Kids & Allergy Testing
Kids and allergy testing can cause anxiety for everyone, especially for children.
Before your visit, practicing this technique to prepare your child for testing can help calm a potentially anxious situation.
- Place the child on your lap. Take a deep breath, bring the child close to you, and follow these steps.
- Show the child how to take a deep breath (like Simon Says, do as I do). Try to take 4 or 5 breaths, and have them do it with you.
- Take deep breaths, and start blowing out breaths, doing it faster and laugh while you do it. Then have them blow out breaths, smile and laugh with you. This can change the mood quickly when you have a crying child.
- Once they’ve calmed down, talk to them about what happened. Explain that the tests is like looking for clues (like it explains in our coloring book, The Allergy Detective). Tell them how the doctor uses tests, and symptoms they’ve been experiencing (such as itchies on the skin, eyes, runny nose) to help them find the answers to help them feel better. Ask them for clues that they’ve noticed to add to the list.
Be sure to ask our staff about the tools we have to make the process easier, including our cheer cart, hand-held pinwheels, or our Allergy Detective book which walks patients through the process and helps them understand our diagnostic and treatment process.