Fall is here. A chill has entered the air, and the fiery reds and explosive oranges of the leaves are beginning to emerge on the trees.
It is the season when children excitedly and nervously prepare for a brand-new school year.
Most kids will blend in with a few social bumps and bruises. Yet, anxious children experience difficulties that may impact their transition and academic achievements throughout the school year.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Generalized Anxiety Disorder affects more than 40 million, or 19%, American adults. For kids aged 3-17, approximately 7% experience issues with anxiety.
Returning to school can be a huge source of anxiety for kids, especially if they have issues with separation already. Research shows that children who experience difficulty separating from a loved one often experience anxiety and even refuse to attend school.
Unlike adults, who are more likely to voice their feelings, school-aged children will present anxiety subtly, such as trying to avoid going to school or failing to hand in homework. These same children will often not participate in the classroom because they feel inferior, and their reluctance can be misconstrued as the child having a learning disability.
Children may also show anxiety through aggression or frequent trips to the school nurse with complaints of headaches or stomachaches. And yet another way researchers see anxiety present is with excessive calmness, which can unexpectedly be a sign of distress, according to researchers Grigoryeva, Sozonnik, and Grininia in their 2021 journal article titled The role of junior adolescents’ school well-Being/Ill-being characteristics in school anxiety variations.
Parents and caregivers may feel helpless when school anxiety arises in their children, but help is available. Anxious children need their parents or caregiver to support them through the anxiety and teach them how to tolerate life’s ups and downs.
One way to deal with anxiety involves listening to the child and making sure they feel heard, being careful not to amplify the child’s worries. For instance, a parent may agree that tests can be stressful but are a part of life. To help their child cope, parents can demonstrate breathing techniques and show them how counting and sensory exercises can help assuage their child’s anxiety in many situations.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can also help a child who experiences anxiety.
A therapist educated in CBT, like ours at Breathe Easy Therapy Services, can help the child understand the connections between the anxiety, behaviors, and thoughts they are experiencing. Our therapists can help put the child on a path to eliminate the emotional and physical distress that accompanies anxiety and help them face situations they would have previously avoided.
For more information, please reach out to us here.
References
Ehmke, Rachel. (2022) How Does Anxiety Affect Kids in School? Child Mind Institute, Inc., https://childmind.org/article/classroom-anxiety-in-children/
Grigoryeva, M. V., Sozonnik, A. V., & Grinina, E. S. (2021). The role of junior adolescents’ school well-Being/Ill-being characteristics in school anxiety variations. European Journal of Investigation in Health, Psychology, and Education, 11(3), 878. https://doi-org.library.capella.edu/10.3390/ejihpe11030065
Walter, Heather J., Bukstein, Oscar G., Abright, A. Reese, Keable, Helene, Ramtekkar, Ujjwal, Ripperger-Suhler Jane, Rockhill, Carol. (2020) Clinical Practice Guideline for the Assessment and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Anxiety Disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 59(10):1107–1124. https://www.jaacap.org/article/S0890-8567(20)30280-X/fulltext
