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Symptoms of School Refusal
Children with school refusal may complain of physical symptoms shortly before it is time to leave for school or repeatedly ask to visit the school nurse. If the child is allowed to stay home, the symptoms quickly disappear, only to reappear the next morning. In some cases a child may refuse to leave the house.
Common physical symptoms include headaches, stomachaches, nausea, or diarrhea. But tantrums, inflexibility, separation anxiety, avoidance, and defiance may show up, too.
Common physical symptoms include headaches, stomachaches, nausea, or diarrhea. But tantrums, inflexibility, separation anxiety, avoidance, and defiance may show up, too.
Know the Signs of School Refusal vs. Illness
- Excessive absences from school.
- The student can get to school but has difficulty staying at school.
- Stress during the school day leads the student to ask to go home.
- The student is often in the nurse’s office.
- The student complains of stomach aches, headaches, or other physical symptoms.
- May avoid contact with classmates or teachers.
Some Facts about School Refusal
- Up to 56% of kids who refuse school have a primary anxiety disorder.
- Boys and girls are equally affected.
- Unrelated to socioeconomic status.
- No relationship with academic or intellectual ability.
- Requires a collaborative team approach including:
- The child/adolescent
- Parents
- School staff
- Medical and mental health professionals
How we can help!
1. Full assessment to determine if an underlying disorder is a factor, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder.
2. Parent coaching, we help you know when to push and when to back off!
3. Collaboration with the school staff. We will contact the school for you and determine what accommodations are necessary.
4. Determine if a 504 Plan, an IEP (Individual Education Plan) or Pyscho-social educational testing are necessary.
5. Assess for safety factors such as bullying or abuse.
6. Take the parents out of the bad guy seat. We don't want you and your child to hate each other. We help put policies in place that remove the arguing, battling, yelling or just chaos that comes with distance learning.
7. Our number one goal is to keep your child learning. We will work with parents, the school and the student to take appropriate action steps to solve any problems and to get your student to benefit form education. We are with you 100% of the way and help the family and student to take small steps to reach a big goal.
8. Teach simple meditations that parents and students to do when things heat up too much!
2. Parent coaching, we help you know when to push and when to back off!
3. Collaboration with the school staff. We will contact the school for you and determine what accommodations are necessary.
4. Determine if a 504 Plan, an IEP (Individual Education Plan) or Pyscho-social educational testing are necessary.
5. Assess for safety factors such as bullying or abuse.
6. Take the parents out of the bad guy seat. We don't want you and your child to hate each other. We help put policies in place that remove the arguing, battling, yelling or just chaos that comes with distance learning.
7. Our number one goal is to keep your child learning. We will work with parents, the school and the student to take appropriate action steps to solve any problems and to get your student to benefit form education. We are with you 100% of the way and help the family and student to take small steps to reach a big goal.
8. Teach simple meditations that parents and students to do when things heat up too much!
The Problem With Distance Learning!
1. Kids were not designed to sit in front of zoom daily.
2. Kids need social interaction.
3. We are in this together! Many of our staff members have children at home and have to navigate working and helping kids with school. As a result, we have create ideas! Some examples are:
A. Accommodate!, we have asked PE teachers to excuse kids from zoom PE if we can sign off on their physical activity.
B. Outside the box thinking, if a student hates zoom, we helped the teacher to do a "penpal" style writing assignment instead of the writing zoom lesson.
C. Look for resources, sometimes it takes hiring a distance learning assistant, or seeing if your neighborhood or parents in the school are willing to form Social Distance Learning Bubbles.
D. We have asked the teacher to make sure the student is in a group with at least one friend for small group break out projects on zoom.
E. For very shy kids we have asked that they either not be called on (in front of the entire class) or that they can turn their camera off.
2. Kids need social interaction.
3. We are in this together! Many of our staff members have children at home and have to navigate working and helping kids with school. As a result, we have create ideas! Some examples are:
A. Accommodate!, we have asked PE teachers to excuse kids from zoom PE if we can sign off on their physical activity.
B. Outside the box thinking, if a student hates zoom, we helped the teacher to do a "penpal" style writing assignment instead of the writing zoom lesson.
C. Look for resources, sometimes it takes hiring a distance learning assistant, or seeing if your neighborhood or parents in the school are willing to form Social Distance Learning Bubbles.
D. We have asked the teacher to make sure the student is in a group with at least one friend for small group break out projects on zoom.
E. For very shy kids we have asked that they either not be called on (in front of the entire class) or that they can turn their camera off.