Performance Anxiety Support

Your child freezes, panics, or refuses to participate in tests, presentations, or sports days

Steps

  1. Normalise nerves: 'Everyone feels butterflies. It means your body is getting ready'
  2. Practice the task at home in a low-pressure way
  3. Teach a quick body-based calming technique: squeeze fists for 5 seconds, then release
  4. Focus on effort, not outcome: 'I'll be proud of you for trying'
  5. Arrange accommodations if needed: extra time, smaller room, familiar adult present

What you need

Practice time at home, school communication for accommodations

Why it works

Children with ADHD, Autism, and Dyslexia often experience performance anxiety because they've had repeated experiences of struggling in front of others. Their nervous system has learned to associate being watched with failure. Practising in safe spaces and focusing on effort rather than outcome gradually rewires that association.

Age guidance

Most common from age 6 onwards when school assessments begin. Peaks around ages 10-14 when social awareness and academic pressure increase.

Real-world example

A child with dyslexia refused to read aloud in class after being laughed at. Their parent practised reading together every evening — just the two of them, no pressure. After a month, the child asked their teacher if they could read a short section. Two sentences, but it felt like a triumph.

Troubleshooting

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