Chapter 11 and 12 and Casey's Guide

The remainder of the book will focus on reviewing skills taught in the other chapters and walking you through Casey's Guide, which is an ebook you read with your child online.  The ebook is available at http://playingwithanxiety.com/ and there is also a "puzzle" on the same site to help you go over the book concepts with your child.

After reading Casey's Guide with your child, please comment on the following points:

• What was your child's reaction to the concepts in the book?
• How do you feel about your confidence in addressing your child's anxiety?
• What is your next step as a family?

Also please respond to these survey questions again, now after having completed the book. Thank you so much!

Chapter 9 and Chapter 10

Chapter 9 - Stepping toward the bigger picture

KEY CONCEPTS

• Know what you want
• Get a want-to
• Taking one scary step at a time
• Choose fewer battles
• "Could" vs. "Should" self-talk

TAKING ACTION:

• Plant seeds of moving toward a goal
• Model the process of moving toward a goal

Chapter 10 - When amnesia attacks

KEY CONCEPTS:

• Bridge back to successes!
• Tolerate frustration and mistakes - struggle is okay
• Taking on a challenge even if it might mean failure
• Encouraging independence
• When a child stops leaning and starts standing up

TAKING ACTION:

• Planting seeds of recalling and using past successes
• Model the process of talking positively to yourself (internal reassurance)

Here is a video of a 3rd grade EP Rock student describing how he has taken control of his worries.  Some of these strategies you have learned in the book, others are things we have worked on, but all strategies gave him a way to feel confident in his own ability to problem-solve. (Parents gave permission to share with you and with students at Rock, but please do not show video to anyone beyond your family.)

Chapter 8 - Calming Down the Body

KEY CONCEPTS:

• Feeling uncomfortable
• Dealing with physical symptoms
• Calming breath and calming counts
• Normal nervousness and anxiety sensitivity

TAKING ACTION:

• Teaching the calming breaths
• Model the process of using breathing as a way to pause and reset

Chapter 7 - Retraining the Brain

Teaching kids about their brain can be very fun because generally they are interested in learning about their brain and it helps make sense of a lot of the things we've discussed in this book.  Generations back, we may have needed our amygdala more often to escape animal attacks, etc, but in our modern suburban living, it doesn't have as much real use, so the amygdala spends its time making up things to be scared about!  Once children understand this, it's an easier sell to get them to "talk down" their amygdala with the externalizing strategy.

KEY CONCEPTS:
1.  Seek out the uncertainty and the distress it generates within you

2.  Understanding the brain:

• amygdala - alarm system
• prefrontal cortex - rational problem-solving

3.  Train the amygdala - being uncomfortable on purpose

• Self-talk
• Stepping into the threat

TAKE ACTION:

• Plant the seeds of how "alarm systems" and "thinking parts" work in the world.
• Model the process of talking down the prefrontal cortex.