Child Psychology in The Books Store

Treatment is not about trying to cajole or talk kids out of their fears; it's about teaching them to see worry as a problem to be solved. Translating cutting-edge techniques into down-to-earth, empathic, user-friendly steps, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety equips parents, teachers and therapists with the information they need to recognize the red flags of anxiety in children and how they can systematically overcome the obstacles that anxiety imposes.

Empowering and insightful, Freeing Your Child from Anxiety, gives children - from preschool to high school - the action plan and the tools to take charge, unplug from anxiety, and plug into sound, realistic thinking. Learning the lessons from parents, children can reduce anxiety and even prevent anxiety disorders from taking hold.

Part One includes a primer on causes and mechanisms of transmission of anxiety messages in the brain - the how, when and where of seeking help for your child - a chapter on the worry tricks the brain can play, and finally the five step 'Master Plan' for overcoming anxiety.

Part Two goes in depth, with separate chapters for each anxiety subtype: panic, separation anxiety, social anxiety, generalized worry, phobias, trauma, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Also included is a chapter on habit behaviors and conditions which are typically exacerbated by stress, tics and trichotillomania.

Part Three expands the focus to anxious children at school, and with friends and siblings. Because nighttime can be a very anxious time, a chapter on managing nighttime fears and sleep difficulties is included.

Frequent visits to the principal's office. Detentions. Suspensions. Expulsions. These are the established tools of school discipline for kids who don't abide by school rules, have a hard time getting along with other kids, don't seem to respect authority, don't seem interested in learning, and are disrupting the learning of their classmates. But there's a big problem with these strategies: They are ineffective for most of the students to whom they are applied.

It's time for a change in course.

Here, Dr. Ross W. Greene presents an enlightened, clear-cut, and practical alternative. Relying on research from the neurosciences, Dr. Greene offers a new conceptual framework for understanding the difficulties of kids with behavioral challenges and explains why traditional discipline isn't effective at addressing these difficulties. Emphasizing the revolutionarily simple and positive notion that kids do well if they can, he persuasively argues that kids with behavioral challenges are not attention-seeking, manipulative, limit-testing, coercive, or unmotivated, but that they lack the skills to behave adaptively. And when adults recognize the true factors underlying difficult behavior and teach kids the skills in increments they can handle, the results are astounding: The kids overcome their obstacles; the frustration of teachers, parents, and classmates diminishes; and the well-being and learning of all students are enhanced.

In Lost at School, Dr. Greene describes how his road-tested, evidence-based approach -- called Collaborative Problem Solving -- can help challenging kids at school.

His lively, compelling narrative includes:

• tools to identify the triggers and lagging skills underlying challenging behavior.

• explicit guidance on how to radically improve interactions with challenging kids -- along with many examples showing how it's done.

• dialogues, Q & A's, and the story, which runs through the book, of one child and his teachers, parents, and school.

• practical guidance for successful planning and collaboration among teachers, parents, administrations, and kids.