Separation Anxiety

Introduction

Separation Anxiety is a commonly found experience, many children, parents and teachers undergo at the start of the new term or when receiving new students into their care. For some parents and teachers unawares of the consequences for prolonging this experience, the assumption made may be that such an experience will fade away with time, however for children with special needs it may become a constant struggle for both child and parent to overcome and may last throughout the year if proper intervention strategies are not put into place. It is important to understand what separation anxiety entails and the aftereffects of a lack of a secure school transition period may result in adverse long term effects on a child, disabling future

At the centre of this issue is the child; however a child relates to a network of environmental systems that play a part in influencing her/his panicked response to the environment. Referencing from Bronfenbrenner’s (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) study on ecological systems, the child at the centre relates to direct and distant relations within her/his environment. This could be understood that both the home and school environment plays an important role in shaping a child’s ability to feel secure and understand her/his expectations.

Research also supports that with strong collaborations between teachers and parents working together on this encounter, time required to aid a child to overcome her/his fears and anxiety may be greatly reduced.

I will review the literature in the following sequence, beginning by examining the understanding of separation anxiety and how it affects typical and atypical children. Carrying through to examine literature on how the home and school environment contributes to anxiety and the effects of parent-teacher collaborations.

Separation

This includes providing children with specific duties in the classroom, including them in the making of classroom rules and offering a choice of activities (Stipek & Byler, 2004). Effective management strategies will teach a child to better manage their emotions in the classroom (Rimm-Kaufman, Curby, Grimm, Nathanson, & Brock, 2009). Next he looks at the benefits of pairing classroom management with a rich classroom environment that encourages children’s imagination and creativity for fun yet exploratory activities that are stimulating (Daniels & Clarkson, A developmental approach to educating young children, 2010). This moves the child away from the negative stimulus (the lost presence of a love one) to a positive stimulus presenting itself as the optimistic classroom