Healthy Habits - Children and Anxiety

 Clay, the behavioral health solution for early childhood education centers, released new data on Thursday, March 16 indicating that 40% of children ages 3-5 who are flagged for behavioral issues show signs of anxiety (please see full news release below). 

Clay is an early identification platform that provides a comprehensive suite of behavioral and developmental tools for school communities that serve children ages 0-5. For this particular data effort, Clay considered more than 250,000 anonymized data points on 2,726 children ages 3-5, collected via well-validated standardized screening tools recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Of this sample of participants, nearly one third (778 children, or 30.8%) showed some indication of a behavioral concern. Within this subset, 40% showed an indicator for anxiety.  Clay’s data also indicates that there may be a strong correlation between parental anxiety and child anxiety, with up to 65% of the children flagged for behavioral issues displaying signs of anxiety when a parent also showed signs of anxiety.  It also signals a strong correlation between behavioral issues and developmental issues, with 51% of the children who were flagged for behavioral issues showing indications of developmental delays.

 

These findings highlight the need for early  screening and identification. I had a chance to interview Robin Maddox, LMFT, Director of Behavioral Health at Clay, for additional perspective about the benefits of helping early education centers identify potential risk factors such as behavioral, developmental and mental health issues.

1. Why is it important to start evaluating mental health from an early age?

 

There is a deep need for upstream intervention and prevention because 90 % of the brain develops in the first 5 years of life. At the age of 3, anxiety is much simpler to alleviate than it is at the age of 13, after the child's neural pathways and negative coping skills have been set and the maladaptive family dynamics have been created. If we can intervene in the first 5 years of a child’s life, we can make a seismic shift in the mental health crisis we are currently seeing. 

 

2.  How can parents, teachers, and caregivers work to support mental health in young kids?

 

Parents can make sure they do their own mental health work first and ensure they are spending special time (undistracted, one-on-one, child-led play time) with each child daily.  Teachers, parents and caregivers should have a good set of tools to regulate themselves in challenging moments and also be comfortable with co-regulation skills (ie: getting eye level with children, validating feelings, and taking deep breaths together).  

 

3.   Why is it important to have a balanced approach to education that includes mental, cognitive, and physical growth?

 

Mental, cognitive and physical growth are interconnected.  If any of those areas are lacking it can greatly impact the other areas.  For example, if a child is depressed, they may feel a lack of energy and use food as a coping mechanism, which will eventually affect their physical health. Our brain doesn’t function as well when our depression symptoms take over, so cognitive function may be impaired as well.  Or, vice versa, if a child has learning disabilities, it can impact their self-esteem and their mental health and how they take care of and appreciate their bodies. 

 

About Robin Maddox

Robin Maddox, LMFT, is a pediatric mental health expert with over a decade of hands-on experience

following data-driven, evidenced-based strategies to support and heal children, adolescents and families. As Director of Behavioral Health at Clay, she has guided the development of an early identification platform that provides a comprehensive suite of behavioral and developmental tools for school communities that serve children ages 0-5.  Prior to Clay, Robin worked as a child and family therapist in her own private practice (Maddox Counseling), and at The Family Institute at Northwestern University. She previously served as Director of Special Education at Notre Dame College Prep, where she created, developed, and implemented a Special Education  Program for students with Down Syndrome, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Trisomy 13, and other developmental disabilities. Robin also has prior experience as a Director and Executive Board Member for Camp Hope, a summer camp for children and young adults with developmental disabilities.