Attwood, Tony, Exploring Feelings: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to Manage Anxiety. (2004).
Appropriate for: Parents of children who are starting to be able to talk about their feelings
This workbook is the companion to "Exploring Feelings: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to Manage Anger" and is set up the same way and also explores the "mental world from a scientific perspective." The program is broken up into six two-hour sessions that can be conducted by a parent in an informal setting. The activities in this book help children define happy, relaxed, anxious, and angry; after they can identify these, they can learn how to help themselves with their anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy and social stories are just some of the techniques used, and the easy-to-use questionnaire and rating scale format are ideal for productive interaction. Children will learn coping tools such as "antidotes to poisonous thoughts" and physical and relaxation activities. While the book is first published in 2004, it's still in print and its straightforward data gathering techniques and practical treatment techniques are still very helpful.
Huebner, Dawn, Ph.D., What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety. (2006).
Appropriate for: Elementary school age children
This is a brief, straightforward book that your child could read himself or you could read with him. Using the principles of containment, externalization, and competing demands, the approach is positive and doable. It offers a good explanation of what anxiety is and how it can affect your mind and body. It validates the fact that worries just don't go away; you have to be proactive. Solutions like using logic, putting worries in a Worry Box, taking back to a Worry Bully, distraction, and relaxation, along with places to draw, could be very helpful for a child willing to try the techniques offered.
Manassis, Katharina, M.D., F.R.C.P. (C.). Keys to Parenting Your Anxious Child. (1996).
Appropriate for: Parenting of anxious young children who are not on the spectrum
This brief book suggests using coping self-talk, relaxation, distraction, reinforcements, medication, and encouragement to help
with anxiety. However, it also proposes desentization as a critical tool. Also, “the three most important facts” in the book are “1. Anxiety is unrealistic fear. 2. The only way to overcome fear is to face it. 3. Anxiety is harmful to a child to the extent that interferes the child’s ability to engage in common, age-appropriate activities at home, at school, and with peers.” Since there is typically so much more going on with children on the spectrum, the suggestions in this book are just too simplistic.
Rapee, Ronald M., Susan H. Spence, Vanessa Cobham, and Ann Wignall. Helping Your Anxious Child: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents. (2000).
Appropriate for: Parents of anxious children who are not necessarily on the spectrum
This book clearly explains how to evaluate your child's anxiety and the steps you can take to manage it. The first chapters cover how to discern the patterns of your child's anxiety and how to motivate your child to change. The explanations of how to evaluate feelings and how anxiety affects body and behavior are helpful. The authors' strategy is mainly teaching your child how to think realistically and how to relax. There is also a good section on how to create a specific plan for your child. There is also a chapter on social skills, a little disassociated from the rest of the book, but it is an acknowledgment of how commonly comorbid anxiety is for kids on the spectrum.
Spencer, Elizabeth DuPont, Robert DuPont, and Caroline DuPont. The Anxiety Cure for Kids: A Guide for Parents. (2003).
Appropriate for: Parents of anxious children
Wagner, Aureen Pinto, Up and Down the Worry Hill: A Children’s Book about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Its Treatment, Second Edition. (2000).
Appropriate for: Children who are able to have a little insight into their own behavior
This is a very easy to read, straightforward book about OCD that’s a great tool to use as a starting point for cognitive
behavioral therapy. A little boy, Casey, has to pat his pillows four times, counts stairs, has some sensory issues, hand washing, and everything else must be just so before he can move on and he worries all of the time. Using the ability to ride his bike up a big hill after lots of practice, I had this book for a long time before I thought my son was ready for it. When he was around 8, I read it to him and he understood that he had issues similar to those of the boy in the book, it was not a launching off point for further discussion in his case. I had him reread it recently (for a fee, of course!) and he said that he knew everything in the book already, he’d tried to do the things they
recommend, but he didn’t want to change (or probably more accurately, couldn’t change) at his point.
Appropriate for: Parents of children who are starting to be able to talk about their feelings
This workbook is the companion to "Exploring Feelings: Cognitive Behaviour Therapy to Manage Anger" and is set up the same way and also explores the "mental world from a scientific perspective." The program is broken up into six two-hour sessions that can be conducted by a parent in an informal setting. The activities in this book help children define happy, relaxed, anxious, and angry; after they can identify these, they can learn how to help themselves with their anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy and social stories are just some of the techniques used, and the easy-to-use questionnaire and rating scale format are ideal for productive interaction. Children will learn coping tools such as "antidotes to poisonous thoughts" and physical and relaxation activities. While the book is first published in 2004, it's still in print and its straightforward data gathering techniques and practical treatment techniques are still very helpful.
Huebner, Dawn, Ph.D., What to Do When You Worry Too Much: A Kid's Guide to Overcoming Anxiety. (2006).
Appropriate for: Elementary school age children
This is a brief, straightforward book that your child could read himself or you could read with him. Using the principles of containment, externalization, and competing demands, the approach is positive and doable. It offers a good explanation of what anxiety is and how it can affect your mind and body. It validates the fact that worries just don't go away; you have to be proactive. Solutions like using logic, putting worries in a Worry Box, taking back to a Worry Bully, distraction, and relaxation, along with places to draw, could be very helpful for a child willing to try the techniques offered.
Manassis, Katharina, M.D., F.R.C.P. (C.). Keys to Parenting Your Anxious Child. (1996).
Appropriate for: Parenting of anxious young children who are not on the spectrum
This brief book suggests using coping self-talk, relaxation, distraction, reinforcements, medication, and encouragement to help
with anxiety. However, it also proposes desentization as a critical tool. Also, “the three most important facts” in the book are “1. Anxiety is unrealistic fear. 2. The only way to overcome fear is to face it. 3. Anxiety is harmful to a child to the extent that interferes the child’s ability to engage in common, age-appropriate activities at home, at school, and with peers.” Since there is typically so much more going on with children on the spectrum, the suggestions in this book are just too simplistic.
Rapee, Ronald M., Susan H. Spence, Vanessa Cobham, and Ann Wignall. Helping Your Anxious Child: A Step-by-Step Guide for Parents. (2000).
Appropriate for: Parents of anxious children who are not necessarily on the spectrum
This book clearly explains how to evaluate your child's anxiety and the steps you can take to manage it. The first chapters cover how to discern the patterns of your child's anxiety and how to motivate your child to change. The explanations of how to evaluate feelings and how anxiety affects body and behavior are helpful. The authors' strategy is mainly teaching your child how to think realistically and how to relax. There is also a good section on how to create a specific plan for your child. There is also a chapter on social skills, a little disassociated from the rest of the book, but it is an acknowledgment of how commonly comorbid anxiety is for kids on the spectrum.
Spencer, Elizabeth DuPont, Robert DuPont, and Caroline DuPont. The Anxiety Cure for Kids: A Guide for Parents. (2003).
Appropriate for: Parents of anxious children
Wagner, Aureen Pinto, Up and Down the Worry Hill: A Children’s Book about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Its Treatment, Second Edition. (2000).
Appropriate for: Children who are able to have a little insight into their own behavior
This is a very easy to read, straightforward book about OCD that’s a great tool to use as a starting point for cognitive
behavioral therapy. A little boy, Casey, has to pat his pillows four times, counts stairs, has some sensory issues, hand washing, and everything else must be just so before he can move on and he worries all of the time. Using the ability to ride his bike up a big hill after lots of practice, I had this book for a long time before I thought my son was ready for it. When he was around 8, I read it to him and he understood that he had issues similar to those of the boy in the book, it was not a launching off point for further discussion in his case. I had him reread it recently (for a fee, of course!) and he said that he knew everything in the book already, he’d tried to do the things they
recommend, but he didn’t want to change (or probably more accurately, couldn’t change) at his point.
