Jefferson City, MO: District "now screening most of its...students for mental health problems"

April 29, 2018, Jefferson City, MO, Greenville News Tribune: Teachers watch over students' mental health http://www.newstribune.com/news/news/story/2018/apr/29/teachers-watch-over-students-mental-health/724054/ Jefferson City Public Schools is now screening most of its elementary students for mental health problems. Experts believe adverse childhood experiences can deeply affect the physical, social and emotional development of young children and those experiences can have effects much later in children's lives. Officials believe, with applications of interventions, the screenings will improve students' performance and increase the chances they'll be successful. The school system does the screenings with parents' permission. And the screenings are done without the students even having to know. At the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, teachers in elementary schools filled out Social, Academic and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener forms. School administrators use SAEBRS to evaluate students on certain behavioral criteria. The teachers filled them out again at the end of the academic year and at the beginning of this school year. SAEBRS gives a total score that indicates whether students are at-risk overall, said Bridget Frank, JCPS director of special services. It breaks down concerns into three different areas — social, behavioral and emotional. …