{"id":58259,"date":"2014-09-28T11:11:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-28T19:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=58259"},"modified":"2014-09-28T11:11:45","modified_gmt":"2014-09-28T19:11:45","slug":"how-to-deal-with-the-anxious-child","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=58259","title":{"rendered":"How To Deal With The Anxious Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

Loren Shlaes writes<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The anxious child treats many everyday activities as if he is experiencing them for the first time. He can\u2019t easily adapt to novelty, and he can\u2019t internalize routine. Long after the beginning of the school year, he enters the classroom and needs adult supervision and guidance to take off his coat, put his backpack in his cubby, and sit down at his desk.<\/p>\n

The anxious child isolates himself in the corner, hangs back on the playground, won\u2019t touch the craft materials at school, won\u2019t try new foods, won\u2019t participate in circle time. He hangs on his mother and has a hard time separating from her and diving into the cheerful chaos of the classroom, earning his mother the disapproval of the school\u2019s social workers for making him too dependent on her. He has a very hard time going to sleep and wakes up during the night. At family gatherings he disappoints the relatives because he can\u2019t bring himself to allow the grownups to hug and kiss him or to play with his cousins, preferring to sit in a corner and read a book or engage in some other solitary activity.<\/p>\n

Top down strategies {appealing to the child\u2019s intellect to overcome his inability to participate in everyday life} are of little use when a child is chronically anxious. The child can\u2019t talk easily talk himself into doing what the grownups want him to do. The more the grownups try to persuade, the more obstinate he becomes. He can\u2019t intellectually persuade himself that everything is all right. He can\u2019t self regulate or self soothe. He gets jacked up and stays that way, escalating until the inevitable melt down, or he is seen as having a frozen affect, looking like a deer in the headlights. His automatic response to life is a resounding \u201cNO!\u201d and he may come across as perpetually defiant or angry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loren Shlaes writes: The anxious child treats many everyday activities as if he is experiencing them for the first time. He can\u2019t easily adapt to novelty, and he can\u2019t internalize routine. Long after the beginning of the school year, he … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10268,29652],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alexander-technique","category-children"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t