Student NameAlyssa Clare
Faculty Mentor NameJoni Splett
CollegeCollege of Education
MajorBiology and Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience
Research InterestsUniversal mental health, education, behavioral screening
Academic AwardsDean's List (Fall 2017,Spring 2018)
OrganizationsStudent Honors Organization, Chi Omega Sorority, CLAS Ambassadors
Hobbies and InterestsMedicine, research, community service, swimming, water polo

Research Project

MTSS-MH Validation Study

Mental Health Screening in Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS-MH): The MTSS-MH project is a two-year, first step effort to identify practices that work to more efficiently identify children with social, emotional and behavioral needs and connect them to intervention and support services early. Although special education is not able to meet the needs of all students with social, emotional and behavioral challenges, if their needs are not addressed symptoms worsen and impact students’ learning and environment. Universal mental health screening, like academic benchmarking and progress monitoring, is a strategy to better identify and intervene early. However, many schools are hesitant to adopt universal mental health screening. Concerns with universal mental health screening include increased caseloads, limited access and acceptability of mental health services, and mismatched role with academic emphasis of school system. We will survey school personnel recently required to implement universal mental health screening about their perceptions regarding mental health service availability, accessibility, acceptability, and treatment burden to consider what concerns remain after initial implementation. Analyses will be descriptive and correlational to identify the most common concerns and distinctiveness. Results will inform future professional development and dissemination efforts.