CSC CSC Mental Health & Wellness in Schools 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which physical symptom is most commonly associated with anxiety in school-age children?
- Excessive sleep and persistent lethargy
- Somatic complaints such as stomachaches or headaches (Correct answer)
- Increased appetite and significant weight gain
- Hyperactivity and severe impulsivity
Correct answer: Somatic complaints such as stomachaches or headaches
Children often express anxiety through physical symptoms because they lack the emotional vocabulary to articulate internal distress.
Question 2: Mindfulness-based interventions in schools primarily aim to:
- Replace medication management for students with ADHD
- Improve athletic performance and physical fitness outcomes
- Reduce emotional reactivity and increase self-regulation skills (Correct answer)
- Assess students' academic readiness and cognitive functioning
Correct answer: Reduce emotional reactivity and increase self-regulation skills
Mindfulness practices teach students to observe thoughts and feelings without judgment, building emotional regulation capacity over time.
Question 3: Protective factors that most strongly promote student resilience include:
- High-stakes testing and strong academic pressure
- Strict behavioral consequence systems and zero-tolerance policies
- Limiting extracurricular activities to maintain academic focus
- Supportive relationships, sense of belonging, and access to community resources (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Supportive relationships, sense of belonging, and access to community resources
Research consistently shows that at least one caring adult relationship and a sense of school belonging are among the strongest predictors of student resilience.
Question 4: The PHQ-A (Patient Health Questionnaire for Adolescents) is commonly used in school settings to screen for:
- Learning disabilities and cognitive processing delays
- Substance use disorders and addiction risk
- Depression and depressive symptoms (Correct answer)
- Autism spectrum disorder characteristics
Correct answer: Depression and depressive symptoms
The PHQ-A is a validated, self-report tool adapted for adolescents to identify symptom patterns consistent with depressive disorders.
Question 5: A Tier 2 MTSS intervention in school counseling would typically include:
- Universal classroom lessons delivered to all students school-wide
- Intensive individualized daily support for students in acute crisis
- Targeted small-group counseling for students at moderate risk (Correct answer)
- Psychiatric evaluation and medication management for eligible students
Correct answer: Targeted small-group counseling for students at moderate risk
Tier 2 provides targeted support — typically small groups of 5–10 students who need more than universal programming but less than intensive individualized intervention.
Question 6: When a school counselor suspects a student is experiencing food insecurity, the most appropriate first response is to:
- Report the situation to child protective services immediately
- Treat food insecurity as outside the school counselor's professional scope
- Connect the student and family to available school and community resources (Correct answer)
- Notify local media to raise public awareness of the issue
Correct answer: Connect the student and family to available school and community resources
Addressing basic needs is within the school counselor's scope of student advocacy — connecting students to free/reduced lunch programs, food banks, and community resources is a direct wellness intervention.
CSC CSC Mental Health & Wellness in Schools 2
Which physical symptom is most commonly associated with anxiety in school-age children?