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Short Summary
Main recommendation: Parents should talk to the teacher or school when a child's anxiety is affecting school performance or behavior at school, such as isolation, not making friends, or frequent absences. If anxiety only shows up at home or socially and has no school impact, the teacher and school may not need to know. The speakers also outline specific ways teachers can support an anxious child once they are informed.
Key Points
- Parents often worry that disclosing anxiety could affect the child's school record, but the speakers frame disclosure around whether the anxiety is impacting school functioning.
- Warning signs that suggest the school should know include social isolation, not making friends, and missing a lot of school.
- Anxiety that affects a child only at home or in social settings, without school impact, may not require involving the teacher.
- Teachers can help children transition in at the start of the school year, such as meeting them at the front of the school or in the classroom.
- Teachers can help anxious children manage schoolwork by breaking assignments into smaller, more manageable segments.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Talk to the teacher or school if the child's anxiety is affecting school performance or behavior at school.
- Ask the teacher to meet the child at the front of the school or in the classroom when the child is anxious about going back to school, especially on the first day or at the start of the year, and help them transition into class.
- For children nervous about assignments, teachers can break work into smaller segments to make it more manageable.
- For children afraid of social issues such as bullying, not getting along with peers, or not having someone to sit with at lunch, teachers can prompt the child and help them navigate the problem.
- Teachers can prompt anxious children to use breathing strategies or other relaxation techniques they have learned.
- If a teacher sees a child feeling nervous or anxious, the teacher may pull the child aside or give privacy and space so the child can manage the problem on their own.
- The speakers mention 504 plans and IEPs as related considerations when parents decide to tell teachers, but do not explain their details in the transcript.
- The speakers note that teachers' recommendations depend on the nature of the anxiety, so the approach should be tailored to the child's specific fears.
- Parents seeking more resources are directed to the UCLA CARES Center website.
Bottom Line
Disclosure to the school makes the most sense when anxiety is visibly affecting a child's school life, and once the school is involved, targeted supports like transition help, workload adjustments, and coping strategies can make a meaningful difference.
