Plan it Out!
For your plan of action to be as effective as possible, your child must practice exposure activities frequently. Your child should aim to practice at least one activity every day. While spontaneous practice is encouraged, there should also be planned activities to ensure that your child continues to make progress.
It might be hard for your child to get started, but the more they practice, the easier this process will become, and they will get closer and closer to accomplishing their goal. It is often a good idea for your child to begin by practicing the first activity in their plan with the lowest rating on the anxiety intensity scale. Some kids will feel ready to take on more challenging activities. If that is the case for your child, you do not need to start with the activity with the lowest rating, but no matter what, start with one your child feels confident they will be able to complete all the way through. It’s okay if your child needs to dedicate the first week to practicing only their first activity multiple times. Some kids may need to practice an exposure activity a couple of times before it feels easier. It’s time for your child to move on to the next activity in the plan of action whenever they feel ready to.
Use the Weekly Practice Plan worksheet to plan out when your child will complete their exposure activities throughout the week. On this worksheet, your child can write down what activity they plan to accomplish for each day of the week, along with the motivation boosters or points they will receive for completing that activity.
For your child’s first practice, please remember that even though their first activity has the lowest anxiety intensity scale rating, your child may still be worried about taking this first step. Try providing some verbal encouragement and remind them of the motivation boosters they will be earning. Also, try not to ask questions that could lead to unhelpful responses from your child. For instance, instead of asking your child if they want to practice an exposure activity (e.g., “Do you want to try this activity today?”), give them a choice of when it will happen (e.g., “Do you want to try out this activity before or after dinner today?”)
We strongly recommend that this time is free from siblings or other major distractions. It can be hard for kids and teens to talk about their anxiety and practice facing their fears, especially when other people or distractions are present. As your child practices more activities, it may become less important to remove distractions, but it will be helpful for them to start out in a private and calm environment.
Keeping Track of Your Practice
Your child will keep track of all the different times they practice an activity using the Plan of Action Activity Log. On this log, they will write down what exposure activity they completed and the date it was completed. They should also note their anxiety intensity scale ratings before, during, and after completing an activity. Lastly, there will be a space for your child to reflect on anything new they learned or discovered after completing the activity. You will learn more about how to help your child reflect on exposure activity practices soon!
Repeating Activities vs. Switching Up Activities
Remember when we said that practice predicts outcome? Repetition will be necessary to make sure your child gains confidence and truly masters facing their fear. If their anxiety intensity rating for a certain activity is still high after one practice, then they should practice that same activity a couple more times before moving on to a harder one.
On the other hand, if your child has activities in their plan that are similar difficulty levels (aka similar anxiety intensity scale ratings), then they could work on these activities at the same time before moving on to harder ones. This can be helpful especially if there are limited opportunities to practice a certain activity. Working on more than one activity at a time will give your child the chance to face their fears more often and in a variety of situations.
For example, George’s video gaming club meets on Wednesdays, so he will only have one opportunity a week to practice using the shared controllers during the club meeting. This means that George should practice another activity with a similar anxiety intensity rating on the other days of the week. George might try using the utensils at a restaurant without wiping them down first, for instance.
