Appropriate testing for anxiety?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect my 6 yr old has anxiety? Is that even possible at 6?? How is it diagnosed. What would show up on a neuropsych to say anxiety? What tests are they using to find it? Also, as far as medications go, when they age, does puberty affect dosing or medication reactions?

It is definitely possible at age 6. There is no definitive test for anxiety and while a neuropsych exam can show it, I don't think it's necessary unless you are seeing other things or significant school problems.

We started wth a psychologist and did therapy for over a year. (We actually went to several different therapists before we found one who worked well for us - it's very individual, but don't be afraid to move on if it's not helping.) In our case, therapy did not help and the anxiety got significantly worse to the point where daily life was strongly affected. Then we went to a psychiatrist and started meds. After that, therapy was much more productive as DD's baseline anxiety was low enough for her to really cooperate and learn from therapy.

We started seeing the first psychologist when DD was 7, but the anxiety had been there for a long time before that.

[Anonymous]

PP, some good places to start learning how to help your DC are the book The Opposite of Worry (for parents), What to Do When you Worry to Much (for kids) and these sites: https://www.anxietybc.com/
http://www.worrywisekids.org/

[Anonymous]

Does she have to sleep in a room by herself? My son was becoming so sleep deprived from anxiety sleeping alone at 7 (heard noises, thought something was outside his window, afraid of getting taken -saw a couple of minutes of an Elizabeth Smart interview on the news before we could turn channel). It was an awful cycle of sleep deprivation making him more anxious during day. We caved and let him sleep with us. He has a fold up thick mat that he slept on by the side of our bed. We have moved it close to the door and we are going to try the hallway during winter break to see if he can gradually go back to his room.

[Anonymous]

my 12 year old has had a 504 for anxiety since she was in K. It allows her to have untimed testing and basically ensures the teachers pay attention to her - she is quiet and well-behaved and could easily fall under the radar. I like that we get regular check-ins (though i have to push a bit) with the school counselor. She got an official diagnosis of anxiety with some OCD back in K. It has gone up and down since then and now we are starting Zoloft. Also neuropsych testing was super helpful because it helped hone in on where the anxiety was impeding her performance (speed work was the major area). I would recommend a 504 for mental health issues! As to the PP, YES! my 6 year old was so anxious, poor thing. She would wash her hands all the time and couldn't ever be on a separate floor than us. And became very withdrawn at times. Other times she is great and fun and engaged but there were these really anxious, troubled sides to her that got in the way of her life and functioning (joy as well as school performance). I would recommend a good therapist or maybe just go straight to a good psychiatrist.