Special Education

Teaching Students with Mental Health Disorders:
Resources for Teachers: Volume 1 - Eating Disorders

Teaching Students with Eating Disorders

When a student has been diagnosed with an eating disorder, does this mean the regular class routine will be disrupted? What kind of changes will have to be made in order to meet the needs of a student with an eating disorder?

While teachers need to be sensitive to the issues and characteristics of students with eating disorders, these students do not usually pose a classroom management concern. In fact, many students with eating disorders, particularly those with anorexia nervosa, are generally quiet, hardworking, even driven. In this sense, students with eating disorders do not present unusual behavioural management issues. The real challenge for the classroom teacher is to provide a supportive and safe learning environment, one that does not contribute to the student’s obsessive attention to food, weight gain or body image.

Strategies that may help educators support students with eating disorders are organized into the following four categories in this section:

  • Coping strategies for educators who support students with eating disorders.
  • Planning strategies to build a support network in the school.
  • Classroom strategies to support students with eating disorders.
  • Strategies to support extended treatment programs.
The challenge for the classroom teacher is to provide a supportive and safe learning environment that does not contribute to the student's obsessive attention to food, weight gain or body image.

Coping Strategies to Support Students with Eating Disorders

Coping strategies that will help educators to feel comfortable in their role, and to deal with issues that arise, when working with students with eating disorders include:

  • Identify people on the school staff or in the school district to whom you can turn for advice. Often, school counsellors can be helpful.
  • Share the advice and insights you have gathered from colleagues and health professionals with other educators. This is important to ensure that no teacher faces the challenge of working with a student with an eating disorder alone.
  • Meet regularly with support professionals, such as school administrators, counsellors and school nurses, to update progress and to reaffirm the commitment of the team to addressing the educational needs of students with eating disorders.

Planning Strategies to Build a Support Network in the School

When supporting students with health issues such as eating disorders, it is helpful to have a system in place to ensure liaison with other professionals and parents. The following strategies help to support effective planning:

  • Designate a key staff member as the school “case manager.” The case manager is responsible for communicating regularly with the medical treatment team of a student with an eating disorder, for passing on support strategies to school staff, and for staying in contact with the student’s parents. For example, a medical treatment team may recommend that a student with anorexia be excused from gym class. The case manager for that student would be responsible for passing this information to the appropriate teachers or counsellors who would then adjust the education program to reflect the needs of the student. In most secondary schools, case managers will be school counsellors or administrators.
  • Invite the student, his or her parents, and non-school professionals involved in the care of the student, to be part of the school-based team responsible for planning the student’s ongoing educational program. In severe or complex cases, the school may decide to establish an Individual Educational Plan (IEP), even if the student is in and out of hospital. Collaboration between educators and other service providers is necessary to achieve consistency and coordinated support for these students.
Share the advice and insights you have gathered from colleagues and health professionals with other educators.