Results supported the hypothesis that SAD children would use more safety behaviors in anxiety-producing situations, would report higher levels of self-focused attention, and would experience a higher frequency of negative cognitions during the social performance task compared to SA and NA children. SAD children experienced significantly more anxiety during the social performance task compared to SA and NA children. Post hoc tests also showed the SA children scored significantly higher on the anxiety thermometer compared to NA children. Regarding the frequency of positive and negative cognitions during the social performance task, SAD children reported less positive cognitions compared to SA children, which in turn did not differ from NA controls. SAD children reported that they experienced a larger number of negative cognitions, followed in rank order by SA and NA children. SAD children reported significantly greater self-focus as well as a greater external focus of attention during the social performance task compared to NA children and SA children. These findings suggest targeting the change of inappropriate attentional focus for improvement in childhood social anxiety. The study methodology involved asking children to indicate their levels of anxiety, self-focused attention, and frequency of positive and negative cognitions while engaging in a performance task in front of two adults. 3 tables, 1 figure, and 61 references