ABSTRACT
This chapter helps teachers through a major policy shift from BESD to social, emotional and mental health difficulties (SEMH). In March 2011, both the secretary of state for education and minister of state for children and families proposed a 'new direction' for working with children with special educational needs and disabilities. Unfortunately, BESD and SEMH are interpreted by some teachers as negative labels and therefore viewed as what defines the individual child; they look at the difficulty 'tag' as what needs to be fixed – the medical/deficit model of 'presenting' difficult or the current popular term challenging behaviours. Many people when they hear that a pupil has behavioural difficulties instantly think that the pupil is disruptive. The chapter explores the underlying factors that impact not only on our own mental health and emotional well-being, but also significantly on children whose behaviours are anxiety-driven and experience high-risk factors in their lives, many on a daily basis.
