Behavioral Exposure

Because they fear failure or some other unpleasant consequence, children are sometimes afraid to engage in certain behaviors that could be beneficial to them. One technique that can help children overcome this kind of fear is behavioral exposure. With this technique, children are encouraged to perform gradually increasing amounts of the feared behavior. After they are repeatedly exposed to the behavior and experience no negative consequences, they gradually become confident that a negative outcome is unlikely, and they are eventually able to overcome their fear.