Anxiety Can Affect Academic Performance in Children

 


Currently a candidate school for the Diploma Programme from the International Baccalaureate Organization, the Chamberlain International School focuses on providing students between the ages of 11 and 22 with a therapeutic boarding school experience. Of the students who choose to attend the Chamberlain International School, many experience personal challenges that make the learning experience difficult in a traditional academic setting.

Anxiety is among the personal challenges that some students face. Studies conducted within the last several years show that as many as one in eight children live with anxiety disorders today. The condition can be difficult for educators to identify due to the fact that it often manifests itself in ways that lie outside the canon of what is socially considered to be anxious behavior. For example, restlessness, lack of participation, or unexpected outbursts of anger in class may first bring to mind various learning disorders but may be rooted in anxiety.

Left unrecognized and unaddressed, anxiety in children may lead to scholastic difficulties, including trouble with memory and with retention of study material. Additionally, levels of academic performance may fluctuate depending on a child’s anxiety levels on a given day, resulting in frustration for the child, his or her parents, and teachers.