Help An Anxious Special Kid To Open Up About Problems
Anxiety is a common yet perilous phenomenon that is seen in almost every household these days irrespective of age. It can hit a person who’s 50 years and also a school student. In research, conducted in Vietnam, it has been observed that school students are becoming victims of anxiety at a very fast rate. Hence, online special education courses in Vietnam have started providing mental health support for students.
WHAT IS ANXIETY?
To be very specific, anxiety cannot be explained in a word or in only one sentence. This feeling is absolutely dangerous and is more or less a combination of fear and excessive worry. It gives a sensation of helplessness and in a greater aspect can lead to clinical depression. Young people like students, especially those who are gifted, feel nervous anywhere and they do not know how to fight against anxiety.
If not being treated in the right, anxiety leads to massive panic attacks and the effect is as serious as cardiac arrest. In order to help anxious kids in the classroom, special education teachers are coming up with various coping strategies to help gifted children. Anxiety in the classroom is almost an everyday phenomenon for a special child and often it is being overlooked by teachers as well as parents.
REASONS BEHIND ANXIETY IN STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL NEEDS:
School mental health is a serious lookout in Vietnamese schools and counselors have said that there are multiple reasons that trigger anxiety in specially-abled kids. Children with special needs have different needs that have to be catered to in the best possible manner. Thus, SEN teachers have jotted certain points because of which SEN students are being hit by severe anxiety and that is beyond the age demography.
- ● Effects of strict teachers on students often lead to the generation of anxiety in gifted children.
- ● Often, kids whose parents have got divorced are having anxiety and this is also known as separation anxiety.
- ● Students with extraordinary gifts go through layers of a distinguished layer of social and emotional rollercoasters. That is another reason behind their anxiety.
- ● Struggling with anxiety is very common in kids having learning disabilities because of their inability to spell and write words properly.
- ● Autistic and ADHD students feel shy to communicate with other people and this often makes them anxious.
These are the 5 major reasons that SEN teachers have found out as reasons behind why SEN students become anxious all of a sudden.
WAYS TO MITIGATE ANXIETY AND HELP SEN STUDENTS:
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is considered to be one of the best methods to get rid of anxiety in students having special needs. Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on changing the automatic negative thoughts that give rise ultimate level of anxiety, panic attack, depression, etc. This absolute pessimism has a detrimental influence on anybody.
CBT is used to figure out thoughts that generate the feeling of being challenged and replace those with an optimistic point of view. It begins with identifying the negative notion and point to be noted, this is a very difficult stage when the student is introverted, has speech problems, or lacks the technique of expressing what is running behind the back of their minds.
The next stage is to start practicing new skills followed by a goal-setting activity that helps to cure mental illness. Both short-term and long-term goals are being set to help people with anxiety. School anxiety can be solved in the same way. Kids are then taught problem-solving skills so that they can easily escape from the trap of anxiety and depression. Treating anxiety is never fruitful unless the progress of an anxious special kid is being tracked on a regular basis by a special education tutor.
Besides, breathing exercises help students to calm themselves. Initially, this particular approach might seem absolutely useless but if teachers can inculcate a sense of patience in children, this method has been of extraordinary help. Breathing exercises calm the nerves and are particularly effective during periods of stress. This state of mind increases the heartbeat, as well as encourages fast, shallow breathing patterns, due to the feeling of imminent danger.
Special kids should be taught the value of gratitude because by triggering a positive train of thought, anxiety can be diminished to some extent. If this technique is practiced on a regular basis, the kid will eventually try remembering every good thing that he/she has faced or has done. This in turn will make the child feel safe.
SEN teachers play a significant role in helping kids to open up who are affected by anxiety. In multiple cases, students or people who do not know how to share their anxious thoughts have reached a grave level as schizophrenia. This is definitely wanted and to prevent specially-abled students to encounter such an issue, it is always important to let them talk,
So these are the techniques that online special education courses in Vietnam are suggesting for helping special students cope with anxiety.
