Help with anxiety in school

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Hi all,

I had posted about my child (9 year old) who recently experienced an Anaphylactic reaction. He was having acute anxiety afterwards, but it got a lot better after a few weeks.

Well, school just started (we are on day 4), and he had anxiety meltdowns all day yesterday. He was panicked on the bus (convinced that his throat was closing), and was sent to the nurse. The nurse sent him back to class, and he cried all day long, very loudly. He was afraid to eat his lunch. His anxiety is making him think that he keeps getting stuff in his mouth. For example, he thinks that he got rat poison in his mouth when we were at the playground, because they had treated the park area behind the playground (behind a fence) for rats once last year. He did not go into that area. He thinks he gets dog food in his mouth if he walks past the dog food bowl.

I think that the transition back to school, plus the fact that he is now not right with me all day has really ramped up the anxiety.

Yesterday I received a note from his new teachers, and an email from the program coordinator at his school (he is in an ASD program). The program coordinator wants to talk ASAP about putting together an action plan to manage the anxiety.

The other kids on the bus were also experiencing anxiety because they all thought that my son was having a medical crisis, and his crying was really disruptive in the class.

I am supposed to speak on the phone with the program coordinator today.

Do any of you have any suggestions for how the staff can try to help my son with his anxiety in school?

I was thinking of sending in a weighted neck wrap or blanket.

Have any of you had a similar experience with your child? If so, what helped?

Does the school allow him to bring a tablet (or a smartphone) as a comfort item?

Maybe, when he's anxious, he can watch his favorite video or something.

hmm
seems not anxiety but sensory over load. more specifically smell. smell and taste a very similar. eer have a time where you can taste smells? that's probably happening. could be synthesia, where smells are associated with taste. i associate visual movement with sounds.

Agree.

It sounds like smell sensitivity. And smell is directly related to taste(you actually can't recognize some flavours if you clog your nose) so it's quite possible for him to taste smell in his mouth. Sometimes I get the feeling too. It's disgusting and scary when unpleasant smell gets stuck in your mouth because you smelled it.

Perhaps some favored bubblegum would help? Or an item with strong smell he could smell when needed? It would kill other smells and let him calm down. You just have to find one with smell/taste the kid likes.
And even if it is anxiety the gum/thing might help too. Just convince the kid it is a medicine that helps him breathing - which is actually not impossible cause medicines like this exist. We have something like this in Poland https://translate.google.pl/translate?s ... t=&act=url - it's just a smell of herbs, you smell it and it gets easier to breath.

Wow, this sounds nice: http://www.stillpointaromatics.com/arom ... aromastick - you can choose any color and fill it with any smell your kid likes.

How insightful, Kirae and nobodycaresaboutme! He *does* have synesthesia with smell/ taste, but it never occurred to me that this was what was happening in this situation. I also have it but, clearly, not as strongly as him because I have never thought that something actually got into my mouth/ was stuck. Although, I will vomit from smells.

He is already on the bus right now, but I will make sure he has some gum or hard candy tomorrow. I'm also pretty sure that his teachers will let him have gum or hard candy in school because he is in an ASD class, and they are pretty understanding of sensory overload.

kraftiekortie, I did send him with a phone today. His bus driver is fine with it. He has been texting me while he is riding the bus. It seems to be helping to distract him.

Thanks so much, everyone. This is very helpful.

Hopefully the phone will help distract him. Sorry to hear it's been so hard for him!
For my daughter, senior in high school, so much older...but her music on her phone wearing her earbuds at school has been an enormous help. She always uses them on the bus and when "working" at school. She keeps an extra set of earbuds with her as she can't imagine having to go a day without them.
She also has had a lot of trouble eating at school last year. She ended up eating in a small classroom with other students, but she said she always had to eat alone at a table to "get everything down". She was also having a lot of stomach issues at the time, but just a thought.
The replies about the smell sensitivity/synesthesia are so interesting...you've got me wondering about my daughter now too.
Sure hope things get better!

As someone who has had food anaphylaxis, this reaction is really, really common.

It takes me forever to trust food, especially if someone else is preparing it.

How about some play therapy, so he can work out his feelings? That is what my allergist uses with NT kids who have trouble putting a reaction behind them.

It could be smells triggering it, I'm guessing anxiety/PTSD (similar). If you have food allergies you are always told to becareful. You are hyper vigilant. Then you get blind sided. All your supposed safe guards come crashing down. No nothing feels safe. Do this to a kid who is young and has processing issues, I'm sure it's a nightmare.

He needs some way to work through what happened to him. Play therapy/art therapy. Maybe a visit to his allergist to just go over how he can keep safe.

Hang in there!

One last thing..

My DD is NT and had reaction to walnuts/pecans in a cookie a two Christmas ago.

I bought the f*cking cookies and since it didn't look like it had big chunks of nuts in it, I was good to go. Mind you, we never had a reaction with her before. We were just avoiding nuts and peanuts because my whole family has allergy problems.

The damn things had walnut/pecan meal in the cookies.

Anaphylaxis, Epi, ER, IV, blah blah blah....

She was a dumpster fire afterwards. Her anxiety was off the charts, and was 10 years old at the time.

We finally came up with a game plan. When in doubt, don't eat it, even if feelings get hurt. Her allergist came up with an anaphylaxis plan, which seem to help her free floating anxiety.

She can remember that day like it was drawn in cement.