When Students Need Emotional Support

One of the realities of teaching today is that most teachers work in classrooms with students identified with a wide variety of needs. We often focus on how to best accommodate our students with learning support needs, but when we welcome a student with emotional support needs into our classroom, it can really turn everything upside down. Students with emotional support needs often don’t “play by the same rules” as other students.

I have found the most valuable when dealing with Emotional Support students. Students who are dealing with this type of disability require the guidance and support of steadfast, reliable adults. They need to know that we will encourage them when they are at their best and that we will be fair and safe when they are at their worst. They will test us frequently to see if we are honest in our claims. Some of their tests will hurt. One of the hardest aspects of working with these students is the “one step forward, three steps back” feelings that occur when you feel you’ve made progress with a student one day only to have them act out the next. It is vital at these times to remain calm, to remind ourselves that we are professionals helping a hurt child, and that we promised we’d be here to support them.

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