RCSD has added Care Solace as a unique service that allows everyone a way to reach out for mental health and wellness support. CareSolace is a care navigation and coordination system that makes it simple and easy for anyone in the RCSD community to get the right help in seconds. 

Is your child missing school due to anxiety? 

What is anxiety? 

Definition of anxiety: feeling fear and uneasiness about everyday situations. 

If your child is suffering from anxiety, you are not alone. The good news is that in most situations, anxiety is normal and temporary. Anxiety becomes a concern if it persists — it can affect relationships with family, peers and teachers, contribute to academic challenges, and lead to school avoidance/refusal. Addressing anxiety is important for a child’s overall well-being, not just attendance.

In addition, if your child starts to complain of symptoms like a headache or stomachache, it is important to quickly determine whether this is related to anxiety or a physical illness that might require missing school. If the challenge is anxiety, staying home may worsen the situation.

What are the symptoms of anxiety? 

Persistent anxiety can present in many ways, making it difficult to recognize. Symptoms may vary depending on the age of the child, and some children may keep worries to themselves or have difficulty explaining their feelings making it hard to identify symptoms. Anxiety symptoms can include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

• Feeling tired, irritable or easily tearful
• Having trouble separating from parents
• Experiencing difficulty sleeping or frequent nightmares
• Having trouble getting out of bed or dressed for school
• Lacking appetite
• Having trouble concentrating, which may lead to difficulty starting tasks, problems with homework and falling behind in school
• Experiencing physical symptoms, including stomachaches and headaches
• Avoiding activities they previously enjoyed
• Having negative or continuous thoughts that something bad is going to happen

What can families do? 

Here are some tips that you can use to help your child get through these challenges, by intervening as quickly as possible, and return to school:

• Do not punish your child for refusing to go to school, as this can worsen things.
• If possible, avoid letting your child stay home. Though staying home from school may provide short-term relief for your child, continued absence from school will lead to the feeling of being disconnected from classmates and teachers, cause your child to fall behind academically and only make it harder to return.
• Speak with your child. Try to understand what’s bothering them and why they are avoiding school. If you are feeling a similar anxiety, it may help to share this with your child and to explain what you are doing to get through it.
• Make it clear that you are there to help your child and that you believe they can face their fears and get through this problem.

Take advantage of school resources.

Working through your child’s anxiety issues can be difficult and scary, and you shouldn’t have to do it alone. Take advantage of the resources at your child’s school: 

• Talk with the school nurse, counselor, social worker and/or psychologist to discuss the
  student’s challenges, identify what can help your child and develop a return-to-school
  plan.
• For some students, this may need to happen gradually (one or two classes initially and
  eventually a full day).
• In certain situations, a 504 plan or Individualized Education Program may be needed to
  ensure your child receives appropriate support and resources.

If symptoms persist or are very severe, your child’s anxiety may be due to an underlying behavioral health disorder (i.e., anxiety disorder, panic disorder), an undiagnosed learning disability or the result of a physical or chronic health condition and should be evaluated by your child’s medical provider. 

Finally, remember to take care of your own physical and emotional well-being! Learn more at attendanceworks.org. 

Understanding Adverse Childhood Experiences

ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) are serious childhood traumas that can result in toxic stress. Prolonged exposure to ACEs can create toxic stress, which can damage the developing brain and body of children and affect overall health. Toxic stress may prevent a child from learning or playing in a healthy way with other children, and can cause long-term health problems. 

Risks of exposure to ACEs

Potential effects of being exposed to childhood ACEs:

• Lowers tolerance for stress, which can result in behaviors such as fighting, checking out, or defiance. 
• Increases difficulty in making friends and maintaining relationships
• Increases stress hormones which affect the body’s ability to fight infection 
• May cause lasting health problems
• Increases problems with learning and memory 
• Reduces the ability to respond, learn, or figure things out, which can result in problems at school

Exposure to childhood ACEs can increase the risk of: 

• Adolescent pregnancy
• Alcohol and drug abuse
• Asthma
• Depression
• Heart disease
• Intimate partner violence
• Liver disease
• Sexually-transmitted disease
• Smoking
• Suicide

Examples of ACEs

ACEs can include: 

• Abuse: Emotional / physical / sexual
• Bullying / violence of / by another child, sibling, or adult
• Homelessness
• Household: Substance abuse / mental illness / domestic violence / incarceration / parental abandonment, divorce, loss
• Involvement in child welfare system
• Medical trauma
• Natural disasters and war
• Neglect: Emotional / physical
• Racism, sexism, or any other form of discrimination
• Violence in community

Resilience: reducing the effects of ACEs

What is resilience?:

Research shows that if caregivers provide a safe environment for children and teach them how to be resilient, that helps reduce the effects of ACEs.

What does resilience look like?:

Having resilient parents and caregivers who know how to solve problems, have healthy relationships with other adults, and build healthy relationships with children.

Building attachment and nurturing relationships:

Adults who listen and respond patiently to a child in a supportive way, and pay attention to a child’s physical and emotional needs.

Building social connections:

Having family, friends, neighbors, community members who support, help and listen to children.

Meeting basic needs:

Provide children with safe housing, nutritious food, appropriate clothing, and access to health care and good education, when possible. Make sure children get enough sleep, rest, and play.

Learning about parenting, caregiving and how children grow:

Understand how caregivers can help children grow in a healthy way, and what to expect from children as they grow.

Building social and emotional skills:

Help children interact in a healthy way with others, manage emotions, communicate their feelings and needs, and rebound after loss and pain.

Learn more at pacesconnection.com