1. Supporting Students who Experience Anxiety at School
Ellie L. Young, PhD
Brigham Young University

2. Who is here? Teachers? Elementary Secondary
School counselors/social workers/school psychologists?
Administrators?
Other
Who am I?

3. Objectives Share an operational definition of anxiety
State a basic theory of what causes and maintains anxiety
Identify two classwide strategies for addressing anxiety in your classroom
Identify two strategies for responding to intense anxiety in individual students

4. What is anxiety? Emotional dysregulation
Intense fear in the absence of true threat.

5. What is Anxiety? Thought—Cognitions with errors
Fight or flight gets activated
Smoke detector example
Physical
Tense shoulders, fluttering heart
Emotional
Anger
Fear
Behavior
Some type of avoidance

6. Cognitions

7. Prevalence Anxiety is the most common mental health concern in the US.
~18% of US adults experience diagnosable anxiety disorders.
~25% prevalence rate for year olds.
ence/any-anxiety-disorder-among-children.shtml
Health-Conditions/Anxiety-Disorders

8. Learning to be anxious
•Classical Conditioning: Pairs a stimulus with a response. The stimulus occurs first, then the anxiety response.
•Operant Conditioning: The anxiety response occurs and it is reinforced, increasing the probability that the anxiety response is frequently repeated.
•Social Learning Theory: Children learn to be fearful by watching others.

9. Developmental Issues How does cognitive development influence anxiety?
How would anxiety look different in a 6 year old vs. a 16 year old?

10. Guiding Principles for Interventions
Address cognitive, behavioral, physical, and emotional simultaneously to the extent possible.
Proactively teach and practice effective strategies before overwhelming anxiety happens.
Collaborate with teachers, mental health providers (community & school) and parents to maximize outcomes.

11. Supports and Interventions

12. Proactively Teach What Anxiety Is and Practice Effective Coping Strategies
What to Do When You Worry Too Much
Evidence-based strategies for effectively coping with anxiety
Appropriate for K-6
Read aloud to the whole class over time
Easily understood and applied
$9.14 from Amazon.com

13. Each Worry has a Lie
I’m going to fail my chemistry exam and not get into my first choice university.
Lies
I will definitely fail the exam
I won’t get into University X
Healthy Thinking
I studied a lot, and I can do my best
If I don’t do as well as I hoped, I can do ask for help from my parents, teachers, or friends
One chemistry test is unlikely to make or break whether I get into University X

14. Talking Back to the Worry Bullies
Worries are like bullies, they keeping talking and telling us lies.
Identify the lie in the worry.
Create a plan for talking back to the worry.
Let’s practice:
Identify one of your worries or a worry you hear at school.
What’s the lie in the worry?
How can you talk back to the worry bully?

15. Creating a Classroom Culture of Safety
Many children with anxiety are perfectionists
Perfectionists fear embarrassment and making mistakes
They do not want to look stupid
Share with a neighbor some ways educators can create a culture of acceptance and safety at school.

16. Creating a Classroom Culture of Safety
Create a culture where mistakes are valued as learning opportunities
Model making and fixing mistakes
Agree not to call on a student unless you give advance notice
“Sam, Leah, and Joe--I want to hear your ideas about this story. Sam you go first and then Leah and Joy, please be prepared to share your ideas.”
“Everyone write three ideas about the problem and be prepared to share.” While students are writing, go to the worrying student’s desk and ask him/her if she could share her ideas.

17. Creating a Classroom Culture of Safety
Tell students their questions are good questions
Set aside a specific time to ask questions
“What questions do you have?” rather than “Who has a question?”
Avoid drawing attention to me
If I freeze, move on

18. Classroom Strategies Set clear and reasonable expectations
Break tasks into manageable units
Have specific evaluation criteria
Provide opportunities for practice and rehearsal
Reduce time constraints
Move the the student to a quiet setting

19. Fight or Flight Response
When we feel threatened, the fight or flight response is the amygdala is activated
When the amygdala is activated, logical reasoning is often suspended
Aggression may be a part of the fight or flight response

20. The Fight or Flight Response: I Can’t Problem Solve When My Worry is Intense
Encourage me to take a break, breathe, take a walk and come back to the problem in a few minutes
Avoid saying, “Calm down.”
Give specific directions
Let’s take three deep breaths together and slowly breathe out
Go get a drink and take some deep breaths, then we can think of a solution together
Give me some ideas about how to solve the problem
Help me feel safe and supported

21. Hoberman sphere Can be done as a class or individually
Helps to slow breathing

22. Worry Eaters
Have the student write their worry on a card and put it in the Worry Eater.
Just acknowledging the worry is helpful.
Empathy
“I can see this is upsetting for you because you are speaking very fast.”
Physically putting the worry in another place helps us create distance and begin to calm ourselves.

23. Reinforce Effective Coping Rather Than Avoidance
Provide time for practicing effective coping strategies
Praise students for practicing the strategies
Prompt students to use the strategies
Recognize when avoidance is reinforced.
Encourage students to try a difficult task for a short time (3 minutes), set the timer then praise progress.
Practice with the student→”I’ll do the first problem with you and answer your questions as we do the problem.”
Provide options and let the student decide what will work best
Anxiety is about feeling powerless
Be aware of how your anxiety and emotions may be influencing the child’s anxiety.

24. Objectives Share an operational definition of anxiety
State a basic theory of what causes and maintains anxiety
Identify two classwide strategies for addressing anxiety in your classroom
Identify two strategies for responding to intense anxiety in individual students

25. Favorite Resources
Hey Sigmund→ website with research-based ideas for understanding mental health issues.
National Association of School Psychologists
health-disorders/anxiety-and-anxiety-disorders-in-children-information-for-parents
What To Do When You Worry Too Much. Children’s book that gives evidence-based strategies for dealing with anxiety.
Much/dp/ /ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid= &sr=8- 1&keywords=what+to+do+when+you+worry+too+much
Website developed by Melissa Heath that share books and lesson plans to teach social skills

26. Contact Information
Ellie Young, PhD