Synopses & Reviews
School refusal behavior is a common and difficult problem facing parents of children and teenagers. The behavior can have severe consequences by contributing to a child's academic, social, and psychological problems. A child's absence from school can also significantly increase family conflict. If your child experiences anxiety or noncompliance about attending school and has trouble remaining in classes for an entire day, this workbook, and the corresponding Therapist Guide, can help.
This Parent Workbook is designed to help you work with a qualified therapist to resolve your child's school refusal behavior. The Workbook outlines four possible treatment procedures that may be prescribed by a therapist, depending on your child's reasons for refusing school. Scientific evidence has shown these programs to be highly effective in treating youth 5-17 years old who exhibit school refusal behavior.
Regardless of whether your child refuses school to relieve school-related distress, to avoid negative social situations at school, to receive attention from you or another family member, or to obtain tangible rewards outside of school, the flexible treatments described in this book will help you and your child overcome school refusal behavior. The Workbook describes what you can expect during your child's assessment and treatment and provides answers to questions you may have about the process. It also provides instructions for continuing certain aspects of the program at home, including relaxation and breathing techniques, as well as exposure exercises to decrease your childs anxiety. Instructions are also given for completing daily logbooks with your child to track progress, creating a morning routine to keep you both on schedule, and developing written contracts to enhance attendance and discourage nonattendance. With this user-friendly manual, you can take an active role in your childs successful return to school.
About the Author
Christopher A. Kearney, Ph.D., is an associate professor of child psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is also the Director of the UNLV Child School Refusal and Anxiety Disorders Clinic. Dr. Kearney received his BA from the State University of New York at Binghamton, and his MA and Ph.D. at the State University of New York at Albany. He completed his internship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Kearney's research has focused mainly on the classification, assessment, and treatment of school refusal behavior and internalizing disorders in children and adolescents. He also works with adults with severe developmental disabilities. Dr. Kearney has served in editorial positions for the Journal of Clinical Child Psychology and Behavior Therapy. Dr. Kearney has co-authored and co-edited two books on anxiety disorders in youth, authored a casebook on childhood behavior disorders and a book on school refusal behavior, and written numerous journal articles and book chapters. He is the recipient of the Barrick Scholar Award, the William Morris Award for Excellence in Scholarship, and the Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Anne Marie Albano, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of psychiatry in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University. She has held positions as the Director of the Anxiety Disorders Clinical Research Service at the Child Study Center of New York University Medical Center, as an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Louisville, and as Assistant Director of the Phobia and Anxiety Disorders Clinic of the State University of New York at Albany. Dr. Albano received her Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the SUNY Phobia Clinic. Dr. Albano has served in editorial positions for Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, and serves on the editorial boards of several journals. She is the former Chair of the Continuing Education Issues Committee for AABT. Her main clinical and research interests are in the development and dissemination of empirically supported assessment and treatment protocols for youth. In addition to school refusal, she and her colleagues have developed cognitive behavioral treatment programs for social phobia, obsessive compulsive disorder, and mixed anxiety and depression.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Assessment
3. Consultation Session and General Treatment Session Procedures
4. Children Refusing School to Avoid Objects or Situations that Cause General Distress
5. Children Refusing School to Escape Painful Social and/or Evaluative Situations
6. Children Refusing School for Attention
7. Children Refusing School for Tangible Rewards Outside of School
8. Preventing Slips and Relapse