The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves.
For the young people in our lives, test-taking can evoke feelings of stress and anxiety. As their guardians, teachers, and loved ones, many of us wonder how we can aid them to push past test anxiety and excel in their academic pursuits? Joining me for this conversation is Diane Placide, LPC, NCC, M.Ed. During our conversation we discussed what test anxiety is and what it might look like in a learning environment, how we can prepare our students to feel confident in a classroom or test taking setting, and what resources are available for youth dealing with test anxiety.
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Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr Joy hard and Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website at Therapy for Black Girls dot com. While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for a special bonus episode of the Therapy for Black Girls podcasts. We'll get right into our conversation after a word from our sponsors. For the young people in our lives, test taking can invoke feelings of stress and anxiety. As their guardians, teachers, and loved ones, many of us wonder how we can aid them to push past test anxiety and excel in their academic pursuits. Joining us today is Diane Placid, a licensed mental health therapist specializing in working with you dealing with anxiety. During our conversation, we discussed what test anxiety is, and what it might look like in a learning environment, how we can prepare our students to feel confident in a classroom or test taking setting, and what resources are available for you dealing with test anxiety. If something resonates with you while enjoying our conversation, please share with us on social media using the hashtag TBG in session or join us over in the sister circles to talk more in depth about the episode. You can join us at community do Therapy for Black Girls dot com. Here's our conversation. Well, thank you so much for joining us today, Diane, Thank you for having me. I was so excited to be on. Yeah, so I am excited to chat with you about a topic that I think a lot of people have some concerns about and that I'd love for you to share more information about. So can you tell us what is test anxiety? Test anxiety is a form of anxiety that's caused by test taking. Anxiety basically is the fear of something getting ready to happen, increase worry that causes sometimes physical conditions and intrusive mental health situations that makes it hard for us to function daily. Got it? And can you say a little bit more about like how this looks in the classroom or the academic environment. Sure, So in the classroom, what might look like our students who try to probably avoid certain assignments, certain tests. On typical days that a student would be scheduled to take a test, they avoid going to school on that day. They may feel like they're getting stomach eggs, or they may have increased sweatiness. They may get certain negative thoughts around the test taking. Oh maybe I'll fail, maybe I won't do well. I'm never good at anything. So those are some of the things that you'll see with students who have some test anxiety. And does this typically only show up in the testing situations or might we see this also as it's related to like homework or answering a question in class or is it very specific to test taking. I believe that it's incorporates a lot of other school things that lead up to tests taking, such as homework, such as completing certain assignments leading up to taking the test. So I think it incorporates all of those things. Got it. So you have experience working in schools, can you talk about how test anxiety maybe showed up like in our stutty? Sure? Yes, So I've actually worked in a high school as a college counselor, so preparing high school students they're transitioned to college. I went to Howard University where I studied school Psychology and counseling services. So that was actually my tract, and I started interning as a school college counselor. And so, yes, I've had different experiences working with students who experience high levels of test anxiety. Got it? And so what are some of the signs that parents or caregivers might be on the lookout that their young person might be struggling with something like test anxiety. Parents should be on the lookout for students who miss a lot of days in schools, who probably are isolated from their peers, They feel discouraged when completing certain assignments or performing on a test. They all so noticed their child is failing a lot of assignments if they're not doing so well on tests, but maybe they are passing their assignments, but when the test comes, they're failing them. When students are cheating also can be another form of noticing a trigger, because if the student feels like they aren't capable of completing the tests on their own that they need to kind of rely on their peers. You're getting a lot of calls at home because their behaviors on the day of the test isn't right. You know, they're misbehaving during the day that they have to take the tests. They're talking, you know, they're stepping out in the hallway. That's seen as a type of avoidance as well. So you know, Diane, my little ones are still schooling virtually right, So they're still at home and I'm wondering or there are some ways that this might look different, or have you seen a different kind of flavor, so to speak. To test anxiety in a virtual environment, well, virtual is tough because you have to try to maintain students attention for longer periods of time times, and with little ones, it's hard to maintain their attention for more than thirty minutes sometimes on virtual even as a therapist, conducting therapy sessions for an hour can be challenging. So you have to try to work with them and trying to keep them engaged by creating activity or being really creative as a teacher or even a therapist to make sure that they are fully attentive. So students can get up out their seats. Students could walk off, dudents could have supplies toys with them, and a lot of times with kids, they'll want to show you things. It's like a show and tell, like every other couple of minutes. So you kind of have to keep them engaged as much as possible. And have you seen any changes in terms of like an increase or a decrease in anxiety related to schooling? Virtually, yes, I have, because students don't feel properly prepared because with COVID happening, school has been out of wax. School schedules can change, you know, at a drop of the dimes. A lot of students are missing school, whether they've contracted COVID or someone in their house have, so they do not feel completely prepared. And so I do have students who complain about having an increased anxiety because they don't feel capable. Their resilience is impacted, so they don't feel like they're able to achieve certain educational goals. They're unable to kind of get the help that they need because either they're not in school completely or their teachers are very busy. Because now that the teachers schedules are just very intense during this time. Is test anxiety something that is properly recognized or diagnosed or do you feel like it sometimes goes under the radar? Well, I tend to feel like working as a school based therapist before in the past and also a school counselor, in my experience, I don't feel like test anxiety is properly diagnosed because sometimes it comes up as like a lot of the issues that we see with students is presented as behavioral issues, and we sometimes don't do our due diligence and trying to find out the root of the issue, the cause of the behavioral issues that's presented. So tests anxiety can go misdiagnose a lot of times, and it could be seen as the students just having a conduct disorder or maybe just having some other challenges that doesn't have anything to do with test anxiety, so that could be confusing. As a therapist, my job a lot of time was to explain to our parents what test anxiety is and what anxiety is in general, so that we could do a better job of being aware and also identifying those symptoms and triggers so that we can work on strategies to reduce them. Mm hmmm, yeah, I'm glad you shared that. Can you say a little bit more about like what those conversations with parents look like, and like what kind of cover decasions should parents be having with their children about healthy like academic performance. So a lot of times I love educating my parents about mental health in general. So test anxiety when you're talking to parents is a form of anxiety that is always good to educate them on, just so that they know what to expect and how to mitigate those issues so that children can have a much successful educational journey. The earlier the better. So I try to first talk about things that I've observed and try to educate them on general symptoms to try to normalize the issue, because a lot of students may encounter some of the similar symptoms like test anxiety, especially for my little ones if they're just starting to learn how to take a test and they want to do really well, but sometimes they feel discouraged if they failed before or they're not getting the feedback that they feel like they deserve. So we kind of work with our parents to develop those strategies to help students feel resilient, to help them feel confident, and let them know like, as long as they're properly preparing for the test and they do the best day they can, that they could push through. Mm hmmm, So what does that look like? How do we help our children to learn how to take tis? So I would try to do at least like five tips, which is eating a good breakfast, which is always good, and we wake up making sure that you get a full breakfast, getting a good amount of sleep. A lot of our kids sleep very late. They go to sleep at like twelve and then they have to wake up at six o'clock in the morning, practicing those daily affirmations, being in connection with the school counselor, so that if there is an issue, the school counselor is able to intervene and provide additional strategies, doing some deep breathing skills, and making sure that their parents are also involved. I always encourage my parents to have conversations with their kids after school, making sure you're discussing like highs and loves. What are some things that happen in school that work for you today? What are some things that you felt were challenging, So that you can allow students to share what their experiences were like, and if they're anything you can do as a parent to kind of step in and provide the necessary support. More from my conversation with Diane after the break. So the tips would you have for parents around like setting the balance right because I think sometimes test anxiety comes from parents and caregivers putting a lot of pressure on kids to do perfectly on tests, right, like, and you know, of course you want your students to do well. I do feel like there has to be a balance. So how do you strike the balance between encouraging them to do well but not you know, making them anxious about taking a test and having that show up as test anxiety. I encouraged my starents to do what they can to get to know their kids, to know what level they are actually are at, to see if they are at a low level, then they have difficulty mastering a certain educational skill that they provide them with tutoring, actual support so they feel properly prepared. Because the more prepared you are as a student, the more confident you'll be able to be in taking the test. So I think that parents having that knowledge to know, like, you know, be supportive, make sure that you know what's going on with them. Know what type of learner your child is. Some students do well with visual learning techniques, some are more traditional. You know, there's different ways a child can learn, and you can support your child in the areas that they are performing well in so that you know how to kind of mitigate those issues. So you ready started talking a little bit about like the way anxiety might transition in college, but I love for you to say more about you know, like maybe if students have struggled with test anxiety in middle school, high school, how might it look different in college? Or I think sometimes you know, having worked on college campuses myself before, you will see the beginning of test anxiety in college that they did not have even before crime to college. So can you talk a little bit about how anxiety and test anxiety specifically might show up in college. A test anside of might show up and caused by you know, with students being a little bit more discouraged and completing tests, probably have more physical symptoms, probably with the stomach butterflies, stomach aches, the migraines before the test, feeling like they have to self medicate to reduce some of that anxiety. That level of worriiness is so increased that they often self diagnosed or think it's something else, And it's typically around the weeks leading up or the times around them taking the test. Actually, so I would say it's more like physical symptoms and feeling inadequate. Those negative thoughts are increased a lot more middle school students, younger kids. It's usually like behavioral. Got it, okay? But there are other resources that typically exist on college campuses for students to support them academically. There are tutors on campus that you can connect with. You can always contact your professors. I mean this is an example. For students who need help with writing, there's usually writing labs. Their different departments have different tutoring clubs or organizations that would help students with whatever challenges that they're experiencing. You could also talk to the upper classmen and get connected with the students who probably are in your major, who's probably been there before, have they experience, and could guide you on the right path. Got it. But I think another thing that comes up that can lead to some test anxiety and other anxiety as it relates to college is parents having these expectations about what your major should be and or I want you to be the first doctor in the family and all of these things. Can you say a little bit more about how parents can really support their college to in doing well academically but also fostering a sense of independence as it relates to their future. You know, but as a parent, building that self autonomy is so important within our children. Making sure that our children are confident in the decisions that they're making, especially around identity. Identity is so important and a lot of times during that college transition phase, students are developing their sense of self and they need to feel confident in doing so so that they are much more confident when they're going out in the world. So being supportive parent and really understanding allowing them to kind of let them tell you who they are, what they want to be, and guiding them through that process. Maybe as a parent we won't agree with everything, but if your kid is really showing like strategic, structured ideas, finding ways to add to that support so that they can achieve their goals would be important because we don't want to discourage them, even if it's something that is totally different from what we've expected. Maybe it is something that they could do completely well in and at something new. I'm from a family of patient immigrants, so if it's not something like a lawyer doctor, I totally understand that. The whole idea of being very stringent on certain fields to go into as a child, and I wanted to be in psychology, my parents were like, what was that? But reassuring my mom that I had an actual plan and I knew this is something that I was passionate about, and I was involved in school, I was involved in organizations and stuff like that to reassured them that I knew what I was doing. So are there any physical or digital tools or resources that you find yourself suggesting or that parents or students might want to look at that might help with test anxiety. Well, I've always recommended the Calm app. The camm app is really good, and I have a friend of mine, she's a black woman who created another app for just mindfulness meditation app it's called Drift, So I've also recommended that, and also just any music. Honestly, music has helped in decreasing some of those anxiety symptoms because you really relate in music and I love using music in my sessions. Sometimes when we're doing therapeutic activities. I'll use like common music to kind of help ease the stress of wariness and stuff like that. So music, the calm app, there's Drift. There's so many other apps that you can use, even Cahoo Cahoo which is an online tool, but it also is there's an app to it, and you could use that to practice some skills before you take the test. And it's a fun, engaging tool that you can use to practice and you can develop questions yourself. Those are really good activity tools that you can use. Yeah, are there other games? I mean, I think who You're Right could be used for like test taking, like let's practice some of the stuff that we're learning, but also could be just like a fun trivia kind of thing, right, because you mentioned a couple of times like really getting to know your kids and like spending time with them, and I think that could be a good way to do that. Are there other games used to suggest for parents and caregivers to really help them to maybe connect better with their children. Yes, The un Gained Board Game. I don't know if you've heard it, it's on Amazon. That's a really good tool because the un Gained Board Game, it's a board game that really helps you build communication skills. Anyone who plays a game, you have to allow the person the opportunity to fully state their answers without interruptions. So it's teaching you like communications techniques, and it's also teaching you how to listen to each other. And there's appropriate times where you can use follow up questions and just engage with your family throughout the game. So I really like the gained tools. I really liked this game called Choices. This is another activity that I've work with my kids on and it's really learning how to build value systems and knowing how to make certain choices and practice that self autonomy which is important for confident building. God, thank you for that. You've also mentioned the importance of affirmations and how that can help to manage anxiety. Are there any resources you suggest for that. One affirmation that I would share for students dealing with test anxiety is I am capable and I have prepared and I could try my best. Thank you for that. So what do you wish people knew more about as it is related to academic achievement and anxiety. I wish that students knew that they are able to overcome it. You know, test anxiety is something that you go through as a student sometimes, but it's not something that is permanent. You're able to overcome it. You're able to be resilient and push through even though you feel a little anxious about passing to test, and the practice makes perfect. The more you're prepared, you're able to overcome those symptoms. By practicing those strategies, coping strategies, you'll do better. And where can we follow you and support your work? Diane? What's your website as well as any social media handles you'd like to share? Sure you are able to follow me on I G and my handle is at a lightning Q and also my website is enlightening q dot com. Perfect. Thank you so much for sharing that. Thank you so much, Dr Joy, I appreciate you having me on. I'm so glad Diane was able to share her expertise with us today. To learn more about her and her work, be sure to visit the show notes at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash test anxiety, and be sure to text two of your girls right now and ask them to check out the episode as well. If you're looking for a therapist in your area. Be sure to check out our therapist directory at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash directory. And if you want to continue digging into this topic or just be in community with other sisters, come on over and join us in the Sister Circle. It's our cozy corner of the Internet designed just for black women. You can join us at Community not Therapy for Black Girls dot com. This episode was produced by Freda Lucas and Alice Ellis and editing was done by Dennis and Bradford. Thank you all so much for joining me again this week. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you all real soon. Take it care