Psychology Prof., Child Development Expert Available for Interviews
09/03/2020
Contacts: for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and Christine Gillette, 978-758-4664, Christine_Gillette@uml.edu
For the country’s 56 million schoolchildren beginning their formal education or returning to class this fall, COVID-19 is posing unprecedented challenges and upending the way they learn.
As the global pandemic continues, the nation’s more than 130,000 K-12 schools are grappling with how best to provide education, whether remotely, in school, or a combination of both. Each option creates different stressors: Children who learn online will likely be physically separated from their friends and peers, while students who learn at school together may be at higher risk for contracting the disease. Hybrid models of learning both remotely and in the classroom may disrupt established weekly routines.
Parents and caregivers aiming to ease tensions and instill a sense of normalcy should first examine their own fears about the pandemic before addressing issues with young people, according to a UMass Lowell authority on child and adolescent development.
“Some children – and adults – are temperamentally more prone to experience anxiety than others. That is true in general and for the return to school in the midst of a pandemic. These types of anxieties are best overcome not by avoiding them, but by facing them, step by step, in a supportive environment,” said Doreen Arcus, an expert who is available for interviews. “Acknowledging children’s attempts to cope with their anxiety provides opportunities to reward and support them rather than enable their avoidance. Help the fearful child to understand that being brave doesn’t mean not being afraid, it means being afraid, but doing it anyway.”
A professor of psychology, Arcus is available to discuss how children of all ages and abilities, including those with special needs, can thrive as the school year gets underway. Topics include:
- How parents and other caregivers can take stock of their own fears about the pandemic;
- Ways to recognize and respond to behavioral changes in children that may signal they are under stress;
- Strategies to establish daily routines designed to ease anxiety in young people.
Arcus is an associate professor at UMass Lowell, where she teaches child development courses and conducts research on the family and school experiences of young people. An authority on the roles of nature and nurture in parenting and child development, she is an adviser to the Massachusetts Sibling Support Network and past member of the Massachusetts Special Education Advisory Council.
To arrange an interview via phone, email or Zoom (or other teleconferencing platform), contact Nancy Cicco at Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu or Christine Gillette at Christine_Gillette@uml.edu or 978-758-4664.