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The Susie Scenario Essay

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For most people, anxiety is something that occurs occasionally throughout their lives such as, right before a big meeting, presentation, tests, or a simple medical procedure. Other people are facing challenges daily due to anxiety; some are diagnosed while others are not. Anxiety includes, “distressingly unpleasant and maladaptive feelings, thoughts, behaviors, and physical reactions. Students with anxiety often worry about their competence, even when they are not being evaluated” (Durwin, 467). These struggles affect the performance of adults in their everyday lives and more specifically; a child’s performance in academics. It is the role as an educator, to aid students with anxiety and other disorders with coping with these …show more content…

In this circumstance, Susie feels over-stimulated due to her need for perfection; inevitably causing her to fall behind on assignments. Someone with severe anxiety splits their attention between their anxiety and the task, instead of focusing solely on the assignment. This is made apparent through Susie’s lack of assignment completion. She is going through something known as the “vicious cycle.” Essentially, Susie becomes fixated on a specific part of her assignment which distracts her from completing the full project, leading to a poor grade and disappointment from Susie; causing more anxiety and another incomplete assignment due to the lack of focus. Therefore, Susie cannot perform at the optimal level. A simple task as mentioned earlier, notetaking; provides everyone with a tolerance for a higher arousal level. Notetaking is something that can be performed with less thought, effort, and stress which allows someone with anxiety to partake in the activity more easily. Provided that Susie’s main problems are anxiety, disorganization, and perfectionism; it is important to design a modification plan that will reduce these symptoms and create an environment that is more conducive to her learning. To begin, an educator can use the shaping method, inclusive of a “cognitive-behavioral treatment” and “token economy,” as a way to control Susie’s disorder. “Shaping involves reinforcing small steps that move toward the behavior until the entire behavior is displayed” (Durwin

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