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Tips if your child is anxious about going to, or back to, school
Article source: https://www.kidspot.com.au/parenting/tips-if-your-child-is-anxious-about-going-to-or-back-to-school/news-story/
There’s four specific things you can do to make the transition to school, or return, easier for everyone.
Why does one child experience excitement at the thought of starting the while another experiences debilitating anxiety?
It鈥檚 rarely one thing and is often a combination of factors, including a child鈥檚 temperament and self-confidence; their previous experiences at school, kinder or childcare; friendships they鈥檝e already formed; and the types of transition activities they鈥檝e undertaken.
As psychologists and mental health researchers, we also look at how the family is coping, and the child鈥檚 previous history of mental health or developmental disability diagnoses.
The good news is parents, schools and health professionals can intervene early to support children who are feeling anxious about school.
Our research team developed a program called to support children with disability, who are at of experiencing anxiety at school because of the additional load from new routines, friendships, expectations, and 鈥渟ensory overload鈥 (where the noise, clutter, smells and other sensory input from the classroom or playground become overwhelming and distressing to a child).
These strategies can help all children, parents and teachers to better cope with the transition to school, or going back after the holidays.
