Chandra is an 11-year-old girl in the fifth grade. According to her mother, Chandra has always been a quiet child. Although she has generally done well in school, this past year her grades have started to slip. She has also become more irritable and withdrawn.
At school, Chandra will only sit with her two best friends whom she has known since preschool. She says she doesn’t want to hangout with other girls at lunch or between classes because she is afraid she will do something embarrassing. This fear started after one of the popular girls teased Chandra about wearing the “wrong” jeans. In addition, Chandra refuses to go to gym class, because she doesn’t want to change in front of the other girls and because she is afraid she will do something stupid in class. She has missed two birthday sleepovers with the excuse of having a stomachache, and is avoiding joining any after-school activities or clubs. Her best friends are starting to get annoyed because Chandra never wants to do anything with them outside of school. Chandra says she prefers to play with her younger sister. Finally, her mother has noticed that Chandra has trouble making eye contact and tends to mumble and speak quietly when she is around other kids or adults she doesn’t know. This has been going on for almost a year, but has worsened over the past six months.