NEW YORK, Mar 08 (Reuters Health) -- Youngsters who are extremely shy can often overcome their anxiety with a combination of social skills training and the help of their more extroverted peers, researchers report.

Both components are part of a 12-week program, which was designed by Dr. Deborah C. Beidel of the University of Maryland in College Park and colleagues, called Social Effectiveness Therapy for Children (SET-C).

In SET-C, small groups of children are taught social skills after investigators determine each child's anxieties. The researchers then pair small groups of shy and non-shy children for public social activities such as bowling or a trip to the beach.

In the final component, the researchers work ``on each child's problem area,'' Beidel said. Each child is given the opportunity to read aloud or perform in front of groups, or talk to adults so they can use their learned skills.

In their study, Beidel and colleagues looked at 67 children who were so shy that they met the criteria for social phobia -- an anxiety disorder seen in 5% of children and 8% of adults. While most shy children eventually ``warm-up'' in a social situation, youngsters with social phobia will continue to experience extreme anxiety.

The children, who were aged 8 to 12, were randomly assigned to undergo the 24-session SET-C treatment or another intervention designed to treat test anxiety, a condition common to socially phobic children, Beidel explained.

After 12 weeks of treatment, ``two thirds of the SET-C group no longer met diagnostic criteria for social phobia,'' Beidel told Reuters Health. This compares with 5% in the test anxiety group, she added.

``The other third (of the SET-C group) improved but were still considered shy,'' Beidel noted.

This study shows that ``social phobia is a highly treatable condition,'' and that ``SET-C is very effective,'' Beidel said. She added, ``at 6-months follow-up about 75% of the children improved, which indicates that some children who were still considered shy after 12 weeks went on to improve on their own.''