The MentalSpace School Podcast

To the family quietly worried tonight — this one's for you. 💛 When a child has Tourette's, often with co-occurring OCD, it can feel isolating. But those tics and rituals aren't misbehavior. They're neurological, and your child is not choosing them. Signs you might see: • Repeated movements or voc Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guid...

Let's bust a myth: "Teens changing themselves to fit in is just a phase." Sometimes it is. But adolescent identity and peer-pressure stress can genuinely overwhelm a young person — reshaping their mood, confidence, and decisions. What to look for: • Rapidly shifting behavior or style to match a gr Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #Me...

Parents and educators: when a child has frequent headaches but the doctor finds nothing physically wrong, stress may be doing the talking. Psychophysiological (stress-related) headaches are common in kids who are carrying more than they can express. A few signs worth noticing: • Headaches that app Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceSchool...

If mealtimes with your young child have become a daily struggle, more than the usual 'I don't like that,' it may be worth understanding Pediatric Feeding Disorder. Almost every little one goes through picky phases, so how do you tell the difference? A feeding disorder is more intense and more persis Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #...

If your child comes undone at the sight of a needle, a dentist's chair, or even the doctor's waiting room, crying, shaking, or flat-out refusing to go, please hear this tonight: this fear is very common, and it can be overcome. Childhood Phobia of Medical and Dental Procedures is an intense, persist Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #Menta...

Here is a myth that piles shame onto kids who are already struggling: "A child who keeps picking at their skin is just fidgety and needs to be told to stop." In reality, Pediatric Excoriation (Skin-Picking) Disorder is a recognized body-focused repetitive behavior, not a habit and not misbehavior. I Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #Menta...

This is one of the most important things we will ever post, please read it and save it. If a teen you love is talking about wanting to die, feeling like a burden, or believing others would be better off without them, take it seriously every single time. Warning signs can include pulling away from pe Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceScho...

If a child you love is living with very real physical symptoms, seizure-like episodes, weakness or paralysis, trouble walking, blurred vision, difficulty speaking, that thorough medical testing cannot fully explain, please hear this tonight: the symptoms are real, your child is not faking, and there Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceScho...

A myth worth retiring: "A stressed, worn-out student just needs to push harder and power through." Often, pushing harder is exactly what deepens the problem. Childhood Academic Burnout and School Stress is chronic, school-related stress that has overwhelmed a child's ability to cope, leaving them em Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #...

A panic attack can be one of the most frightening experiences a teenager goes through, and it is just as frightening for the parents and teachers who witness it. Understanding what is happening is the first step toward real help. Adolescent Panic Attacks are sudden surges of intense fear that peak w Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceScho...

If you have discovered that a teen you love is using cannabis, and the worry is keeping you up tonight, please hear this: your concern is valid, and a calm, connected response is one of the most powerful things you can offer. Adolescent Cannabis Use is too often waved off as harmless, but the scienc Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceScho...

A question worth sitting with during a separation or divorce: when your child complains of a stomachache before school or melts down at bedtime, is it really about the stomach, or about the ground shifting beneath them? Childhood Anxiety in Family Transition and Divorce is a deeply common, deeply hu Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceScho...

Parenting or teaching a child who has both autism and ADHD can feel like supporting two children at once, because the two conditions often pull in opposite directions. Co-occurring Autism and ADHD is more common than many realize, and the overlap can make each one harder to see. At home and in the c Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceScho...

If you have a bright, friendly child who somehow keeps getting left out, who interrupts, blurts an off-topic story, takes jokes literally, or talks to the principal the same way they talk to a buddy, please hear this tonight: it may not be a behavior problem. It could be Social (Pragmatic) Communica Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceScho...

Let's bust a stubborn myth: "Bullying is just part of childhood, and it makes kids tougher." It does not. Persistent bullying is a real trauma exposure, and the way a child's nervous system responds to it can mirror anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress. A School Bullying and Trauma Respons Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Gu...

It is easy to assume a gifted child has it easy. But many bright students carry a hidden weight, and some are twice-exceptional (2e), meaning they are gifted AND live with a co-occurring challenge such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia, or an anxiety disorder. The trap is that giftedness can mask the disabi Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #MentalSpaceScho...

If a bright child is constantly called 'clumsy' — bumping into things, struggling to tie shoes, dreading handwriting, last picked because catching and kicking are so hard — it may not be carelessness. It could be Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD), also known as dyspraxia, a brain-based diffe Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #Menta...

Myth: 'She'll grow out of it — she's just picky.' Reality: there's a point where extreme picky eating becomes a recognized medical condition called ARFID (Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder). The difference is impact: weight loss or poor growth, nutritional deficiencies, needing supplements t Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Complian...

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is one of the most misunderstood conditions in a classroom. It develops in early childhood when a child experiences neglect, repeated caregiver changes, or instability before age 5 — and the basic wiring for trust and comfort doesn't get built. These kids aren't 'c Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #...

If your child panics at the thought of throwing ANYTHING away — wrappers, broken toys, stacks of paper — until their space overflows and bedtime becomes a battle, it may be more than "being a collector." Childhood hoarding and excessive saving behaviors are real, and they often sit alongside anxiety Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #Menta...

Myth: "Kids stutter because they're nervous, and they'll just grow out of it." Reality: Childhood-Onset Fluency Disorder (stuttering) is neurodevelopmental — not caused by anxiety or parenting, though the frustration and teasing can pile anxiety on top. Signs: repeating sounds or syllables, prolongi Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Gu...

Intellectual Developmental Disorder (formerly "intellectual disability") is a developmental condition that affects both reasoning and learning AND everyday adaptive skills — communication, daily living, and social judgment — beginning in childhood. It exists on a spectrum, and here's what matters mo Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #...

To every worn-out parent dealing with soiling accidents in a child who is "too old" for them — and every child drowning in secret shame — please hear this: Encopresis is medical, common, and NOT your child's fault or a behavior problem. Most cases are tied to chronic constipation that stretches the Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Guide #M...

Myth: "Kids don't have panic attacks — they're just being dramatic." Reality: children and teens can absolutely develop Panic Disorder. A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear with very real physical symptoms — racing heart, chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, a feeling of doom — th Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Gu...

Myth: "Kids don't have panic attacks — they're just being dramatic." Reality: children and teens can absolutely develop Panic Disorder. A panic attack is a sudden surge of intense fear with very real physical symptoms — racing heart, chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, a feeling of doom — th Generated from MentalSpace School: Georgia K-12 Mental Health and Compliance Gu...