Classroom Tips for Anxious Students

Kirsten Reitan, WATG Board, Guest Blogger
​One of my principals attached a really good article from KQED Mind/Shift in his staff newsletter.  Of course, I paid attention as I am a public radio junkie and remembered that KQED was the station I listened to when we lived in Seattle.  Its title was “20 Tips to help De-escalate Interactions with Anxious or Defiant Students.”  

Those of us who work in the school systems know that our students seem more anxious than ever.  Parents are stressed and our world feels very chaotic.    A National Institute of Health study found that about 25 percent of children between 13 and 18 years old have been diagnosed with some kind of anxiety disorder. And  those are just the kids who have been diagnosed.   Additionally, between eight and 15 percent of school-aged children have some sort of learning disability, a squishy measure as there is not a standard definition of learning disabilities.

People’s behaviors - and especially children’s behaviors - are forms of communication.  So when kids act out, there are almost always underlying causes.   The trick is to respond appropriately in a classroom filled with children who have concerns of their own.   Jessica Minahan, a certified behavior analyst, special ed teacher, and author of The Behavior Code: A Practical Guide to Understanding and Teaching the Most Challenging Students,  says that typical behavior strategies don’t really work for kids who are responding out of anxiety.   When we are anxious,  working memory doesn’t work and it is very hard to recall important information.  “Anxiety isn’t about ability, it’s about interference.”

Our district uses PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Support) as its main behavior management system.  However, this system of rewards and consequences doesn't always work real well with anxious students.  Common response to negative attention seeking is to ignore the student.  But if the child has anxiety, ignoring them raises their level of tension.  

Five Tips

1. Actively engage the most difficult student at the start of class with a positive challenge.  “I’m eager to see what you can do in 5 minutes!” Then check on the student in five minutes, validating your genuine interest in his/her success.
2. Publicly praising an anxious student can backfire, as you are calling attention to someone who already wants to crawl under a rock.  Ask students privately how they would like you to show you are proud of them.  Private or non-verbal praise is often better for these children.
3. Teach wait time.  Some students who finish early simply do not know what to do when they are done.  They can turn the paper over and doodle.  If a movement break is needed, give structure to it.  For example, they may go to the back of the room and straighten a bookshelf or stack of papers.
4. Time-outs can backfire, too.  Letting a student take a break and leave the room does not relieve them from what is making them anxious.  It can intensify those feelings as they are alone with their own thoughts.   A break paired with some cognitive activity like working a puzzle or recording a book for a younger student is a positive distraction.  Younger children can look for hidden pictures or an I Spy book.  
5. Teachers often use a count-down when an activity is going to end.  This can make an anxious student even more so, especially a high achiever who feels she has to complete the task.  Instead, tell that student to find a good stopping place and then join the class.

Schwartz, K. (n.d.). 20 Tips to Help De-escalate Interactions With Anxious or Defiant Students. Retrieved September 26, 2017, from https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/04/21/20-tips-to-help-de-escalate-interactions-with-anxious-or-defiant-students/

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