Coping With School Refusal Behavior: Hospital Program Treats Rare - But Genuine - Phobia

Main Category: Pediatrics / Children's Health
Also Included In: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 19 Aug 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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It's back-to-school time for many adolescents, and the mere thought of the idea can turn truly terrifying for some of them. So much so that they downright refuse to go.

It's with school refusal behavior in mind that Northwest Community Hospital in northwest suburban Chicago offers a specialized program to treat this serious emotional problem. It affects as many as one-fourth of school- aged youths at one time or another, and is felt fairly equally across gender, racial and income groups.

"In simple terms, school refusal is absenteeism where children complain of physical symptoms or express fear about going to school," said Maggie Hahn, the program's clinical coordinator at Northwest Community Hospital. "It's different from truancy because these kids generally stay home with their parents' knowledge."

Two common reasons for school refusal behavior are:

-- The child feels depressed, anxious or fearful about being at school (not wanting to leave parents, or various fears about school situations such as crowded hallways or claustrophobia in the classroom)

-- The child lacks the necessary social skills (extreme shyness or fears of public speaking, taking tests, or being bullied)

Northwest Community's school refusal program -- based in Arlington Heights, Illinois, and the only one of its kind in the nation -- provides assessment, treatment and medication management by a board-certified adolescent psychiatrist. The program includes family therapy, parent education, in-hospital support with a liaison to the adolescent's home school, and a unique "step-down" program that starts the child back to school for half days with continued intensive outpatient treatment in the afternoon.

"The longer a child suffers from school refusal behavior and is allowed to stay home, the more difficult it is to return to school," Hahn said. "It's important to seek solutions and get them quickly back on the right track."

Northwest Community Hospital
http://www.nch.org