My daughter has a lot of anxiety at school as well. She is ADHD, Bipolar, has Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Oppositional Defiance Disorder. I have talked to all of her teachers about suggestions. I don't know if all her classrooms have telephones, but my daughter's school does. Sometimes the teacher will let her call me and I encourage her to say a prayer, asking for help, and tell her how proud I am of her and that I know she is strong enough to hang in there. I'll also remind her....'You only have so much time left of school, ex. 3 hours, and then you'll be on your way home.

I also tell her to tell her teacher when she is experiencing anxiety and see if either she can talk to the teacher privately or go the counselor. That has helped tremendously. It also helps the teachers understand her better and makes them more aware of the the triggers that affect her. If I think of anything else, I'll write again. Take care and also don't forget to remind your daughter that what she is going through is normal. The reason I say this is because they don't see other students stressing out like them and they start to think something is wrong with them. It's just that all kids respond differently to stress. And the peer pressure that they have to deal with today is nothing like what you and me had to deal with when we were in school. Believe me. The stuff my 12 yr. old and 17 yr. old have told me is unbelievable. Just remind her what she is feeling is Normal, because it is.

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My 8 year old daughter chews gum whenever she takes a test or does homework-- it really helps alleviate nervous tension.

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My 8 year old daughter chews gum whenever she takes a test or does homework-- it really helps alleviate nervous tension.

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My son (now 24) used to pull on his eye brows until they were all pulled out. Like Holly said above, everyone deals with stress differently, but they all do deal with it. I pointed this out to my son one day after he had been whining about why couldn't he "just be normal" (a common complaint from him on days when he was down). Once I was done explaining how even "normal" looking kids still feel stress, how some show it and others hide it, but they all experience it, he couldn't wait to get to school the next morning. (enthusiastic about going to school the next morning? Oh oh, I knew he was up to something - again! ) He spent the entire next day staring at every child in every one of his classes, writing down what each one did. From twirling hair to chewing nails, tapping feet to picking lint off sleeves, chewing the tips of hair to twirling pencils, he had every single kid figured out by the end of the day. And yes, he got in trouble for it - for staring so intently at some kids they complained to the teachers, and for focusing so intently on what he was seeing that he didn't hear a single word any of his teachers said that day. But the end result was a neatly printed list that spanned 2 1/2 pages of every imaginable stress habit you could think of ( and a few I never would have imagined). With his permission, I taped that list up on the wall where it stayed for over a year. It was proof to him that he was just like the "normal" kids and on days when he still felt the urge to pull out his eyebrows, it also gave him some options to try that didn't have the same visible physical results.

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