3-141 - Three Novel Approaches to Intervening in the Lives of Anxious Young Children

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The production of extremely wary behavior in social settings represents a risk factor for the later development of such internalizing problems as anxiety disorders. Early impairments associated with social wariness are maintained and often exacerbated by early environmental experiences. For example, behavioral inhibition (BI) increases over time when mothers are more restrictive. When parents respond with warmth and encouragement to approach feared situations, their children are often redirected from pathways of negative outcomes. Relatedly, children who evidence selective mutism (SM) are characterized as being consistently unable to speak in specific social situations whilst being communicatively fluent in others. Several researchers have observed that these children are often shy and behaviorally inhibited in infancy or early childhood (e.g., Dummit et al., 1997). Taken together, these findings suggest the need for intervention that directly targets risk and protective factors implicated in the development of internalizing problems associated with BI, social wariness, and/or selective mutism. Paper 1 examines, in an Australian sample, an intervention aimed at reducing BI, child and maternal anxiety and negative parenting behaviors. Paper 2 examines the feasibility and efficacy of intensive group behavioral treatment for the treatment of early childhood selective mutism. Paper 3 examines the efficacy of Parent Child Intervention Therapy plus a child directed social skills and emotion regulation program in increasing social initiations and interactions within preschool settings in a sample of extremely shy preschoolers. An eminent scholar who specializes in the study of social wariness, shyness, and withdrawal will serve as discussant.

Sub Unit

• Developmental Psychopathology

Chair

• Kenneth Rubin, University of Maryland, College Park

Discussant

• Robert Coplan, Carleton University

Individual Presentations

• Targeting risk factors for inhibited preschool children. - Presenting Author: Jennifer L Hudson, Macquarie University; Frances Lee Houwing, Macquarie University; Helen Dodd, University of Reading; Talia Morris, Macquarie University; Yulisha Byrow, Macquarie University

• A Preliminary Evaluation of Intensive Group Behavioral Treatment for Children with Selective Mutism - Presenting Author: Nicole E. Barroso, Florida International University; Tommy Chous, Florida International University; Danielle Cornacchio, Florida International University; Jami M Furr, Florida International University; Steven M.S. Kurtz, Kurtz Psychology Consulting; Jonathan S. Comer, Florida International University

• Coming out of Their Shells: A Multicomponent Treatment for Inhibited and Shy Preschoolers Generalizes to a Classroom Setting - Presenting Author: Matthew George Barstead, University of Maryland; Christina Danko, University of Maryland, College Park; Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, University of Maryland; Kenneth Rubin, University of Maryland, College Park; Kelly O’Brien, University of Maryland - College Park; Robert Coplan, Carleton University