How do you treat school refusal?

Treatment / Management A range of empirically supported exposure-based treatment options is available in the management of school refusal. Treatments include cognitive behavior therapy, educational-support therapy, pharmacotherapy, and sometimes parent-teacher interventions.

How do you treat refusal behavior in school?

Cognitive behavioral treatment is the most effective approach. This involves teaching a child and parent specific skills that can help the child learn to cope with the thoughts, emotions and behaviors associated with their school refusal.

What can parents do about school refusal?

Safe to feel: Talk to your child, validate their concerns, avoid lecturing. ​Talk about what's bothering them, while at the same time making it clear that a plan will be made to return to school. Keep in mind, though, that some children can't describe what is bothering them.

Should I punish my child for school refusal?

This phenomenon, known as school refusal, isn't a behavior problem. You can't punish your child out of school refusal. Instead, it's a form of anxiety that demands treatment.

What medication is used for school avoidance?

Medication: Particularly if a child has another mental health condition, medication may be helpful. For example, children may take antidepressants such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). SSRIs like sertraline (Zoloft®) or fluoxetine (Prozac®) may treat an underlying anxiety disorder.

How Can Therapists Help Children with School Refusal? Mona Delahooke, PhD

Is school avoidance a diagnosis?

School Avoidance is Not a Diagnosis

Therefore, there is no diagnostic code for school avoidance in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition: DSM-5, which is the definitive authority that defines and classifies mental health disorders.

Does ADHD cause school avoidance?

Confirming the Validity of the School-Refusal Assessment Scale—Revised in a Sample of Children With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Children with developmental disorders, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), are at high risk of school-refusal behavior (SRB) compared with their peers.

How bad can school refusal get?

School refusal behavior is seen equally in boys and girls and among families of various income levels. The short-term consequences of school refusal behavior include declining academic status, social alienation, increased risk of legal trouble, family conflict, and severe disruption in a family's daily routine.

What are the three types of school refusal?

The terms fear‐based school phobia, anxiety‐based school refusal, and delinquent‐based truancy were commonly described as school refusal behavior.

Is school refusal emotional disturbance?

School refusal is often described as a disorder of a child who refuses to go to school on a regular basis or has problems staying in school. Some of the criteria commonly found in school refusal matters involves a student with severe emotional distresses about attending school.

What do you say to a child who doesn't want to go to school?

Observe: “I have noticed that you appear upset and worried in the morning and you often ask to stay home.” Validate: “We all feel upset and worried sometimes and it can feel uncomfortable.” Redirect: “Going to school is very important. What are some things that we can do to help you to get there?”

Why does my child have no friends at school?

Around puberty, some kids develop social anxiety and start to worry a lot about what other people think of them. Kids with social anxiety will often avoid socializing when they are worried about embarrassing themselves or feel a strong need to be perfect and not make mistakes.

How do you help a child who hates school?

What is positive reinforcement for school refusal?

Positive reinforcers for school refusal behavior

For example, a parent might set up special attention — like dinner or a one-on-one "date" — as a reward for good attendance. The key is to make the reward contingent upon going to school, rather than the other way around.

What are the somatic symptoms of school refusal?

School refusal (SR) is commonly associated with somatic symptoms that are temporally related to school attendance. Abdominal pain, headache, vomiting, and musculoskeletal pain are frequently encountered and are usually not caused by a physical disease.

How do you get a child to read when they refuse?

Try to make it relaxing and low-key for a short part of the day. Share something of your own. Read aloud some funny or interesting parts of a book that you're reading. Draw your child in with a riddle book for kids, a passage from Sports Illustrated, or a newspaper story.

What is the most common age for school refusal?

Epidemiology. Approximately 1 to 5 percent of all school-aged children have school refusal. The rate is similar between boys and girls. Although school refusal occurs at all ages, it is more common in children five, six, 10, and 11 years of age.

What motivates school refusal?

Children might refuse to go to school because of worries about leaving home, learning difficulties, social problems or other reasons. The best way to get children back to school is by working as a team with the school. If school refusal is related to anxiety or depression, children might need mental health support.

What is emotionally based school refusal?

Emotionally Based School Avoidance is a broad umbrella term used to describe a group of children and young people who have severe difficulty in attending school due to emotional factors, often resulting in prolonged absences from school.

Should I force my child to go to preschool?

Are they showing signs of being ready to have a little more socialization? Do they love learning new things? Or are they just really loving getting out of the house? All of these are great reasons for wanting to go ahead and enroll, but don't force it just because everyone else is doing it!

What is school anxiety called?

Author: Dr Lucy Russell, Clinical Psychologist. School anxiety is also known as school refusal, school-related anxiety, school phobia or emotionally-based school avoidance (EBSA).

What kind of school is best for child with ADHD?

How do you deal with school refusal ADHD?

Refusing to go to school more often than not stems from various anxiety disorders, which often occur alongside ADHD. So it is usually helpful to seek professional help to deal with your child's refusal to go to school, especially if it becomes more than a single incident.

Why do kids with ADHD not want to go to school?

Children with ADHD struggle more with boredom and putting mental effort into challenging tasks. Virtual learning or in-person school with more rules may lack the novelty and excitement. Teachers may need to find new ways to keep children with ADHD from being bored and keep them engaged in learning.