On the Coast – Families Issue 104 I February/March 2020 | Page 15

This applies no matter the issue or
root cause. So that being said, as a parent
its important to investigate what those
things may be as soon as you start to feel
your child’s issue is getting bigger than
what you can manage alone.
But what about making in-roads with
your child? To do this, it is important to
try and discern what may be causing
the issue. Firstly, speaking to your
child’s previous teacher and getting a
good picture of what they are seeing in
class is important, even if you believe
that their opinion is inaccurate.
Speaking to your child in a non-
pressured manner to encourage
answers is great too. Often they may
give great insight that yourself and the
teachers could never have seen alone,
sometimes children are actually able to
give a very specific name to what is
happening, and success can go from
there.
Understanding as much as possible
about what happens in class is imperative
as we need to know the drivers for these
issues.
For example, some children may be
experiencing a hidden learning issue
hindering their progress just enough
to go unnoticed, but make it look as if
they’re simply not trying, or paying
attention in class.
A child may be experiencing extreme
anxiety, which is causing them to feel
completely overwhelmed and shut
down during learning, or employ coping
mechanisms to deal with this. These
coping strategies can look like anything
from just not keeping up with workload,
not engaging in floor time activities,
or even disruptive behaviours. This is
because of our body’s “fight or flight”
mechanism, designed to keep us safe
from danger. Unfortunately, in times of
extreme anxiety, that feeling of being
unsafe is physiologically the same as
if there were a physical danger, so
adrenaline and other chemicals flood
the body in response, which can leave
us with a racing heart, dizzy, short of
breath, and foggy in the head, definitely
not the recipe for concentrating in class.
In other cases, stimuli from the
classroom that other students may
take in their stride such as noise, light,
constant change of activity and routine,
and general demands can overwhelm a
little body’s system. These children need
to find ways to regulate their emotions,
which can lead to outbursts, hyperactive-
like behaviours or just difficulty focusing.
Another very common cause is of
course food. A child may be simply
experiencing an inconsistent up and
down of their blood sugar levels, causing
irritability, brain fog and fatigue, or
conversely, big bursts of energy at the
wrong time. They may be reacting to
certain foods, sugars or additives in even
A child may be simply
experiencing an
inconsistent up and
down of their blood
sugar levels, causing
irritability, brain
fog and fatigue, or
conversely, big
bursts of energy
at the wrong time
the healthiest of diets, which can lead to
anxiety, impulsive behaviour or difficulty
engaging in learning.
I’ve named but a few possible
explanations for your child’s difficulties
keeping focused in the classroom, but
there are so many more, so its important
to keep going until you get to the bottom
of them. Whatever the issue is however,
it’s so important to seek support and help
from those in the know such as your
GP, child psychologists, tutors trained
in learning difficulties, Occupational
Therapists, Nutritionists, and Speech
Therapists as no-one experts you to be
an expert, and you don’t need to do it
alone. You are, however the number one
expert and best support person for your
child and with your help they will get to
wherever they need to go.
Clare Marcangelo is a local registered Nutritionist and former Early Childhood practitioner who
specialises in children’s health. As a mum herself, she knows how hard it can be to make even the
smallest of changes to a family diet.
FEBRUARY/MARCH 20 – ISSUE 104
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