Mental Health Services in IEPs

By: Jess Frain, SSPW School Mental Health Consultant, Tim Peerenboom, SSPW School Psychology Consultant & Eva Shaw, SPED Autism and Emotional Behavioral Disability Consultant

The Wisconsin School Mental Health Framework outlines a comprehensive approach to school mental health that supports all students and staff in the school community. In a comprehensive school mental health system, the continuum of mental health supports includes a universal approach to mental health promotion where every student has access to services and activities that promote wellbeing. This continuum of system-wide proactive and responsive supports is built to match students’ mental health, behavioral, social, and emotional strengths and needs. All students also have access to more early intervention, treatment services, and crisis support, as their needs may shift over time. For students identified with a disability under Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), it is important for teams to incorporate these services into their Individualized Education Program (IEP).

Mental health services within the IEP begin with a comprehensive special education evaluation. The evaluation must be sufficiently comprehensive to identify all of the student's disability-related needs, whether or not commonly linked to an identified disability category(s). This includes how mental health challenges can adversely affect the students’ academic achievement and functional performance when making eligibility and programming decisions. Students with mental health concerns may experience difficulties with concentration, social interactions, emotional regulation, and other skills that impact their ability to access, engage, and make progress in general education curriculum and activities.

When an evaluation reveals the student has a disability, requires special education services, and has significant mental health needs, those needs must be addressed in the student’s IEP. With coordination and collaboration between families, the student, school staff, and outside mental health professionals, the IEP can be developed to provide the support and services the student needs to access, engage, and make progress toward their IEP goals and in the general education curriculum and environment. The IEP can identify strengths and needs in the present level and  incorporate services and supports to address the student’s mental health needs in many ways, including some or all of the following:

Supplementary Aids and Services (SAS):  Based on the student’s individual needs and circumstances, SAS could include things such as reduced workload and extended time to complete assignments to minimize triggers to mental health symptoms, the use of visual schedule to provide predictability, or providing time with preferred peers, adults, and activities to build social connection and resilience, among others.

Specially Designed Instruction (SDI):  The IEP team can make use of social and emotional learning competencies and evidence-based practices to develop goals and match the SDI to the student’s needs. The team can consider the implementation of evidence-based practices such as cognitive behavioral intervention or self-management skills aligned with the needed instructional components to support the student in the use of the skill. SDI can include teaching skills such as self-advocacy, resiliency, emotional regulation, or other skills aligned with the IEP goals.

Related Services:  The implementation of evidence-based interventions that align with disability related mental health needs and IEP goals can be provided through school counseling, school psychological, school social work, school nursing, occupational therapy, or speech-language services, as well as other supports provided by appropriately trained and licensed professionals.

Program Modifications and Supports for School Personnel:  The IEP team could include regular collaboration time for related service providers, general education and special education teachers; collaboration time between school staff and outside mental health providers; or specific training for teachers related to the implementation and progress monitoring of an evidence-based practice.

While the continuum of mental health supports is available to all students, it is important for IEP teams to integrate these services and supports throughout a student’s IEP. By addressing a student’s strengths, mental health needs, and related skills over time, the implementation of the IEP can provide the programming a student needs to be successful in school and beyond.