Cognitive-Behavioural Intervention and Metacognition for Children and Youth
School based behavioural intervention for anxiety disorders, including GAD is important for several reasons: 1. Children and youth with GAD are not receiving the necessary services to foster healthy development in both academic as well as social spheres. 2. Behavioural intervention is most successful when applied in the child/youth's natural environment as well as the location that triggers anxiety. 3. Behavioural intervention at school is important for socially withdrawn and anxious children and youth so that it can include therapeutic features such as access to peer support and teacher assistance.
Psycho Education and Cognitive-Behavioural Intervention Strategies:
The following strategies that have proven to be successful with anxiety disordered children and youth have proven successful and are based on the cognitive-behavioural etiological model that avoidance and escapism feeds into and causes greater anxiety. There are two main behavioural interventions that have evidence in effective reduction of anxiety symptoms and would best be used to complement the other: 1) Exposure and Desensitization; 2) Modeling socially appropriate behaviour (Rockhill et. al. 2010, 84)
*It is important to note, however, that typically, these interventions work best on children from 10 years old and up since metacognition begins developing around this age. It is rare for younger children to be developed metacognitively (Bacow et. al. 2009, 729)
1) Exposure and Desensitization
Students engage with special education teacher to create hierarchy of fears. Then, students rate each fear on a numerical scale based on the degree of stress they feel. It would be helpful in this intervention to have a record of observations of anxious and withdrawn reactions to various situations so as to be able to discuss real scenarios with the student.
Initially, the students are exposed to situations in which they rated causing mild anxiety, gradually easing into situations that cause greater anxiety.
The goal is to focus on confronting the situation and anxiety instead of allowing avoidance and escapist urges.
The teacher must discuss with the student what they are feeling when they feel anxious. Focusing on the sensation of anxiety will help them realize that it is a perceived threat when they are successful in confronting and keep away from avoidance.
It is extremely important to begin with very achievable goals and to let the student continually experience success.
It would be beneficial to repeat these situations for an extended period to gradually reduce the stress and anxiety associated with those situations.
Positive reinforcement through rewards has also proven to encourage this challenge.
2) Modelling
This intervention is also based on social learning and may work well in combination with exposure and desensitization treatment.
Modelling appropriate and normal behaviour assists the student in observing a teacher, peer or parent confront a feared situation with greater ease.
The student might feel less alienated if they realize that other people around them also have fears and weaknesses.
A discussion on how to problem solve the situation and how to physically cope with feared situations is important after observing this kind of modeled behaviour.
Self-monitoring strategies should be reinforced such as deep breathing, guided imagery (using the power of the imagination and the mind to calm the body) and meditation (yoga, deep stretching and muscle relaxation, deep breathing).
School based behavioural intervention for anxiety disorders, including GAD is important for several reasons:
1. Children and youth with GAD are not receiving the necessary services to foster healthy development in both academic as well as social spheres.
2. Behavioural intervention is most successful when applied in the child/youth's natural environment as well as the location that triggers anxiety.
3. Behavioural intervention at school is important for socially withdrawn and anxious children and youth so that it can include therapeutic features such as access to peer support and teacher assistance.
Psycho Education and Cognitive-Behavioural Intervention Strategies:
The following strategies that have proven to be successful with anxiety disordered children and youth have proven successful and are based on the cognitive-behavioural etiological model that avoidance and escapism feeds into and causes greater anxiety. There are two main behavioural interventions that have evidence in effective reduction of anxiety symptoms and would best be used to complement the other: 1) Exposure and Desensitization; 2) Modeling socially appropriate behaviour (Rockhill et. al. 2010, 84)
*It is important to note, however, that typically, these interventions work best on children from 10 years old and up since metacognition begins developing around this age. It is rare for younger children to be developed metacognitively (Bacow et. al. 2009, 729)
1) Exposure and Desensitization
2) Modelling