Overcoming School Anxiety

Being a parent is hard sometimes.  One of those times is when your child is anxious about something.  More than anything you want to be able to help them, but sometimes you just don’t know what to do.  Fortunately psychotherapist Diane Peters Mayer has done the research and has created a book called Overcoming School Anxiety to help parents out when it comes to such anxiety.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

Diane Peters Mayer developed the Overcoming School Anxiety Program through her years as a psychotherapist working with school-anxious children and their parents and has successfully treated hundreds of elementary school students suffering from this common disorder. As she observes in OVERCOMING SCHOOL ANXIETY: How to Help Your Child Deal With Separation, Tests, Homework, Bullies, Math Phobia, and Other Worries (AMACOM; 2008) “the real beginnings of this program come out of my own painful experiences with school anxiety. Although not formally diagnosed with a learning disability, as an adult I finally put a name to the struggles I had with math that could make school a living hell.” She shows parents how to deal with a wide variety of problems, from test and homework anxiety, to bullying, school violence, and fear of speaking up in class. Mayer also offers easy-to-learn techniques for children, including breathing and relaxation exercises, focusing techniques, and tips on proper diet and exercise that help relieve stress. Parents will learn to cope with the needs of children with every kind of anxiety, including:

• The inability to stop worrying
• Panic attacks
• The fear of people, places, and things
• Test anxiety
• Perfectionism
• Low self-esteem
• Parental and family problems

Filled with real-life examples as well as proven advice for working with teachers, principals, and counselors, this is the only comprehensive guide that will enable every parent to help a child cope, build confidence, and succeed in school.

BOOK REVIEWS

Recently a number of our reviewers had the opportunity to read and review this helpful book on their blogs. Here’s what they had to say:

Chocolate Fingerprints: One unexpected thing happened to me when I read this book. I uncovered an almost forgotten severe anxiety I had as a child. When I was seven, my mother remarried and we moved to a different town. I don’t know exactly what happened to cause it, but for several years after that, I had a very extreme reaction whenever I had to sleep away from my mother. I never had a problem with going to school, but after reading Overcoming School Anxiety, I recognize many of the signs of separation anxiety disorder in my former self. I wish my mother had had this book back then, so maybe I could have gotten over my problems much sooner!

Tara’s View of the World: I’ve mentioned before that my oldest son Aiden (age 7) has high-functioning Autism and ADHD. Aiden has struggled with anxiety and so I was happy to review this book. It is incredibly straight forward with a ton of practical advice. I found the book easy to read and understand. I especially appreciated chapter 13 which has specific advice for helping a child with special needs.

My Organized Chaos: This book is well-laid out and very simple to understand. It starts with a chapter called ‘What is School Anxiety?’. To me, recognizing the presence of Anxiety is key, and Diane has succeeded in explaining the symptoms, signs causes and the long-term effects of anxiety. The chapters which organize this book make it so simple to search for specific information.

The Power of Housewife Word of Mouth: Just in time for school I read Diane Peters Mayer’s book Overcoming School Anxiety. The book addresses being different in school and how to handle it. Regan is the only physically disabled child in her whole school district, so she tends to stand out no matter what. Most of the time she handles it all with grace and poise, but when she is nervous or angry then everything goes right out the window. She and I practiced some of the stress management skills talked about in the book, and we had a discussion about her limitations and her strengths that helped her face the first days with confidence.

A Couch with a View: Given the opportunity to reference a great book, Overcoming School Anxiety, has helped me to help my child to make the back to school transition so much easier. The fact that she may have anxiety gave me anxiety, and having a guide to go through to help myself help her, made a world of difference even with my own nervousness!

Go Graham Go!: Diane offers several tips depending on the situation your child happens to be in. Maybe they won’t go to school, have test or homework anxiety, or are being bullied. There can be so many different levels and situations when you are talking about school anxiety. Diane is a psychotherapist that has been treating children and adults with anxiety disorder for 17 years in Pennsylvania. There are easy to learn techniques as well as guides on how to eat, exercise, and breathe to relieve stress and deal with stressful situations.

She Scribes: I was very surprised that the author put a lot of emphasis on nutrition and getting enough sleep. I knew there would be a lot of behavior modification suggestions but I never expected that nutrition and sleep would be such a huge part of dealing with the anxieties children face in school. WOW! I wish I knew about this years ago. Maybe it could have helped us have less stressing years of elementary school.

A Simple Kinda Life: This book is clearly written, easy to understand, and incredibly helpful. It teaches you about anxiety, not just how to deal with it! Also included are examples of symptoms, as well as includes TONS of helpful tips! Not only have I used it for my daughter, but also for my son, for if/when he has problems with those kids in school (like we did at the end of the year last year!) It’s great for parents and teachers alike and I would recommend it to any parent of a special needs child and to any teacher!

1stopmom Giveaways: Each topic has corresponding exercises that can help parents to help their children deal with the cause of their anxiety. I think this book is going to be an invaluable tool that I am glad to have in my home. As a parent you never know what you may come across in the future. I do know that if this ever becomes an issue, I will have something to refer to.

All Because Two People Fell In Love: As a teacher and mother anxiety is something that I have seen first hand. This book does an excellent job describing the problems that children face as well as how to approach these issues. I appreciate the creative and practical approaches that the author offers to deal with these issues. It is written in a well organized manner that makes it very user/reader friendly.
This book is invaluable resource that should be on the shelves of all parents, teachers, and counselors!