Posted on 09/09/2001 6:19:40 AM PDT by LarryLied
Back to school translates into terror
for some Southern Nevada youngsters.
For those with severe cases of
school phobia, UNLV psychology
professor Christopher Kearney
runs a School Refusal Clinic.
His clients are kindergartners and first-graders whose
aversion to school leads to regular morning temper
tantrums, recurring stomach aches or frequent crying
about thoughts of school, even on weekends. They
are sixth-graders whose anxieties reduce their
chances for success during the transition from
easier-going elementary schools to middle schools
with multiple classes and teachers, new peers and
heightened expectations. They do whatever it takes to
get out of going to school.
His clients are not the much larger group of children
who are able to overcome back-to-school jitters and
school-related stress with help from parents, teachers
and school counselors. On campus and over the
phone, Kearney treats 25 to 35 children a year.
"The big dividing line is whether it significantly
interferes with their daily life routine," Kearney said
about school refusal cases. "If you have a child who
complains a lot about school but goes to school, does
their homework, has friends, that's not a problem.
That's normal. But if you have a child who's so
anxious about school that they either can't go to
school or they're crying all of the time at home or they
can't do their homework or they're not out with their
friends, that's a problem."
Most of the students come to the 39-year-old as
referrals from elementary and middle school
counselors working in the Clark County School
District, where classes began Aug. 30 for an
enrollment that could top 246,000 students this year.
Kearney's clinic has been operating for 10 years, and
the associate professor's busiest months are typically
October and November, after the first few weeks of
classes are over and parents grow less optimistic
about solving school anxiety problems on their own.
Guidance counselor Sheryl Slakey, who works at
Treem and Thorpe elementary schools, said she is
grateful to have the option of referring extreme cases
to Kearney's clinic.
Slakey remembered a case a couple of years ago
involving a first-grader who would fall apart when her
mother left the classroom. For the first couple of
weeks of school, the mother would sit in the
classroom for hours every day. If the mother left the
classroom, Slakey said, the girl could not calm herself
down.
"Dr. Kearney was very instrumental in helping her
overcome the separation anxiety," Slakey said. "She
reached the point where she was able to let her mom
leave."
Carole Baker, dean of students at Greenspun Junior
High School, referred students to Kearney in her
earlier years there as a counselor. She also was
impressed with the results. Students who previously
felt physically ill and were panic-stricken by thoughts
of school returned after treatment and had successful
school years at Greenspun.
Anxieties intensify, Baker said, when parents allow
their children to stay home from school and show fear
themselves about the issues troubling their children.
The ones with the greatest anxieties could end up
skipping the first weeks of school. "They miss out on
so much, socially and academically," she said.
Kearney began specializing in school-related child
anxieties during his doctoral work in clinical child
psychology at the State University of New York at
Albany. In his time at the University of Nevada, Las
Vegas, Kearney said he has treated more than 200
children.
School refusal behavior is not classified as a mental
disorder by psychologists and therefore does not
receive substantial government funding for research
and treatment, Kearney said. There are only about
five clinics across the country specializing in
childhood school anxieties, he said. School refusal
problems in cities without specialized clinics usually
are treated by child psychologists as general anxiety
cases.
Kearney, who this semester has seven
undergraduate psychology students working in his
clinic, said the average treatment period for his clients
is four weeks. He and his UNLV students typically
have daily contact with families and school staff
members during the treatment period.
"Our treatment success rate is about 90 percent, if the
families follow through on what we recommend," he
said. "Treatment compliance is always a major issue."
Possible treatments include therapy to discuss the
problems and possible solutions, relaxation
techniques, role playing and gradual reintroductions
to the school setting. School staff members
sometimes meet children outside school during a
transitional period or let children come into classes
before other students.
With middle school students, Kearney said, family
contracts often are negotiated.
"If they go to school full time, they would earn a certain
amount of time with their friends, plus they would earn
the opportunity to do chores at home for money," he
said. "If they didn't go to school, they'd lose that time
with their friends. They'd have to do chores anyway
without getting paid. You try to negotiate it so that
once you get them on the hook, they're more likely to
comply."
With kindergartners and first-graders, "We set up real
regular morning routines. We focus on the parent
commands, which sometimes are really vague.
They'll say to a child, you need to go to school,
instead of giving him a very specific command like,
get in the car now.
"We also try to build in rewards for going to school. If
they went to school without any problem, then maybe
they get extra time with Mom or Dad at home, which is
what they want."
With younger children, separation anxiety is often a
major issue.
Kearney said the most common problem he sees is in
the transition from elementary to middle school. Local
middle schools have enrollments that can soar to
1,600 students and beyond.
"I think a lot of times they're overwhelmed by the size
of the schools here, by the complexity of it, by the
bureaucracy of the schools," he said. "They get lost
both physically and emotionally."
Kearney thinks school generally is a more stressful
place than when he was growing up.
"There's more homework," he said. "There are more
technological expectations. There are more kids
around. There are more threats these days, threats to
your physical being and to your property, verbal
threats and intimidation. There's more chaos in the
schools than used to be the case."
Parents who are concerned about their children and
the possibility of school-related fear and anxiety
should watch for changes, Kearney said.
"Are they suddenly more withdrawn? Crying more?
Are they more noncompliant than they have been in
the past?" he said. "You also want to be aware of
whether your child is actually in school. We get a lot of
calls from parents who say their child's been out of
school for the past 10 days and they didn't even know
it."
Aren't these symptoms of being bullied at school?
Builds character.
My daughter was in private school kindergarten. She cried every morning for 6 months..not wanting to go. For the next year after that the crying and nervousness was intermittent. The middle of first grade we took her out and began homeschooling. She blossomed and never cried again. We're starting our 6th year and going strong. We're so very proud of her and how she has strengthened and is becoming a lovely young lady.
That is probably what this psychologist is telling kids. At a cost to the parents of several hundred bucks. Or maybe taxpayers are footing the bill.
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