I have found a blog site that I have added to my must read list. I found it through Twitter, and now I try to visit their site at least a couple of times per week.
The site is Mind Shift, and today, they posted an article about math; How to Deal With Kids’ Math Anxiety.
Anxiety will be a topic of discussion for teachers, parents, principals and vice-principals for years to come. More and more people are talking about anxiety in children of all ages, and we all need to make the effort to learn more about anxiety and how we can help one another handle it.
The above article focuses on a study at the Stanford University School of Medicine. They report some interesting findings:
“Brain scans of these children also show that when they’re in the grip of math anxiety, activity is reduced in the information-processing and reasoning areas of their brains—exactly the regions that should be working hard to figure out the problems in front of them. “
“The scientists’ analysis of neural networks revealed that the two activity levels were connected: The buzz in the brain’s fear center was interfering with the ability of its problem-solving regions to do their job.”
The final line of the article I think bears repeating: By deliberately shifting their frame of mind, students can make that creepy-crawly feeling of anxiety go away.
Many resources on anxiety talk about making use of replacement thoughts, and to try and focus on positive, confident feelings. Some thoughts could be:
- “It’s hard, but I can do it.”
- “Everyone makes mistakes.”
- “I am going to be brave and try it on my own.”
Stress and anxious moments are part of school. Adults can play an active and positive role in modeling positive thinking for children, and encourage them to practice positive thoughts. Role playing, regular reminders (“I can do some breathing to relax.”), and proper nutrition, sleep and exercise can all assist someone who is feeling anxious.
If the level of anxiety continues to grow, or if it is something that a parent is concerned about, I recommend consulting your family doctor. Intervening early is important when dealing with anxiety, and asking for help from a doctor is a good problem solving strategy.
If you have an anxious child, work with your child’s teacher(s) to develop ways to help lesson the anxiety at school. Keep the home/school communication channels open, and visit school regularly.
I am sure we can all help one another to help lesson the anxiety about school.
Take care.