving, from a teacher and/or peers. These outbursts could be occurring because of a lapse in a child’s medication. I have noticed that the children were inalienated from interactions with peers due to past behavior. While walking down the hallway, I have heard other children talking about my clients. For example, one of my clients throw a desk a year before but he hasn't done it this year. An another student pointed and said "oh, that's the kid that threw the desk". Then, they moved away from my client. These negative interactions seemed to  strongly influence how the child saw themselves.

Two of the consequences of negative interactions are not fully developing social skill because an individual feels uncomfortable with peers and familiar adults and not regulating emotions appropriately because their teacher's had very low standards for them. For example, I was working with a client in the school environment. I went to ask the one of the teachers about the child’s progress and was told that they didn’t expect much from her. As long as the child was quiet and behaved; they were okay. The teacher did not address paying attention in class nor academic progress.  Children with mental health disorders that have symptoms extending into the school environment. The child knows that the teacher doesn’t expect much from them and takes the label that they are slow and/or unintelligent. The children also treat their peer different due to previous behavior and may judge the peer and not want to be friends with them.

I have also experienced bias as a child due to my conservative personality. I wasn't loud like the other children and preferred to talk when it was necessary. I was belittled by a teacher because I was listening trying to figure out what she wanted me to do. My teacher's behavior caused me to withdrawal even further from social activities that I was around my school peers. Now that I work with children, I don't judge quiet children because of  how the world tries to uplift extroverted people and bring down people who are naturally quieter. In my experiences, quieter people have a few advantages over extroverted people. For example, introverted children are sometimes better listeners because they aren't trying to be the center of attention. I wish that teachers would understand that all children have their own way of communicating and their own personality.