Back-to-school time is just around the corner and for children struggling with anxiety, it can be a time of increased stress (both for children and their families). Below are some tips that can help parents and kids feel more prepared for the transition back to school: Begin initiating expected bedtime and morning routines several weeks before school resumes: It is typically pretty challenging to switch from a relaxed summer schedule to a structured school schedule.

One of the most common things I hear from parents when they bring their child into the office for treatment of selective mutism is: “I hadn’t even heard of this!” or “We’ve had them in speech therapy this whole time, even though they speak perfectly at home!” This is largely due to a misunderstanding of selective mutism and a lack of overall awareness of the disorder. Many caregivers as well as healthcare and school professionals haven’t heard of selective mutism and attribute a lack of speaking to the fact that a child is “shy.”

Spring is here – and by every way of its arrival, so is testing season in schools. Testing can bring up anxiety in any child, and as a parent, it is difficult to know how to best support your child. Testing anxiety, which is also considered performance anxiety, involves the fear of being judged as inadequate, as well as the fear of underperforming or making a mistake and of failure and/or rejection.

Children with anxious temperaments or those who worry about making mistakes or performing in general are particularly susceptible to feeling test anxiety. Usually when a child thinks that they aren’t going to do well on a test, then they tend to feel more anxious going in.

Kids and teens are returning to school this year as adults continue arguing about masks and vaccines. Some students are even entering new schools and classrooms after more than a year of learning from home. Setting realistic expectations as the school year kicks off can be a helpful way to support the mental wellness and growth of our students. School has changed A LOT since March 2020.

As summer heat waves break records across the country, many kids and teens have already started preparations for the upcoming school year. Given the many months of learning at home, virtual school, hybrid education, and socially-distanced classes (or some combination of all of these), students are in for another strange and anxiety-provoking back-to-school season. Here are a few things that parents and professionals need to know about back-to-school anxiety in 2021:

Online school has altered the nature and degree of parental involvement in their children’s schoolwork. As children have had to take on more independence, many parents have struggled to know how much to involve themselves in their children’s daily educational tasks and activities. This series of blog posts presents recommendations to help guide your involvement in your child’s online education.

A certain degree of parent involvement is necessary for most children to engage in online school sufficiently. However, too much parent involvement can backfire and hinder children's academic and behavioral development. So, how much is too much? And when is it not quite enough? The answer is: it depends on the child, their teachers, and your parenting values and level of availability to engage.

As COVID-19 cases in the area decrease, a growing number of children are returning to in-person school. Many children are excited to return to school in person. However, for scores of children and adolescents, that excitement may also be accompanied by apprehension, nervousness, and/or anxiety.