Childhood anxiety

Helping children manage childhood anxiety requires a team approach from all of us including parents and teachers. 

Link to YaleNews

Link to the abstract in the Journal of American Academy of Childhood & Adolescent Psychiatry

YaleNews

New way to combat childhood anxiety: treat the parents

By Bill Hathaway

march 12, 2019

Yale researchers have developed an innovative way to address an epidemic of anxiety disorders afflicting the nation’s children: treat the parents.

A new program developed at Yale that counsels parents is as effective in treating common anxiety disorders as cognitive behavioral therapy for the child, according to a randomized trial of the two therapies published in the Journal of the American Academy of Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatry.

One in three children will experience clinically a significant anxiety disorder before adulthood. Unless treated, many will become anxious adults.

“There are currently two evidence-based treatments for anxiety — medication and cognitive behavioral therapy,” said Eli Lebowitz, associate director of the Anxiety and Mood Disorders Program at the Yale Child Study Center and lead author of the study. “Yet only half the children respond to these therapies, so there is a great need for alternate treatments.” The new program called SPACE developed at Yale helps parents handle issues arising from living with an anxious child.

Parents of anxious children almost always try to accommodate their child, Lebowitz said. For instance, if the child suffers from social anxiety, no friends are invited to the house; in the case of separation anxiety, parents sleep with the child or never leave the home. Parents constantly reassure a child with generalized anxiety. While the responses of parents are natural, studies have shown they also leave children suffering from debilitating anxiety into adulthood, Lebowitz said.

Researchers randomly assigned 124 children ages 7 to 14 with diagnosed anxiety disorders to either receive cognitive behavioral therapy or their parents were enrolled in 12 weekly counseling sessions to help them better cope with the anxious child. For instance, a parent assigned to SPACE gradually reduced the dozens of text messages a day they sent their child to two or three. Parents who repeatedly kept their child out of school because of anxiety-related stomach aches learned to say, “I know you are feeling upset right now, but I know you will be okay” and sent their child to school.

Both approaches were equally efficacious in reducing anxiety symptoms in children and stress levels of parents, researchers found. “Accommodating’’ behavior by parents was substantially reduced among those who received SPACE counseling.

Lebowitz said he hopes to train therapists to offer the program now that its efficacy has been established. But what parents shouldn’t do is ignore the problem, he cautions.

“Severe anxiety is a serious condition which damages children, disrupts family life, and in some cases leads to suicide,” he said.

Wendy K. Silverman, the Alfred A. Messer Professor in the Child Study Center and professor of Psychology, is senior author of the study.

The research was primarily funded by the National Institute of Mental Health.

Related article: Philly News Inquirer

Getting ready for the 2018-2019 school year

The Mitchell Sandpipers

We would like to welcome back students and families to what will surely be an exciting year ahead. We'd also like to extend an extra warm welcome to our youngest new students and their families.

For the parents and caregivers for incoming Kindergarten students Helping Kindergartners succeed - things you can do is a packet that I put together that highlights some of the most effective ways you can help your student thrive in school.

FAQ's about Kindergarten is the handout that we distributed at the spring Kindergarten registration dates. Now would be a good time to review the information and gradually share relevant parts with your child. The more your child knows about what to expect coming into Kindergarten, the smoother the transition will be.

And for all of our Mitchell School parents and students, here is an article from The New York Times 6 Things Parents Should Know About Sending Kids Back to School.  And below you'll find an oldie-but-goodie collection of resources from Edutopia.  I encourage you to check out their Back to School Basics videos. They are quite good!

Back-to-School Resources for Parents

Find resources to help children begin school with a positive mindset, support their transition into a new school year, and prepare them for fall learning.

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: AUGUST 20, 2014 | UPDATED: AUGUST 2, 2016

Resources by Topic:

• Back-to-School Advice and Checklists
• Easing the Back-to-School Transition
• Tech Tips for a New School Year
• Gearing Up for Fall Learning
• The Power of Parental Involvement

Back-to-School Advice and Checklists

• Five-Minute Film Festival: Building a Parent Toolkit: Watch curated videos from the Parent Toolkit website on topics like stress reduction, healthy eating, homework, and more; Back to School Basics includes a collection of back-to-school videos for parents. (Edutopia, 2015)
• Best Back-to-School Tips: Listen to this podcast about preparing students to head back to school and developing morning routines. For more on this topic, also consider reading "Getting Back in the School Year Routine." (Greater Good Science Center, 2012)
• Back-to-School Health and Safety Tips: Browse advice about issues like backpack safety, transportation, bullying prevention, nutrition, before- and after-school childcare, study habits, and more. (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2015)
• 19 Meaningful Questions You Should Ask Your Child’s Teacher: Mine this list for inspiration before talking with your children's teachers. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Back to School: Find information about back-to-school shopping on a budget, getting organized, and supporting children academically in these back-to-school articles. Before back-to-school night, you may want to take a look at Back-to-School Night Basics. (GreatSchools)

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Easing the Back-to-School Transition

• Guiding Our Children Through School Transitions: Transitions can be both exciting and anxiety-inducing for both children and parents. Discover tips for helping students transition into elementary school, middle school, high school, and post-secondary education. (Parent Toolkit, 2014)
• Parents: Start with the A: Start the school year with inspiration and enthusiasm by celebrating your child's strengths and interests. (Edutopia, 2013)
• 9 Tips for Parents If Your Child Is Changing Schools: Moving to a new school can be a bewildering experience for students. Here are some tips to ease the transition. (The Huffington Post, 2013)
• Nervous? How We Can Help Kids Transition Back to School: In this podcast, learn about strategies that can help kids manage change and calm their nerves about starting a new school year. (Greater Good Science Center, 2011)
• Back to School Books: Read a book with your child as a springboard for discussing feelings about back-to-school; this guide includes recommendations for preschool through grade six. For more book suggestions, you might also want to check out Understood.org's "5 Great Back-to-School Books for Kids in Grades 1–4." (Bank Street School of Education)
• Start School Strong: A Back-to-School Guide for Kids With Learning and Attention Issues: Find a variety of resources -- including live chats with experts, downloads, and more -- to help children get organized, process their feelings, and establish routines. (Understood, 2016)

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Tech Tips for a New School Year

• Four Tools to Improve Communication Between Home and School: Read about online and mobile tools that can help parents engage with schools in this post by #PTChat co-moderator and #ParentCamp founding organizer Gwen Pescatore. (Teaching Channel, 2015)
• Your Ultimate Back to School Guide: Explore back-to-school advice and guidance related to managing technology in school and at home. (Common Sense Media)
• Creating a Family Media Agreement: How to Have the Conversation: Learn how creating a family agreement on media use can help your family balance media use and time on schoolwork during the first weeks of school. (Edutopia, 2013)

For more tips and guidance about managing media and technology use, check out these other posts from Edutopia:

• Technology at Home: Developing the Social Self (Edutopia, 2013)
• Young Kids and Technology at Home (Edutopia, 2013)

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Gearing Up for Fall Learning

• Five-Minute Film Festival: Nine Boosts for Summer Learning: Watch a playlist of videos with fun ideas to re-engage kids in their learning process during the last days of summer. (Edutopia, 2013)
• Homework and Developing Responsibility: Developing study habits early is crucial for long-term academic success. Find tips and ideas for encouraging effective habits in reading, math, and writing. (American Academy of Pediatrics, Updated 2015)
• Teaching Good Study Habits: Minute by Minute: Explore advice, timed exercises, and games to help adolescents study effectively. (Edutopia, 2016)
• School Success Prep: Growth Mindset Praise: Listen to a podcast on how to talk to kids about schoolwork. (Greater Good Science Center, 2011)
• What Do Parents Need to Know About the Common Core?: Wondering how you can support learning under the Common Core in a new school year? Discover some resources that will help. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Milestones: Watch a free collection of videos aimed at helping parents understand grade-level expectations for children in grades K-12. (GreatSchools)

For more parent strategies around homework, take a look at these other blog posts from Edutopia:

• Homework vs. No Homework is the Wrong Question (Edutopia, 2015)
• Homework, Sleep, and the Student Brain (Edutopia, 2014)

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The Power of Parental Involvement

• Parent Partnership in Education: Resource Roundup: Discover tips, tools, and strategies to help parents engage in a productive way with teachers and schools. (Edutopia, 2014)
• Parental Involvement in Schools: Browse a report that discusses the positive effects of parental involvement in schools. A downloadable version is also available. For more on the research about what types of parental involvement work best, you may also want to read Back to School: How Parent Involvement Affects Student Achievement from the Center for Public Education. (Child Trends DataBank, 2013)
• Beyond Back-to-School Night: Parents and Teachers as Allies: Take a look at tips for parents on how to build closer, more supportive relationships with teachers. (Edutopia, 2012)
• Parent Involvement Checklist: Bookmark a checklist that can help educators and parents evaluate how well their school is reaching out to parents and explore how to work together to improve the quality of parent-school partnerships. (Reading Rockets/Project Appleseed, 2008)

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Bringing Attendance Home

Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow

Learn how parents can improve school attendance in this excellent video produced by Attendance Works. Missing just 2 days a month means a child misses 10% of the school year.

Bringing Attendance Home: Parent Video from Rachel Auerbach on Vimeo.

Attendance matters!

Attendance matters! Did you know that...

1. Good attendance helps children do well in school and eventually in the workplace. Good attendance matters for school success, starting as early prekindergarten and throughout elementary school. By middle and high school, poor attendance is a leading indicator of dropout. Developing the habit of attendance prepares students for success on the job and in life.
2. Excused and unexcused absences quickly add up to too much time lost in the classroom, starting in kindergarten and even pre-k, especially for the most vulnerable populations.
3. Students are at risk academically if they miss 10 percent of the school year, or about 18 days. Once too many absences occur, they can affect learning, regardless of whether absences are excused or unexcused.
   • Sporadic, not just consecutive, absences matter. Before you know it – just one or two days a month can add up to nearly 10 percent of the school year.
   • Avoid unnecessary absences. Some absences are unavoidable. Occasionally, children get sick and need to stay home. What is important is getting children to school as often as possible.

4. Chronic absence, missing 10 percent or more of the school year does not just affect the students who miss school. If too many students are chronically absent, it slows down instruction for other students, who must wait while the teacher repeats material for absentee students. This makes it harder for students to learn and teachers to teach.
5. Educators and families need to monitor how many days each student misses school for any reason – excused, unexcused or suspensions – so we can intervene early. Districts and schools should use data to identify how many and which students are chronically absent to provide extra support where it is needed. Families should track how many days their children have missed so they are aware of when they should be concerned and take action. We can’t afford to think of absenteeism as merely a lack of compliance with school rules or a loss of funding. Absences represent lost opportunities to learn in the classroom.
6. Chronic absence is a problem we can solve when the whole community works with, families and schools. All of us can make a difference by helping create a positive school climate that engages students and families in learning and sets the expectation that attendance matters. Community partners are especially important for helping schools and families address and overcome tough barriers such as limited access to health care, hunger, unstable housing, and poor transportation or neighborhood violence.
7. Relationship building is fundamental to any strategy for improving student attendance. Students are more likely to go to school if they know someone cares whether they show up. Trusting relationships – whether with teachers, mentors, coaches or other caring adults – are critical to encouraging families and students to seek out help to overcome barriers to attendance.
8. Reducing chronic absence can help close the achievement gap. Chronic absence especially affects achievement for low-income students who depend more on school for opportunities to learn. Because they are more likely to face systemic barriers to getting to school, low-income children, many of whom are children of color, have higher levels of chronic absence starting as early as prekindergarten. Chronic absence data can be used to trigger interventions so high-risk student populations receive the supports they need, ideally before they fall behind academically.
9. Map and address the attendance gap. Data can show up us where absenteeism is most concentrated (by school, grade, ethnicity, geography, income, etc.) and help us unpack the major causes and identify potential causes. This information can then be used to ensure resources are targeted to improve outcomes, especially for the students who currently have the least access to an opportunity to do well in school.

School success goes hand in hand with good attendance

The message that we tell our students is that school is their most important job. They’re learning about more than math and reading. They're learning how to show up for school on time every day and how to be ready to learn.

Please help us make every day count.  Good attendance really maters to your child's school success which leads to later success in life.  Attendance Works, a national initiative dedicated to reducing absenteeism, notes that :    

• Your children can suffer academically if they miss 10 percent of school days or about 18 days. That can be just one day every two weeks, and that can happen before you know it.
• It doesn’t matter if these absences are excused or unexcused. They all represent lost time in the classroom and a lost opportunity to learn.