Start the New School Year on a Positive Note
Starting or going back to school can be very stressful for your child or teen. As a parent, you play a critical role in your child's educational success! To start the year on a positive note, consider these basic tips:
- Get your child to bed on time
- Communicate with teachers and the school
- Provide healthy meals for your child
- Take your child to the pediatrician for a check-up
- Prepare a special study area
- Read together
In addition, we would like to highlight the importance of your child's emotional and mental health. Early warning signs that your young child may be struggling emotionally include:
- Frequent temper tantrums
- Excessive worrying
- Sudden or intense fears
- Avoiding friends and family; wanting to be alone
- Loss of interest in activities they once enjoyed
- Sleep problems such as difficulty going to sleep or staying asleep or bed-wetting
- Frequent nightmares
- Changes or decline in school performance; bad grades despite trying hard
- Refusing to go to childcare or school
- Hyperactive behavior
- Difficulty concentrating or completing tasks
- Frequent complaints about physical problems or ailments (frequent tummy aches)
- Persistent disobedient or aggressive behavior; fighting
Older children and teens may exhibit or engage in the following behaviors:
- Abuse of drugs and/or alcohol
- Changes in school performance, failing grades
- Inability to cope with daily problems and activities
- Changes in sleeping and/or eating habits
- Excessive complaints of physical problems
- Defying authority, skipping school, stealing or damaging property
- Intense fear of gaining weight
- Long-lasting negative mood, often along with poor appetite and thoughts of death
- Frequent outbursts of anger
- Drastic changes in behavior or personality, mood swings
- Excessive worrying
- Withdrawal, avoiding family and friends
- Sadness or hopelessness that lasts more than two weeks
- Self-harming behaviors
Early intervention is critical. If you are worried about your child's mental health, tools such as the Pediatric Symptom Checklist provide a quick, easy way to identify concerns. 
Note: If your child's score is higher than 24 (ages 3-5) or 28 (ages 6-18), additional assessment is recommended.
In addition to our offices in Palm Beach Gardens and West Palm Beach, as an approved provider of Behavioral Health services through the School District of Palm Beach County, we are able to offer school-based services for children.
The Center for Child Counseling is an approved Medicaid Provider (including the Medicaid HMOs through Psychcare and Sunshine), a part of the Children's Behavioral Health Collaborative, and works on a sliding scale through our Child and Family Center.
