The step ladder approach is a step-by-step way of helping children with their fears. It involves breaking down your child’s fears into smaller steps (hence, the step ladder), and working through them in order of easiest/least scary, to hardest/most scary. Your child determines how long they stay at each step of the ladder. It’s not a one-and-done type of technique. They’ll stay at each step until they feel less anxious and then move up to the next step. They may need to repeat a step 100 times, or they may be ready to move up after just a couple of times.