School avoidance, persistent absence, is a growing issue for many schools and families, different terminologies same heartache. What are you supposed to do when your child says they can’t go to school? Unfortunately, some families are at greater risk of their child opting out of school regularly. Especially those whose children have issues or emotional scars that haven’t healed:
Emotional scars can be caused by the following events:
- A late autism, dyslexia, ADHD or other neurodiversity diagnosis (aged approximately 8 years or older).
- The death or serious illness of a close family member
- Traumatic personal or family experience (bomb attack, serious accident, evacuating a country due to war)
- Abuse or violence
- Physical injury
- Another major life change, such as divorce, house move or country move.
Lack of support, nurture and positive intervention in the early years, can also impact a child’s ability to stay the course in education. Whether the child has experienced emotional trauma, resulting in emotional scars or any of the experiences above, all of these experiences can trigger child hood anxiety. It’s incredible how quickly a situation can change – from managing every day school struggles, masking and exclusions to not wanting to go at all. The human body can only withstand sustained stress for a period of time and then something has to give. Opting to stay at home is a safety value; and in extreme cases – a survival tactic.
For the neurodiverse learner, every setting – mainstream or specialist – may present unique daily challenges. Neurodiverse youngsters will struggle with daily demands of school life. There are many challenges to their equilibrium: for example:
-learning styles
-social integration and belonging
-peer bullying or isolation
-complex teacher & learner relationships
-multi-sensory overload
The importance of belonging
For all young adults, it’s important to fit in with your peers. Maslow’s hierarchy shows us that ‘belonging’ to a school another community, is a vital to build self-esteem. Fitting in is what makes school bearable, especially if your specific learning difficulties make going to school stressful, tiring and confusing.
A new resource
I’m delighted to be working on young person’s work book with two supporting downloads one for professionals and one for parents about anxiety-based school avoidance. The assignment – that I willingly accepted – is to create a young person’s work book for learners between approximately 8 – 14 years. It is designed for the child to read by themselves, or by supported reading with a chosen adult, for self-reflection and healing. Ideally, the book will serve as a conduit to enable deeper discussion and insight about what the child is experiencing and how they might ask for and receive help.
The supporting downloads will cover useful information and guidance on how to work with a young person, as well as evidence-based guidance and powerful case studies.
If you’d like more information about the book as it progresses to publication, please sign up to the newsletter.
And if you’re not at the school stage with your child yet, but earlier in the education process and figuring out how their diagnosis might affect their education, you might want to pop a copy of my book, SE.N.D. in the Clowns in your basket!
Enjoy
© Suzy Rowland
