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CHILD psychologist Dr Orlean Brown-Earle is warning parents and teachers to be on the lookout for signs of separation anxiety in children as face-to-face classes resume.Brown-Earle told the Jamaica Observer that this type of anxiety may present itself in students because of the almost two-year break from physical schools, due to the novel coronavirus pandemic."They are going to face some unusual challenges. Some of them are going to have separation anxiety, they will feel anxious about leaving their home environment. Basically, for the past two years they are used to being at home, so for some of them, especially younger children, it might be stressful to be separated," Brown-Earle stated.At the same time, she added, if a parent or teacher notices that a child is showing signs of anxiety, such as profusely perspiring or trembling when the weather is not a factor or being disruptive in class and speaking up about attending school, the first thing that needs to be done is to validate their feelings."So, it's going to be important for parents especially to stay calm and positive. If the children are telling you that they are worried and they are having some negative feelings about the school and so on, be patient with them and be understanding towards them," Brown-Earle advised, noting that she understands that parents may also be feeling some level of anxiety, given the pandemic.However, she cautioned that, "We want to also set the tone. Because if the parents present with anxiety then the children are going to be more anxious. The parents themselves must be in charge of their emotions."Additionally, she said that it is important that while at home, if the parents are in a position to do so, they should separate themselves from their children, since parents, who weren't able to have another caregiver around, were constantly with their child."They (parents) can say, 'you know what, I'm going to go down the road for 20 minutes because I have somebody else to stay with them.' Because you know, many children for the past three years, they have clung on to [their parents]. One mother told me that because she doesn't have a caregiver she has never got a break from her child. She's a good friend of mine. I had to say, 'you know what, send them here for a whole day' because she lives far away from family and friends," Brown-Earle explained.She also noted that while separation anxiety may be seen in exam students, younger children and special needs students are mostly affected by this condition."We see the separation anxiety largely in the younger ones who probably went to a little part of grade one and then now they are in grade three and they are used to their parents being around them. But we also see it in some of the high school students who have special needs," she said."The special needs children, we want to focus on them especially because now they already probably was very closed to their parents, many times for special needs children the parents are overprotective, and now they have to be separated to go to school. Probably it's the first time in a new school because some of them were in grade one but now that we are out of school with the learning loss and other issues, we realise that this child is autistic, this child has some intellectual deficit and has to go to another school. So for them easing back into a school mode is going to be very important," Brown-Earle continued.Face-to-face learning resumed at most public schools on Monday, March 7Brown-Earle, meanwhile, said while she was very pleased when she learned that students would return to the classroom because of the academic and socialisation implications, she was also very concerned that teachers may be "burnout" from the stress of teaching during a deadly pandemic."We want them to engage in self-care and we want the administrators to pay attention to teachers who are possibly burnt out because of all that they have been doing - getting enough sleep, nutrition, are they exercising and, of course, communicating with any mental health services that they need to vent and share their issues?" Brown-Earle said. She noted, too, that signs of a teacher being burnt out can present itself as lack of enthusiasm, detachment from students and colleagues, physical health issues and reduced performance.