“Children going into first, sixth [seventh in Canada- Ed]<\/span> or ninth grades often have the most anxiety leading into the new school year because they likely are entering a new school<\/strong>,” says Larry Tyson, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Human Studies and coordinator for the Counselor Education program.<\/p>\n “When you are the new kid on the block, not knowing many people can make you self-conscious about how you will fit in<\/strong>,” said Tyson, who spent 15 years as a middle- and high-school counselor. “These transition years are big for students figuring out how they will initially fit into this big-school setting.”<\/p>\n Tyson suggested forming a partnership with the school counselor, no matter the student’s age.<\/p>\n “Parents should see counselors as child advocates — as their liaison in the school when something isn’t working the way it should or they want<\/strong>,” Tyson explained. “My advice is to not be a stranger; make an appointment once or twice a year, and let the people at the school see and hear from you. You don’t have to have your child with you. This will help.”<\/p>\n Starting a new school may not be the only stress-trigger for a child<\/strong>, says Josh Klapow, Ph.D., associate professor in the School of Public Health.<\/p>\n “New situations that arise during the summer — changing to a different school system, hitting a growth spurt or experiencing a parental divorce — all can lead to extra anxiety for a child<\/strong>,” Klapow said.<\/p>\n To help children adjust, Klapow suggested the following:<\/p>\n “Change of any sort can be stressful, so watch your child and be a silent observer,” Klapow said. “Give them time to adjust and transition. Recognize that there will be some tough times, but they can be worked through.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the University of Alabama at Birmingham media release: Getting back on the bus and into the classroom can make children anxious for many reasons, but experts at the University… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,9,338,346],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15271"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15271"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15318,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15271\/revisions\/15318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"school](\"http:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/school-bus.jpg\")
<\/a>Getting back on the bus and into the classroom can make children anxious for many reasons<\/strong>, but experts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) say good communication can help parents and caregivers ease back-to-school fears.<\/p>\n\n