School Refusal

Most kids at some point say, "No. I don't want to go to school." This is a common occurrence especially at the beginning of a new school year or after some other transition.   This should go away once the child gets used to the new class and routine; however, there is a sizable portion of students who suffer from some degree of school refusal behavior.  This used to be called school phobia but it really is not a phobia (but some kids do have phobias of things that might happen at school). All school refusal is not the same and it does not respond to the same type of intervention. Kearney identified four functional reasons for school refusal behavior. I highly suggest all school counselors read this article Understanding School Refusal I recommend all parents who fall into the third type described in the article "Pursue attention from significant other" read the Eisen, Engler, and Sparrow book shown above.  With this type involvement of family members is key - they must learn contingency based reinforcement.