One suggestion is to come up with steps to be overcome in dealing with a fear and planning a series of small exposures, building your child's ability to step outside his or her comfort zone and eventually conquer the fear. For example, the steps for a child who won't walk to school because of a fear of dogs would be:
1. Look at dog book with mom.
2. Look at dog behind fence in neighborhood or from across street.
3. Pet a neighbor's friendly dog, standing in front of the fence.
4. Spend 10 minutes outside in the yard when neighbor's dog is out on a leash.
5. Walk to school with mom.
6. GOAL: Walk to school with friend.
Next the author covers seven broad categories of common childhood fears and worries and problem anxieties, with information, personal stories, and loads of tips and ideas for intervening on each.
Specific chapters cover: everyday worries to generalized anxiety disorder; mini-scaries to real phobias; shyness to social anxiety and selective mutism; clinginess to separation anxiety and panic disorder; superstitions and rituals to obsessive-compulsive disorder and PANDAS; nervous habits to Tourette Syndrome and Trichotillomania; and acute stress to post-traumatic stress disorder. This section of the book's organization makes it easy to flip to the parts that are relevant for your own family.
The third part of the book includes chapters on the issue of sleep, since nighttime tends to be the toughest time for anxious children; the anxious child in the broader context of school, siblings, friends, and extended family; and how to talk to your child about real fears out in the world. A chart outlines sample school accommodations that might be made to help the anxious child. For example:
- Excused lateness or a delayed start in the morning for a child with multiple OCD morning rituals, medications that might make the child sleepy, or separation anxiety or panic.
- Tests or assignments taken orally rather than written for a child with OCD who is slowed down by perfectionism in writing.
- Reduced homework for a child recovering from trauma or a new diagnosis.
- Reduced public speaking, with oral reports taped or conducted one-on-one with a teacher, for a child with social anxiety.
- A free pass for brief breaks for a child with OCD, panic disorder, separation anxiety, or phobias.
- Preferential seating for assemblies for a child with panic disorder, OCD, or separation anxiety.
The book can also be found at Stratford Library and requested by mail through the Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center's Lending Library.
Read a book from the Stratford SEPTA Parent Resource Library? Write a brief review to share with other parents and educators. Contact: mezarik @ yahoo.com.
