Julian's Progress

I had written about my nine year old son Julian's battles with anxiety over the summer.  Here's an update:  He has been seeing his doctor every week now for a month and is doing much better.  I had come up with the idea to allow him to say he was worried about me once a day in the summer and the rest of the day distract the anxiety with positive thoughts.  I ran this one by the doctor in August and he said Julian needs to stop himself from saying he was worried about me altogether.  Positive reinforcement is the only way to do this.  If he did not say this six out of seven days he got a prize.  This motivates his brain to stop the pattern.  We have done this for a month and it has worked wonders.  This method can be used for any child experiencing anxiety that prohibits them from getting through a normal day.  Maybe a child has an unreasonable fear of going to school.  You can't keep a child home just because he doesn't want to go.  There were many days last year I sent my son to school with an anxious stomach ache.  It always cleared up an hour after school started.  You could give your child a small gift if he made it to school every day that week and slowly up the ante from there. 

Of course, it helps to have a great teacher which Julian has been blessed with this year.  She is more concerned with helping him succeed rather than focusing on every class rule he might accidentally break. (Can you tell I'm scarred from last year?)  He has shifted from hating school to looking forward to every day.  I am volunteering on Tuesday for the first time this year and can't wait.