The Disintegrating Student: Struggling but Smart, Falling Apart, and How to Turn It Around

Students who “care so much that when they start to struggle academically... [it] paralyzes them into inaction” can be helped, posits school psychologist Jannot in her approachable debut. More and more kids, she writes, are experiencing anxiety, depression, stress, school phobia, and slipping grades, but a mindset shift, receptive parenting, and specific skill sets can turn things around. To help parents understand the myriad pressures on their children, Jannot covers ways to better understand how kids think (as opposed to just what they’re thinking), research on sleep cycles (most kids get less shut eye than they need—teens require eight to 10 hours per night), and the effects of stress on the body (which parents can ease by helping them out). She instructs parents to have vulnerable, honest conversations with their kids and to approach issues with compassionate solutions—conceding, for example, that it’s fine for kids to fake sick in moments of peer pressure. Jannot’s style is casual and buoyant, though at times she can be overly reassuring in her promise that all struggling students were once “super smart.” As much a pep talk as a set of strategies, this will hit the spot for parents looking for ways to get their children out of an academic rut. (July)