Physical Health

The majority of our students are teen-aged boys. At this stage in life, these kids are going through the physical fight of their lives, they just don't know it. These kids not only have to deal with hormones, they have to deal with the medication that they have been taking (hopefully), not working as well anymore. It is not uncommon for a student to have to change up types and/or doses of medications several times throughout adolescence. 

What I have noticed is a lot of our boys and girls are severely overweight; which leads to self-esteem issues, which leads to poor choices outside of school including drugs, alcohol, and very poor diet. 

This year, one of our therapeutic day schools started a Wii fit pilot program. We were testing the hypothesis that if students with mental health issues got some physical activity throughout the day, their moods would be better, therefore increasing their PBIS points they earn, in turn helping improve their grades. What did we find? It's interesting...the students figured out a way to be the least active as possible. For example, if they were doing skiing, they figured out how to move your hand with the wand to make the avatar move, all the while sitting in a chair. Honestly, that's fantastic. Their intelligence never ceases to amaze me. However, the students who took the games seriously did indeed increase their PBIS earned points as well as dropping a few pounds. "Exercise promotes psychological and mental health." (Dolgin, 2011).

We have also tried to limit their junk food. I can recall one school we had in Pennsylvania that was simply out of control. The kids were disrespectful, often walking around the building with very little care about the rules or their education. You know what the district gave the students every morning for breakfast? Donuts. Greasy, glazed donuts. After witnessing this, I made a concerted effort to provide healthy snacks as incentives for the kids. Granola instead of chips, popcorn instead of Pop-tarts, white milk instead of chocolate.

TIPS:

1. Feed the kids breakfast. But not donuts. 

2. Increase the students physical activity.

3. Never underestimate their ability to find a loop hole.