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After dealing with school avoidance/refusal for 2-1/2 months, I've finally learned what it's called and can research it. Here are the resources I've found so far. If a link is broken, remove any blank spaces from the address and try again. If it still doesn't work, let me know. http://www.tourettesyndrome.net/anxiety_schoolavoidance.htm - by Leslie Packer, PhD. Good tips. http://www.fenichel.com/schoolphobia.html - by Maureen Hogan, PhD. More in depth. http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0195306309/ref=sib_dp_pop_ex ?ie=UTF8&p=S00B#reader-link - Excerpt from book "Getting your child to say yes to school" by Christopher A. Kearney, PhD. http://www.aafp.org/afp/20031015/1555.html - from American Family Physician. http://www.nch.org/services/pdf/school_refusal.pdf - brochure from the country's only school refusal hospital program (at Northwest Community Hospital). http://www.education.com/reference/article/Ref_Understanding _School/ - "Understanding School Refusal" by Nicole Setzer, PhD. I especially liked the table on page 3, which shows the four different reasons for school refusal and which interventions should be effective for each of those reasons. http://www.netlink.net/mp/sfricke/school_refusal.htm - one-page summary of research, plus a page on treatment and a page with a couple links. Checklists: http://www.mcacomaha.org/truancy/sras-c-r.pdf - School Refusal Assessment Scale- Revised (SRAS). Child version http://www.mcacomaha.org/truancy/sras-p-r.pdf - School Refusal Assessment Scale-Revised (SRAS). Parent version. http://www.mcacomaha.org/truancy/secondary/SRASguideandhando uts.pdf - summary of the concept behind the SRAS -- 4 types of school refusal. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_6886/is_1_1/ai_n283211 04/pg_1?tag=artBody;col1 - How to score the SRAS and more about "Moving from assessment to treatment of school refusal behavior in youth." By Kearney et al. http://books.google.no/books?id=JggOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA194&am p;lpg=PA194&dq=%22School+Phobia%22+blagg+interview&s ource=bl&ots=b9OEWqQfzu&sig=BRxeNOiJqZXgE1Zq-ohIn36R -_c&hl=no&ei=is-nSc68HJWA_gbfy53UDw&sa=X&oi= book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA200,M1 - questionnaire from Nigel Blagg's book "School Phobia and Its Treatment." Quick background articles: http://www.adaa.org/GettingHelp/FocusOn/children&Adolesc ents/sra.asp - from Anxiety Disorders Association of America http://www.merck.com/mmhe/sec23/ch269/ch269h.html - one page article from Merck http://www.drpaul.com/behaviour/schoolphobia.html - from Dr. Paul Any other resources? Have been having this problem for almost 2 months now. Will be reading ASAP. Thanks SO much, NorwayMom. I deal with this on nearly a daily basis, professionally, and there seem to be no easy answers. Around here, when kids get to be teens, the courts actually get involved. My job is to help schools and parents avoid having teens go before a judge for truancy issues. I haven't read your threads yet, but I sure intend to. You are a HUGE resource to us all on this Board. Thanks. Today I added a checklist section with the SRAS (links above), a checklist that helps you identify which of the four major types of school refusal you're dealing with (you can also be dealing with a mixed-type): 1) Stimuli Provoking a Negative Affect (bus, lunch, fire alarm, restrooms, teacher) - basically a specific phobia or anxiety reaction. 2) Escape from Aversive Social/Evaluative Situations (public speaking, halls, being called on in class, tests) - I get the impression that this category leans towards social anxiety. 3) Attention Seeking Behavior (tantrums, somatic complaints, non-compliance) - I get the impression that this category leans toward manipulative behavior. 4) Tangible Reinforcers outside of school (sleeping, TV, video games, friends, mall) - I get the feeling that this category leans towards oppositional behavior. Can you believe we're still dealing with school refusal behavior? It started the second week of school, and now it's almost March already. The school wants to send him to a special school, but in my opinion it solves nothing. Today I added a link to a questionnaire in a 1987 book by Nigel Blagg, from google books. Oh NorwayMom, we are in the same boat but, I want my son at a private school and the school has a problem with it. We are trying to modify his school day at present school so he can get services for dyslexia. I will be thinking of you. I understand how hard it is with school refusal. We had some improvement about a month ago and now we are back to the vomiting at home before school and at school during the day. I am so tired of it. Keeping you in my thoughts, Hang in there! Thanks for the good wishes, Loki. At least my son doesn't throw up. If he has anxiety, it takes the form of protest and demand refusal, rather than a more inward reaction. Yesterday I read two Norwegian articles about school avoidance. One referred to a study that found that kids with learning disorders have a harder time recovering fully from school avoidance than other kids. Not exactly encouraging, since we believe my son has dysgraphia (a writing disorder). At least it looks like we'll be able to get testing and guidance from a regional specialist that focuses on kids with complex learning difficulties (my son has autism, writing disorder, school avoidance, is bilingual, and has a tentative diagnosis of retarded, basically because he's hard to test and hard to teach). His school situation is better than ever on paper, the only ingredient that's lacking is a cooperative student! We hope the specialist is able to turn things around.
You hit the nail on the head with this one NorwayMom, My son was recently dx with dyspraxia and dyslexia, we already knew about the dyslexia but, had no idea how much it affects his behavior and math skills, processing and a whole lot of other stuff educationally. The private school I want my son to go to is for Learning Disabilities. I his Doctor and Therapist think if we get him able to learn , treat his LD's his anxiety will decrease and behavior will inprove along with his self esteem. It's hard to watch a smart child fail, and believe me all children are smart some just can't show it. I'm not asking the school to pay for this private school I just want a modified day so we don't have to completely withdraw him and start over again with school refusal when he comes back, 19 weeks is probably what we are looking at. I hope that in 10 years we are looking back at old post's and smiling because, our kids can support themselfs. Loki - An advantage of the learning disabilities school is that his performance expectations will be based on his own capabilities and on those of learning disabled peers, rather than on the visible successes of a handful of NT peers at middle school. The Norwegian articles I read said that performance expectations are often a factor in school avoidance. No one likes to feel they fall short all the time. A Norwegian autism consultant says that kids with autism don't learn from trial and error. They just learn that they're prone to error. I think it's a factor with my son. He's always been pretty skittish about trying something he doesn't master, but I think he's getting a little more self-conscious about it. I don't really think he compares himself to his peers much, but I think he sees his little brother mastering spelling, and sees that the worksheets he gets have illustrations aimed at younger kids. And I wonder if he was extra wary about making mistakes in front of new personnel (at the start of the school year). Anyhow those are the observations I made last night while lying awake in bed... NM- Thanks so much for these links. Fortunaely, my own son does not refuse school, but truancy is a huge problem with the ED teens I advocate for at work. SD's can get off the hook for FAPE if the student has lots of absences, so figuring out how to help the school and family help the child GET to school is critical. THANKS! |
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