This book examines assessment and treatment methods for anxiety disorders in four- to- seven-year-olds. It discusses risk and protective factors in the preschool years, comorbidities, and how conditions such as separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder, and selective mutism present in this age group. The book examines limitations of current definitions, assessment methods, and interventions. Chapters offer a theoretical framework from which to understand how traditional cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) strategies can be used effectively in this age group. It offers a detailed description of the Taming Sneaky Fears program, an innovative, evidence-based group CBT program for four- to seven-year-old anxious children and their parents. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to implement Taming Sneaky Fears. The book concludes by addressing common challenges, influences, and outcomes for four- to seven-year-old anxious children and their families and provides recommendations for reducing the barriers to healthy development.
Topics featured in this book include:
Screening and assessment tools for young anxious children.
Innovative assessment approaches for young anxious children.
The use of Bravery Ladders to teach young children to overcome their fears and anxieties.
Specific adaptations of the Taming Sneaky Fears program for selective mutism and social anxiety disorder.
The pivotal role of parents in the success of the Taming Sneaky Fears program.
Assessing and Treating Anxiety Disorders in Young Children is a must-have resource for researchers, clinicians and related professionals, and graduate students in child and school psychology, pediatrics, social work, and psychiatry.
Author Biography:
Suneeta Monga, M.D., FRCPC, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. She is Medical Director of the Psychiatry Ambulatory Services and Associate Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the Hospital for Sick Children, as well as a Project Investigator in the Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children. Her research, educational, and clinical activities focus on assessment and treatment of child and youth anxiety disorders with a special focus on anxiety disorders, including selective mutism, in four- to seven-year-old children and cognitive behavioral therapy as a treatment modality for anxiety and mood disorders. She has published in peer-reviewed scientific publications and has made numerous presentations on related topics across North America and abroad. She is the original developer of the Taming Sneaky Fears Program and has led the empirical research of the program. She is a co-author of the children's story and companion workbook, Taming Sneaky Fears - Leo the Lion's story of bravery & Inside Leo's den: The workbook (and the French translation), Apprivoiser les Peurs-pas-fines – L’histoire de bravoure de Léo le lionceau & Dans la tanière de Léo : le cahier de travail).
Diane Benoit, M.D., FRCPC, is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Project Investigator in the Research Institute at the Hospital for Sick Children, and Staff Psychiatrist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her research, educational, and clinical activities focus on child-caregiver attachment relationships, the impact of violence, abuse, neglect on children, trauma-focused and attachment-focused assessments and interventions, caregivers’ perceptions and subjective experience of their children and relationship with them, and the assessment and treatment of four- to seven-year-old children with anxiety disorders. She has published in peer-reviewed, scientific publications and other publications, and has made numerous presentations related to these various topics across North America and abroad. She is the lead author of the children’s story and companion workbook, Taming Sneaky Fears – Leo the Lion’s story of bravery & Inside Leo’s den: The workbook (and the French translation, Apprivoiser les Peurs-pas-fines – L’histoire de bravoure de Léo le lionceau & Dans la tanière de Léo : le cahier de travail).
