The Intentional Parent - Worried About Worrying? Childhood Anxiety (Dr. Andre Van Rooyen)

EPISODE SYNOPSIS
This week Tina and Greg welcome Andre Van Rooyen, a pediatric neuropsychologist/child psychologist. The topic is anxiety and worrying in children. The group discuss what anxiety is, how to identify it, what different kinds exist, what can cause it, techniques to deal with it and when/how to manage it.

GUEST BIO
Dr. Andre Van Rooyen is a pediatric neuropsychologist who specializes in working with children and adolescents with a variety of developmental issues. Through both assessment and therapy, Dr. Van Rooyen's goal is to identify a child's assets as well as their vulnerabilities. His guiding belief is rooted in the conviction that what is "right" with a child is far more powerful than what is "wrong" with them. This conviction guides his intervention as he helps parents and children develop tools and coping skills that will optimize each child's developmental potential.

ADDITIONAL LINK, ETC.
Dr. Tina Bryson's website and book:
http://tinabryson.com/
http://wholebrainchild.com/
Videos from the web/anxiety videos:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9oxmRT2YWw
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6QtuU1L_A8
www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIN9Ig4gpO4&feature=
www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_gpxNZRDU4&NR=1
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0FKZAYt77ZM baby
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MIc9ijXukho&feature=re
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAnKn2F0KbI 9 yr old
Other resources:
www.inspiration.com writing program
www.nldontheweb.org
www.chadd.org
www.nationalreadingpanel.org
helpfornervouschildren.webstarts.com/index.html

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00 Introduction, weekly recap/catch up on current topics
07:00 What is anxiety?
09:00 Where does it come from? Can someone be born with it? Is it learned or genetic?
09:45 It is pretty common isn't it? When do parents know when it is time to get some help?
10:45 Besides separation anxiety discuss the other types of anxiety that exist.
14:50 How does someone decide what is compulsive behavior?
16:00 I remember playing sports as a kid and having to be calm before a pitch, does that qualify as obsessive behavior?
18:00 Is that type of anxiety more prevalent?
19:45 Are first born children more likely to be anxious?
20:30 Can you talk about Generalized anxiety disorder vs a shy temperament?
24:00 How can an adult/teacher help facilitate a high nurture=high structure process?
25:00 How do you diagnose ADHD vs anxiety?
28:20 How does a child get beyond not doing well or being focused in school?
28:40 Do you think there is an opportunity to create a different type of schooling experience for kids that aren't traditionally academic?
30:15 Is it important not to shelter the child and create an anxiety free environment?
31:00 What can parents do to help if their children are experiencing anxiety?
35:00 Are kids as young as 5 or 6 able to identify the physical reactions etc?
38:45 How effective is this psychology?
40:15 How does the CBT treatment vary in regards to the benefits of it (ie anxiety vs schizofrenia)?
42:45 Idea of "free play", what is it? what is the benefit of it?
45:00 How much time is appropriate in terms of free play?
46:30 Release of anxiety in "go do what you want" right?
47:00 Do you have an opinion on how to teach critical thinking/problem solving?
47:30 Discipline: What can we do? How can we apply it?
48:00 Story of child/anxiety at bedtime/going to bed. locking child in room...is it good? bad? etc?
53:11 VIDEO ONE: Child scared/laughing while mom blows nose
56:30 What is the benefit of scaring kids to get a response?
57:20 - 59:45 VIDEO TWO: Baby Albert
60:30 How much should a parent get involved with managing the process (in regards to discipline in classroom etc)?
65:00 What about leveraging technology to get through these challenges?
65:55 Going back to free play, how much structured play should there be?
70:00 What is the difference between a psychologist and a psychiatrist?
71:00 Wrap up