Welcome to the fifth module of LUNA! You and your child have worked together to create their first plan of action. Now, it’s time for your child to start practicing the activities in their plan. This week, you will learn how to help your child execute their plan and complete their exposure activities. Most of the remaining modules in LUNA will focus on helping you provide guidance and support as your child completes their plans.
You will spend about 45 minutes – 1 hour reading, watching videos, and doing activities. Remember, your child will also have readings, videos, and worksheets to complete in their own modules, which can be done on their own or with your support. We know that the degree to which kids and parents engage in therapeutic skills predicts positive outcomes, so please try to make this a priority over the next week.
Previously on LUNA...
In the last Module, you and your child learned how to make a Plan of Action. A plan of action is the method we use in LUNA to help your child overcome their fears by gradually facing them. To review, here are the steps for making a plan of action:
- Choose the anxiety/fear you want to tackle
- Choose a specific goal based on the anxiety/fear you chose
- Brainstorm different exposure activities (these activities will be the bulk of the plan)
- Give each exposure activity a rating using the anxiety intensity scale (0-10)
- Order the activities from least to most scary
- Choose a motivation booster OR number of points for each activity
Executing My Child's Plan of Action
Last week, your child developed a plan of action that contains exposure activities for them to complete. This week, you will learn more about how to help your child successfully carry out this plan.
Watch the video below to see how George is working on his plan of action for his fear of germs.
Now that you’ve learned how to come up with a Plan of Action, let’s see how George uses his plan to overcome his fear of germs. George’s fear of germs sometimes causes him to wash his hands frequently. It even makes it hard for him to touch things around his home and at school, hang out with friends, or use public restrooms. George has created a list of exposure activities in his plan of action to help him overcome this fear. He tries practicing them with some help from his mom, starting with the ones he is ready to do.
George has challenged himself to not wash his hands immediately after touching something he thinks is dirty. One of the activities he came up with was to touch an unwashed shirt from the laundry hamper at home. George’s mom encourages him to touch a shirt on top of the basket, which is something that George usually avoids doing. George takes a deep breath and then reaches for a shirt that he wore yesterday. Afterwards, George’s mom lets him know how amazing it is that he challenged his fear of germs, even though it was scary and uncomfortable for him. Usually, George immediately runs to the sink to wash his hands after touching something that might be dirty, but now he is facing his fear instead of relying on quick fixes. George waited a while without washing his hands. He realizes that his anxiety gradually goes away, and it wasn’t too bad. George’s mom tells him how proud she is of him for challenging his fear of germs and they celebrate his success together. George receives 4 points for completing this exposure activity, and now he’s one step closer to buying a new medieval novel he’s always wanted.
George then decides to practice a harder exposure activity at school. This is more difficult for him since his mom is not there to support him, but he tells himself that he can do it. George has video gaming club after school today. He challenges himself to play a game with his friends using the school's shared video game controllers. He usually wipes the controllers before touching them and washes his hands afterwards, but this time he won’t do either of those things. Before going to school, George tells his mom about his plan, and she is excited. She tells him that she is proud of him for taking another step to overcome his fear of germs. When he gets to gaming club, George starts to feel very anxious about his plan, but he knows that he has what it takes to face his fear. Finally, he takes a deep breath, picks up the controller, and begins gaming with his friends. After gaming club, he started walking home without washing his hands. At home, George tells his mom about how well his practice went. For completing this activity George receives a motivation booster. He gets 30 minutes of extra screen time today for his favorite medieval tv show.
As George completes each of the exposure activities in his plan of action, he is getting closer to overcoming his fear of germs, one step at a time. And you can do this too!
As you saw in the video, George’s mom supports him in multiple ways as he practices the exposure activities in his plan. For example, she…
- Encourages George during exposure activities, challenging him to do something he normally avoids
- Reminds George to stop using quick fixes, like washing his hands immediately after touching something he thinks is dirty
- Celebrates with George after he completes an activity, even if it is difficult for him
- Acknowledges and supports George’s anxious emotions while also building confidence in his ability to face those emotions
- Discusses exposure activities with George before he completes them
- Checks in with George after he completes an activity
- Helps George receive motivation boosters as encouragement