LITERATURE REVIEW

Common Problems of Elementary Students

Ilyne Dela Cruz Reyes

LITERATURE REVIEW

Abstract

Difficulties and problems are a necessary and important but often inevitable aspect of the

learning process. This appears to be especially true for complicated learnings. Challenges in the

learning process, on the other hand, are difficult to notice and respond to in an educational

setting, as teachers are unable to give detailed and personalized instruction due to growing class

sizes and increased use of digital tools. Individual variances, learning activity characteristics, and

the difficulty of providing individual feedback in big classrooms and digital contexts that adds to

the difficulty of responding to student challenges and confusion. We want to look at learning

issues and the emotional responses that come with them in this integrative review.

This article reports a research study conducted with different researchers all over the world

accompanied by a review and literature in the field of this study. The study investigated

questions concerning common difficulties and problems of elementary students, the possible

reasons for these difficulties, and how teachers and parents can help these students overcome

these problems.

The study aims to review the principles of the cognitive aspects of an elementary child and

contrast these principles with other research on difficulties, productive failure, and learning. As

a way of conceptualizing the parameters of difficulties experienced by students while they learn,

we conclude with model learning and true-to-life examples of the researcher’s work of study.
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INTRODUCTION

As the social interaction with the use of technology and social media emerges in young people,

there also increases the problems and struggles of these young people that create the most

common problems at an early age. As students become more engaged with new developments,

the benefits and drawbacks of increased usage of technology have become apparent.

In this review, we will discuss issues that have become evident in digital learning environments

but are relevant to all educational settings, particularly as also one of the common problems of

elementary students.

The existence of problems while learning is often accompanied by an emotional response.

Emotion, more broadly, plays a vital role in the integration of new knowledge with prior

knowledge. This is the case in brain imaging studies (e.g., LeDoux, 1992), laboratory-based

studies (e.g., Isen et al., 1987), and applied educational studies (e.g., Pekrun, 2005). A clear

example of how emotion can impact the learning process is where it creates an obstacle to

learning, reflected in, for example, the vast body of work that has examined the detrimental

effect of anxiety on the learning of the elementary students in this time of digital age.

In primary school settings, discipline concerns constitute a barrier to children's learning. There

are a variety of factors that influence a student's classroom behavior both positively and

negatively, and previous literature was reviewed and analyzed to gain a clear understanding of
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the techniques, relationships, and structures that are conducive to fostering positive classroom

behavior. Close coordination between parents and teachers, the building and maintaining of a

trustful environment in the class, a solid support structure that teachers can rely on, and good

methods for communication between teachers and students all help in creating a positive learning

environment and reducing the behavioral issues exhibited by children that can slow down the

pace of learning.
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BODY

The elementary education system today faces many issues and problems of interest not just to

educators and families but also to the students themselves. I cannot discuss all these issues here,

but I will highlight some of the most interesting and important points discussed by the

researchers in the world of related literature.

1. Parental Abuse

According to The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) study done in 2006 and through a

mandatory training called: A Training Curriculum for Mandated Reporters in 2014, the most

common predator is a woman. With 54% of cases being reported the abuser is a woman, usually

the mother of the child. Child abuse is a topic that is spoken about all the time. Yet child abuse

too many are only seen as someone who has sexually abused a child, without realizing there are

more categories in the broad topic of child abuse itself.

Child abuse is a topic no one wants to speak of, yet it must be done. From information gathered

through an article from The New York Times, child abuse is on the decline with a 60% from

1992 to 2010 according to the statistics done by the F.B.I. Although child abuse is on the decline,

not reporting a suspicion of child abuse is on the increase, as well as a child not speaking up.
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Child maltreatment refers to the physical and emotional mistreatment, sexual abuse, neglect, and

negligent treatment of child, as well as to their commercial or other exploitation,” (Butchart and

Phinney 2006, p. 7). But what makes a child vulnerable to this violation? It’s all due to their age

and their emotional and social status that makes it difficult for them to speak up and stop the

abuse. A child should feel safe at home, because it's home, yet it’s precisely these places where

children are being abused, the space they should feel protected, yet it’s the opposite of protection

and affection that a child should be receiving in the place they call home.

The existence of child abuse is a reality of contemporary society. Although various organizations

and researchers have been making progress in the struggle against abuse, it has not been

decisively dealt with thus far. (Theoklitou, D & Kabitsis)

Most of the research on abuse has focused on the abuse of children in their family environment.

The study utilized a questionnaire with a 5-point rating scale, with questions concerning physical

abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect, which was completed in class by a sample of

schoolchildren. The sample consisted of 1,339 pupils in the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade of primary

school in the Republic of Cyprus, who lived in both urban and rural areas. More than half

(52.9%) of the pupils reported neglect, almost a third (33.1%) reported emotional abuse and

almost one-tenth (9.6%) reported physical abuse. The results of the statistical analysis revealed

statistically significant differences between the 2 genders (p.001), with boys being the most

vulnerable group, with regards to all forms of abuse, but no significant differences between the 3

grades and the teachers' gender (p..05). There were no significant differences between the 2

genders, the 3 grades, and the teachers' gender with regards to the frequency of any form of

abuse (p.05). The gender of the pupils seems to be related to abuse, since more boys than girls
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reported being victims of abuse, while abuse does not depend on the school grade or the teacher's

gender. (Theoklitou, D & Kabitsis, N & Kabitsi, A., 2011)

The present study revealed that abused adolescents were found vulnerable for mental health

problems and this study is a timely effort in the right direction to caution and guide parents,

teachers, pediatricians, and mental health professionals on the unrecognized psychological abuse

and under-reported mental health problems.

Many people do not consider child abuse to be a concern in a child's development, yet it is. If left

untreated, child abuse can have such a negative impact on a child's development that it will last

until they are adults. Issues with conduct, relationships, and mental and physical problems are

some of the consequences.

According to Walsh (1990), “…growing up in a numerically truncated family, one that lacks

broad social support and intellectual stimulation, may result in retarded verbal skills…” Lack of

support due to the child being abused can cause more than just verbal skill problems but as well

include short-term memory and anxiety. These listed problems are only some of the issues child

abuse can cause; if the child already has problems when other students or friends hear him speak

the child will fall under stress because he will be bullied due to his verbal skills.

“Empirical research on child maltreatment has noted that maltreated children are more likely to

evidence problems with emotion regulation and has indicated that this dysregulation may be the

result of inadequate instruction or modeling by parents” (p. 4) Children who are at risk due to

being abused physically are the one who is more likely to develop aggressive and disruptive

behaviors. (Teisl and Cicchetti, 2008)

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Although many of us believe that child abuse will only harm the child for a certain amount of

time, literature tells us otherwise. A child who has been abused is more likely to suffer during

their stage of development, meaning that as their development cycle continues the child will

continue growing at their different development stages yet it doesn’t mean that the effects that

child abuse had on the child development won’t affect their adulthood.

Glaser’s (2000) journal article discusses how and why a child’s developments change after they

have been abused for example; they discuss how a child’s brain with experiences from negative

environments will be the ones to affect the future development and functioning of the child’s

knowledge. “…findings show the emotionally neglected children to be socially withdrawn,

inattentive, and cognitively underachieving in their elementary-school years” (Glaser 2000, p.

98).

If children received the appropriate help from caregivers and counselor’s children would be able

to develop positive behaviors and attitudes that will benefit them in the long run compared to

children who go unattended with no support, allow children to understand what happened and

provide different approaches to the situation without making the child feel unsafe.

In my opinion, further research should be conducted on this topic and should be done in school

settings. If these children are being abused at home, the second place they feel most safe would

be at school; where children have teachers that care about them and their safety.

What school instructors and staff do to assist abused children can be investigated through

research. In addition, the research should look into whether any teachers or staff members inform

their students about child abuse, what they should be aware of, and how a child may avoid or

stop it from happening.

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The focus of research should be on distinguishing between a student's conduct that is due to a

bad day and a child's behavior that is due to abuse and has resulted in behavior disorders. The

capacity to have answers to these questions as future teachers is advantageous to a teacher

entering a classroom for the first time.

2. Bullying

Bullying is a persistent issue in the lives of children. It is a problem that impacts all students,

including those who bully, those who are bullied, and those who witness interpersonal violence.

Verbal and physical assaults, threats, jokes, ridiculing and criticizing, demeaning behavior, and

facial expressions are all examples of bullying.

School bullying has increased in severity since the media represented school shootings, provoked

by students who were victims of bullying, has intensified. School shootings pose serious

consequences of bullying. However, most bullying occurs in covert ways, in areas where no

adults are around, which makes it hard for counselors to notice bullying in its true form (Cole et

al., 2006). Due to the increasing severity of bullying in schools, national studies have been

conducted to determine the extent of bullying and the impact it has on elementary students.

(Cole, Cornell, and Sheras. 2006)

Bullying is hard to eradicate in classrooms because pupils utilize it so effectively. Teachers must

deal with it strictly and professionally. Bullying in whatever form should not be underestimated.

Bullying must be acknowledged, comprehended, and taken seriously.

Those who are directly or indirectly involved in bullying are at increased risk of misbehavior,

abuse, and absenteeism from school. Thus, bullying creates barriers to learning with negative

outcomes on part of both students and institutions. Students may be burlier and sometimes act as
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a bully according to the situation. Bullying among students not only decreases their academic

performance but also causes mental health problems and physical injury. Bullying may refer to

the situation of “getting picked on” by others. It happens to different types of repeatedly

occurring threats, harassments, abuse, ill-treatment, and victimization. The phenomenon of

“getting picked on” may extend from a few pupils in the class, who are chronically and

frequently targeted by friends to a wide range of social contexts. Previous research studies of

Hoover et al., (1992) have established bullying as peer harassment or peer victimization in this

social context of bullying. Consequently, an individual may play the role of bully in one instant

and maybe a victim in another situation depending on the power displayed. (Association of

School Psychologists, 2012)

Further, bullying impacts schools and communities. They suggested some characteristics of

schools that promote bullying. The students studying in such schools feel unsafe, overt behavior,

mistrust, and gang formation. They do all these to promote bullying or to protect the group from

bullying. Moreover, bullying is not a result of large or small class sizes or academic competition.

Underlying violent conduct is the behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes of all the persons involved, be

they affection, regard.

Bullying in elementary schools is a prevalent problem facing more elementary youth. In a survey

completed by sixth through tenth graders, almost one in five students disclosed that they have

bullied their classmates (Cole et al., 2006).

Staniszewski (2003) noted that "in a national study of bullying, 13 % of sixth-graders reported

being a victim of bullying at least once a week, 10% reported being responsible for bullying
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someone, and in a study of third-graders, approximately 40% of the children reporting being

victims of physical or verbal aggression" (p. 4 31 ).

In another study completed with kindergarteners, almost half of the kindergarteners reported

bullying of some kind (Staniszewski, 2003 ). Furthermore, in another study, more than 50% of

the people who reported being a bully in elementary school had some kind of criminal record ten

to fifteen years later (Bauman & Del Rio, 2006). These national reports indicate that bullying is a

serious problem, with increasing victimization occurring with younger children, resulting in

more serious problems later in life.

Because bullying is a serious concern in schools, programs must be implemented at the

elementary level to combat the effects early on. Children who exhibit aggression at a young age

may have problems with aggression or delinquency when they are older.

If the bullying problem is not addressed in younger children, it may lead to more serious

problems later on in life. It is also important to understand the motivation of the bully so

counselors can not only help victims cope with bullying, but help bullies develop appropriate

social skills and work through their feelings and problems. Developing and implementing

intervention programs to combat bullying early on is just one task of a school counselor. Victims

of bullying may develop symptoms that pose a serious risk to their development and negatively

impact their learning in the classroom.

Bullying can lead to physical problems as a result of fear and worry, as well as school

absenteeism, poor academic performance, and general distraction in the classroom. (Bauman &

Del Rio, 2006). However, not only can victims of bullying have symptoms, but bullies may also
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face internal and external consequences. In certain ways, the bully may also experience

symptoms as a result of the bullying. Physical, social, and emotional symptoms are all possible.

To fight the detrimental impacts of bullying, interventions targeted at promoting children's

healthy development are required. Interventions for individuals, groups, classrooms and the

entire school are needed to be implemented such as training for all school personnel, i.e.

teachers, administrators, and other school staff to intervene effectively and reinforce the

importance of bullying prevention and reaction efforts in and outdoor settings. The district

school administration regularly encouraged school heads to monitor bullying rates and identify

vulnerable pupils by some sort of survey. Teachers should also remain in contact through parent-

teacher meetings with pupils, parents/guardians and monitor students’ friendship patterns, and

probe why certain children do not have or seem not to have at least one friend; they might be

suffering from being bullied.

All schools should be encouraged to establish some kind of peer support systems, possibly with

the help of educationists, parents or school psychologists, and other professionals. Teachers,

professionals, and concerning authorities should develop a system of regularly monitoring the

causes of students frequently absent from school.

3. Poor Social Skills

Social skills enable us to connect with others and engage in fruitful relationships. Troubles with

these abilities can cause issues in a variety of areas of life. This covers school, employment,

home, and community activities.

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People may have difficulty socializing. It can be difficult to blend in, build connections, and

collaborate with others because of this. People may avoid connecting because they feel alone and

isolated in their struggles. If this has been a struggle even for young adults, how much more for

young people down to elementary pupils.

“Under the realm of behaviorism, the intellect, feelings, and emotions of a person's inner life are

not observable or measurable and therefore not investigated. Thus, a behavioral educator would

advocate that effective learning is best accomplished by a change in behavior and relies heavily

upon behavioral objectives to accomplish the teaching-learning task” (Birzer 2004, pg 393).

Classroom teachers have long recognized the importance of social and behavior skills, viewing

cooperation, self-control, and other social skills as critical to achieving academic and behavioral

success (Lane, Pierson, & Giver, 2003; Lane, Wehby, & Cole, 2006).

Because of their lack of academic skills and inability to constructively engage in classroom

learning, some students engaged in inappropriate behavior such as inattentiveness during

instructional periods and aggressive behavior toward classmates and teachers to avoid

embarrassment in front of their peers. The process of learning occurs because our learning is

associated with a condition and that condition is the environment (Terry Crow, Lian-Ming Tian

2006).

As such, we learn from our interactions with our environment or surroundings. Lacking in either

or both social and academic study skills, the high school student failed to achieve and enjoy a

successful educational experience.

Hence, most students engaged in inappropriate classroom behavior because they lacked the basic

educational foundations to be in the classroom, and as a consequence, these students, to avoid

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looking unintelligent in front of their classmates or peers, engaged in inappropriate behavior they

know will get them tossed out of class, into detention, suspended from school, or created

aversive interactions with the teacher resulting in the teacher avoiding the student (and unlikely

to provide direct education instructions.

Ray and Elliott (2006) tested whether a student’s self-concept, social skills, and social support

influence academic achievement. The participants varied in race, sex, and grade level.

Attempting to explain their finding, Parke, et. al. (1998), suggested that the behavioral pattern

and skills that the student brings to the educational setting are likely to carry over to the

classroom learning environment. Secondly, the student’s ability to concentrate and direct their

attention during classroom instruction, while varies from student to student, impacts the student’s

cognitive tasks and interaction. A third explanation can be related to the interpersonal

relationship between the teacher and child. (Parke, et. al 1998).

Students learn much about fairness, injustice, and problem-solving through play and many

children grow into social competence through negotiation, taking turns, and internalizing rules,

and making friends. Unless there is the teaching of social skills, role-playing and modeling for

these students, these students face learning of negative consequences for negative social

interaction between their teachers and classmates.

Brigman, Webb & Campbell (2007), performed a study to evaluate a school counselor-led

Student Success Skills (SSS) program on the academic and social competence of students. The

purpose was to determine if an intervention was induced regarding students needing social skills

and whether such inducement would have a collateral positive effect on the academic success of
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the student. The SSS was built on a set of skills and strategies consistently correlated with

positive skills and academic achievement.

However, that doesn’t mean social abilities are set in stone. There are ways to build skills so it’s

easier to connect with other people and have better interactions.

Social skills instruction should be mandated and included in the curriculum by educational

leaders and administrators. Teachers should be required to teach social skills to their students,

and these instructions should be included in the course lesson plans. Improving a student's social

skills improves his or her academic talents through mastery and performance.

I, on the other hand, adds to this information that not only these circumstances affect a child's

social skills but also because of the major hindrance that is now occurring in this digital age and

that is the lack of a child to socially interact with his co-person such as his family, friends, and

neighbors. The major part of this is because nowadays, children are always facing their digital

phones 24/7. Before they play games outside with old games played physically with their friends

and neighbors, but look at now, they play games with their phones, they interact with their

phones which most often than not leads to depression caused by seeking approval from society

such as counting the likes and reactions of their status and photos posted on their social media)

This does not only happen to teenagers but also even in the early age of youth.

Human beings have fundamental needs to belong and to relate, for which interpersonal

communication is the key (Baumeister & Leary, 1995; Wang, 2013).

The social media platforms and the easy access to the Internet bring about the potential for social

media addiction, namely, the irrational and excessive use of social media to the extent that it

interferes with other aspects of daily life. Social media addiction is associated with a host of
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emotional, relational, health, and performance problems. Understanding the causes,

consequences, and remedies of social media addiction is thus of paramount importance.

In the study of Dr.G.Mettilda Buvaneswari on Social Networking Addiction among Adolescents,

she stated that the popularity of social networking sites increased rapidly in the last decade. This

is probably due to the reason that college and university students, as well as teens, used it

extensively to get global access. These social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook

have become a raging craze for everyone nowadays. The negative effects of these social

networking sites overweigh the positive ones. These sites have caused some potential harm to

society. The students become victims of social networks more often than anyone else. This is

because when they are studying or searching their course material online, they get attracted to

these sites to kill the boredom in their study time, diverting their attention from their work. Other

negative side effects of social networking websites include Reduced learning and research

capabilities, Multitasking, Reduction in real human contact, Time wastage, Low grades, Getting

Isolated, and the likes. As it states that one of the negative effects is getting isolated which

connects from the child’s ability to socially connect to the people around him and to his

environment.

During the past decade, online social networking has caused profound changes in people’s

communication and interaction. Several studies have indicated that the prolonged use of social

networking sites (SNS), such as Facebook, may be related to signs and symptoms of depression.

In addition, some authors have indicated that certain SNS activities might be associated with low

self-esteem, especially in children and adolescents.

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Other studies have presented opposite results in terms of the positive impact of social networking

on self-esteem. The relationship between SNS use and mental problems to this day remains

controversial, and research on this issue is faced with numerous challenges. This concise review

focuses on the recent findings regarding the suggested connection between SNS and mental

health issues such as depressive symptoms, changes in self-esteem, and Internet addiction.

The results revealed that many students used social media especially Facebook, and spent

increasing amounts of quality time on these networks.

The findings of this study suggested that social media could negatively impact the students’

social behavior, academic progress and that timed-off software should be installed to control its

use by students. Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe, et.al (2011).

It was insisted by the authors that parents needed to be aware of the nature of social media sites,

given that not all of them are healthy environments for children and adolescents. Pediatricians

are in a unique position to help families understand those sites and to encourage healthy use and

urged parents to monitor for potential problems with cyberbullying, “Facebook depression,”

sexting, and exposure to inappropriate content.

The adolescent stage is a phase of physical and psychological transformation. Young people are

frequently regarded as a healthy group. Adolescents' use of social media has both positive and

negative consequences. Adolescents' physical and psychological development is harmed by

social networking. Aggressive conduct, deviant behavior, health problems, and other issues that

arise as a result of social addiction are detrimental to both individual and national development.
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Adolescents are the nation's foundation. As a result, adolescents should utilize social networking

sites responsibly and within reasonable boundaries.

CONCLUSION

Parents, Teachers, and Mentors play a vital role not only in the development of these elementary

students who faced and are facing the named most common problems but also in solving and

guiding them to minimize and eradicate the dangerous effects of these problems. The discussion

was only the most common one but in the society we live in, there are still problems that need to

be resolved which the elementary students are facing. They not only serve as a lecturer, observer,

and spectator but ultimately as a parent and one who deeply cares for the nourishment and future

of these elementary students who have a great future ahead of them.

The number of students with a serious mental illness has risen significantly over the past few

years. A systematic review was conducted that addressed the emotional and or mental health

problems of students worldwide. In total, 572 articles were identified, of which 11 met inclusion

criteria. Issues identified included types of problems experienced by students, how staff dealt

with these students, barriers to seeking help, tools that facilitated help-seeking and
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epidemiological trends in the student population. Recommendations include (i) providing better

links between the school and external mental health providers, and (ii) increasing students'

awareness of existing support services within and external to the school. As it is unrealistic to

expect all academic staff to have the expertise required to deal with students with emotional

problems, it is also recommended that (iii) policies and personnel with expertise in mental health

care available to guide staff.

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