There could be various reasons why a child does not want to come to school. However “school phobics” often show the following pattern –
(a) They have severe difficulties attending school, often amounting to prolonged absence.
(b) They show marked emotional upset, e.g. excessive anxiety, undue tempers, complaints of feeling ill when faced with going to school.
(c) They stay at home with the knowledge of the parents when they should be at school.
(d) They do not have other significant anti-social behaviours.
Although the anxiety and stress is related to school attendance, “school phobia” is most usually triggered by stressful situations at home or within the family and can be seen as an intense form of separation anxiety.
Helpful Strategies
Gather Information
1. Discuss your concerns with the parents. Explain that you are going to help to get the child back to school, and that you will need their co-operation with this process. Use this session to ask their views on the situation. Have there been any changes in family circumstances etc.
2. Eliminate any medical factors. If the child is complaining of physical illness, ask parents to take them to the GP and let you know if there is an organic basis to the symptoms. If there is an organic basis and medical treatment is given the child may return to normal attendance. However a pattern of absence may have been established and you may still need to follow through the process of helping the child get back to school.
3. Establish good communication between the professionals involved, and ensure that one professional takes on the responsibility for gathering information and following through any strategies.
4. Use the enclosed questionnaire to gather as much information as possible.
5. Investigate the appropriateness of the child’s current school timetable. For example does the child have learning difficulties which are not being appropriately acknowledged/supported and thus causing stress? An assessment by Learning Support would be helpful.
6. Speak with the child. Do not dwell on the negative feelings. Use a solution-focused approach. Ask “What would have to change to make you feel ok about coming to school?” and “When did you feel ok being in school? What was happening then?”
On the basis of all the information, work out strategies for getting the child back to school.
1. Negotiate areas of change required in the school.
2. Make sure that realistic concerns (e.g. bullying, learning difficulties) will be dealt with.
3. Give teachers information so that irrational fears (e.g. feeling claustrophobic at assemblies) will be sensitively handled.
4. Have a specific arrival time, possibly when there are few children around, either before or after school goes in.
5. Have a set time of arrival with a teacher/buddy on hand to greet the child.
6. Adjust the child’s timetable to initially avoid times/subjects which she finds difficult.
7. Start with a short day and gradually building up the length of time that the child is in school.
8. Provide a specific written/pictorial timetable with the arrangements for each day so that he is sure of what is expected of him.
9. Identify a quiet area for the child to go to if feeling stressed or agitated, or to start the school day in this area.
10. Negotiate the help of 1 or 2 carefully chosen friends to be with the child at lunch/playtime/known stressful times.
Negotiate areas of change needed out of school.
1. If parents are communicating their own anxiety to the child explain how their tone of voice, facial expression, inconsistency in their handling of getting the child out in the mornings etc will influence the success of the return to school. Involve both parents in the process.
2. If necessary, find a suitable escort – possibly a family member, e.g. grandparent, older brother etc. Perhaps an outside agency such as Social Work may be required to help with this.
Prepare the child for return