1. Read…Reassure…Repeat By Shayla Miller

2. A Remedy of Reading: Breaking Through Bipolar Disorder How does reading impact the intense mood swings felt by one bipolar student?

3. Why Her? Why This Topic? Free therapy Both book worms My college experience Our first encounter

4. How Did We Get Here? Fernbank Elementary Emory/ CDC Inclusion Classroom Homeschooled Until Now Midyear Entry into Class

5. How Will We Get Answers? Interview student Reading Interest Survey Interview parent Journal entries Observations

6. Who Is She? 10 years old, White female Early puberty, tall and thin Homeschooled/ Brilliant Quiet, reserved, and mature Massive amounts of family tension

7. What Does Everyone Else Think? Students weird mean scary quiet sad Teachers troubled scarred lonely angry mentally disturbed

8. What is She Like? In-School depends on the day depends on the observer helpful withdrawn loves reading and writing unmotivated playful moody Out-of-School depends on the day depends on the observer happy angry swimming and piano won’t eat or sleep childlike adolescent tendencies emotional

9. What She Says… “I love reading. I disappear from here and go there and no one sees me but I’m there.” “It calms me down. I get really mad and I don’t know why…and if people let me read then I’m fine.” “I’ll read it but I really only like when things are stories. Everything should be a story.”

10. I Finally Figured Her Out Before unfinished work no motivation for school or work unhappy and temperamental sloppy least amount of effort possible After more class participation USUALLY smiling completes work homework still an issue pride in work better penmanship more detailed

11. What Was Used? Materials historical fiction newspaper articles blogs journal entries novel study packets reading inventories pretests Strategies choices, choices, choices adaptive scheduling comics, poems, and kids’ books collaborative learning directed reading literature searches

12. What Did I Learn About Her? interviews and inventories showed: – manages mood swings with reading – escapes peer judgment with reading journal and observations showed: – heightened stress over peer assumptions – reading allows her to forget being different

13. What Did I Learn About Teaching? don’t judge a book by its cover you can’t fix all problems, but you can help ease the stress great need for teacher training in mental disorders

14. What’s Next For Her? individualized education plan opportunities to co-teach long, hard journey with medicines, treatments, and therapy