Anxiety in Children

Symptoms of test anxiety

Test anxiety might look different from person to person, but the following is a list of possible symptoms students might experience:

Physical symptoms: Headache, nausea, excessive sweating, shortness of breath, rapid heartbeat, lightheadedness, and feeling faint. Test anxiety can also cause panic attacks, which are the abrupt onset of intense fear or discomfort in which a person may feel like you are unable to breathe or like you are having a heart attack.

Emotional symptoms: Feelings of stress, fear, helplessness, and disappointment, negative thoughts (rumination about past poor performances, consequences of failure, feeling inadequate, helpless), mind going blank, and racing thoughts.

Behavioral/cognitive symptoms: Difficulty concentrating, thinking negatively, comparing yourself to others, and procrastinating.

Causes of test anxiety

Fear of failure. While the pressure of doing well on an exam can be motivating, it can be detrimental to self worth. Often students will associate the grades they get on tests with their value as a person.

Lack of preparation. Waiting until the last minute or not studying at all can leave students feeling anxious and overwhelmed.

Poor test history. Not succeeding on the previous test can make students anxious for future tests. Students sometimes think that one "failure" means that they are bad at tests or otherwise not capable of doing well.

High pressure. Test anxiety gets worse when the stakes are perceived to be high (e.g. "If I don't pass this test, I'll fail this class").

Perfectionism. Perfectionism is having extremely high performance expectations for yourself. Research studies show that students who have high perfectionism and high self-criticism tend to have high test anxiety and do worse on exams.

How To Help

Put Tests Into Perspective: Test anxiety is often triggered by adults overemphasizing the importance of end-of-year testing. You want your child to perform well, but making the test a big deal will have the opposite effect. Encourage your children to do their best, but remind them that this one test won't make or break their future. Make sure your child knows that no test can measure their intelligence or worth.

Help Them Practice. One way to offset anxiety about testing is to ensure your child sees adequately prepared. Ensure that your child feels comfortable with the question types and format of the test.

Provide Useful Test Taking Tips. Share these useful tips with your teenager. For younger children, try the "RELAX" method - Read each question carefully; Examine every answer choice; Look for proof of your answer; Always check your work; and X-out wrong answers.

Teach Calming Strategies. Experiment with calming strategies to find some go-to techniques that help your child stay calm when the anxiety bubbles up. Some ideas to try: grounding techniques, deep breathing, or positive self talk.

Provide Encouragement. If your child voices a negative statement, like, "I know I'm going to fail," acknowledge your child's feelings: "I know you're feeling nervous about the test. Tests can be scary." Then counter with a positive and encouraging statement: "you've practiced really hard and learned a lot this year. You might know a lot of the answers and get a higher score than you're expecting."

Help Them Feel Their Best on Test Day. Things that help include:

• Movement and exercise

• Getting plenty of rest

• Sticking to normal bedtime routines

• Avoiding excessive screen time

• Provide a protein-rich breakfast in the morning

--Adapted from The Learning Center at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and PBS Kids--

This video provides the full coverage of a 2017 Thrive Fall Parenting Class: Helping Your Child with Anxiety. This course was fully subscribed and we are pleased to make this full video available to those who were unable to attend or attendees wish to review the materials provided. The video is approximately 2 hours long.

Presenters: Dr. Troy Couture of Hatch Pediatrics, Gary Matthews (LCPC, Therapist) and Mary Beth Pummel (PHD) School Psychologist at Hawthorne Elementary and Chief Joseph Middle Schools.