Back-to-School Anxiety in Kids & Teens

Available for Interviews: Dr. Pete Loper

Dr. Pete Loper, MD, MSEd, FAAP, is a triple board-certified physician in pediatrics, psychiatry, and child psychiatry. He is also a professor and executive coach and is dedicated to mental health and wellness advocacy.

What Dr. Loper could say on
Back-to-School Anxiety:

    • Not all anxiety is bad. It can be very helpful in supporting healthy adaptations for kids. In times of change, it is normal and expected, but alternatively, there are behaviors that can be more concerning.
    • Watch for signs your child may be experiencing anxiety: not getting up for school, not engaging in typical routines, somatic complaints: headache, belly ache as cause for not going to school.

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How Parents Can Handle Back-to-School Anxiety in Their Kids

Available for Interviews: Dr. Pete Loper

Dr. Pete Loper, MD, MSEd, FAAP, is a triple board-certified physician in pediatrics, psychiatry, and child psychiatry. He is also a professor and executive coach and is dedicated to mental health and wellness advocacy.

What Dr. Loper could say on
Back-to-School Anxiety:

    • Not all anxiety is bad. It can be beneficial in supporting healthy adaptations for kids. It is typical and expected in times of change, but alternatively, some behaviors can be more concerning.
    • There has been an increase in the number of patients needing mental health services since the pandemic. We have seen an uptick in the Adolescents age group.

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Grades and Self-Esteem in School-Aged Children

Available for Interviews: Dr. Pete Loper

Dr. Pete Loper, MD, MSEd, FAAP, is a triple board-certified physician in pediatrics, psychiatry, and child psychiatry. He is also a professor and executive coach and is dedicated to mental health and wellness advocacy.

What Dr. Loper could say on
Grades and Self-Esteem:

Consistent with Carol Dweck’s research on “growth mindset,” struggle is a normal part of development. According to John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory, struggle in the context of the approach and exploration of new experiences is the rate-limiting step to healthy human development. Further, both Bowlby and his successor in Attachment research, Mary Ainsworth, identified the relationship between a child and their “experienced others” (parents, teachers) as the fundamental ingredient required to support continued approach and exploration in the context of struggle. Put simply, outcomes such as grades are a manifestation of the process, and your child’s willingness and motivation to engage in the process, i.e. to try, try again (growth mindset) is informed by a child’s interactions with parents and teachers. 

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5 Principles of Video Game Design We Can Apply to Education

Available for Interviews:  Nadine Levitt

Nadine Levitt is an education advocate, speaker, and the CEO & Founder of WURRLYedu, an educational technology platform. Nadine specializes in the social-emotional curriculum (SEL), and she is also the author of the children’s book, My Mama Says Inside Me Lives a Village. 

What Nadine Levitt can say in an interview on
Applying Gaming for Educational Success:

How incorporating key concepts from video game design into education can inspire kids to learn.

Another industry that could teach us a thing or two in education, is video game design.

Kids love video games. During the pandemic, they were playing games now more than ever. In fact, global video game revenue was up an extra 15 billion in 2020 (according to Global Games Market Report).

It made me think about WHY video games are so engaging to kids. And could we use the same concepts in education to make lessons more engaging and active so that kids would show up excited to learn?

The answer is a resounding yes, and here’s how.

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