When Worrying Takes Over: Helping Kids Overcome Anxiety and Build Resilience
Living in a world that’s increasingly unpredictable, today’s children and teens are more anxious than ever before. For students who are neurodivergent thinkers—those with ADHD, learning disabilities or twice exceptionality (2E), managing anxiety in conjunction with executive functioning deficits can seem especially daunting. Sharon Saline, veteran psychologist and author of What Your ADHD Child Wishes you Knew: Working Together to Empower Kids for Success in School and Life and The ADHD Solution Card Deck discusses the grip of anxiety and what professionals (and parents) can do to reduce students' worries.
After reviewing the physiology and psychology of anxiety, she will show participants how to help kids change their relationship to worry and avoid the pitfalls of negative thinking. Instead of reassurance and rationalization, she will share techniques for separating the person from the anxiety, talking to the worry itself and creating effective responses to ‘what ifs’. She also addresses how anxiety affects motivation, productivity and confidence and how participants can assist clients in coping with and lowering stress. Saline offers tools for teaching children and teens how to realistically evaluate situations, tolerate uncertainty and apply effective coping skills to reduce social anxiety as well. Finally, how to transform worry and insecurity into curiosity and confidence will be explored.
2 CEs available.