When Children Refuse School ― Therapist Guide

Many children and teenagers refuse to attend school or have anxiety-related difficulties remaining in classes for an entire day. School refusal behavior can contribute to a child's academic, social, and psychological problems, impact a child's chances for future educational, financial, and personal success, and significantly affect family functioning. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be a highly effective treatment for youth who exhibit this behavior.

The third edition of When Children Refuse School, Therapist Guide, provides an updated multi-tiered approach model that can be used to effectively address the main types of school refusal behavior. The Guide introduces new material on very severe and chronic cases of problematic absenteeism, including alternative educational avenues and expansion of manual procedures, for children and adults.

This manual includes tools for assessing a child's reasons for school refusal behavior and is based on a functional, prescriptive model. It presents well-tested techniques arranged by function to tailor treatment to a child's particular characteristics. Each treatment package also contains a detailed discussion of special topics pertinent to treating youths with school refusal behavior, such as medication, panic attacks, and being teased. A corresponding workbook is also available for parents, who often play an important part in a child's recovery. This comprehensive program is an invaluable resource for clinicians treating school refusal behavior.

Dr. Christopher Kearney is a noted authority on school refusal behavior and anxiety in youth. His research interests include school refusal behavior, selective mutism, posttraumatic stress disorder in maltreated youth, perfectionism, and other anxiety-related conditions in children and adolescents as well as issues of quality of life in persons with severe handicaps. He has published several books and numerous book chapters and journal articles on these. Dr. Kearney also conducts workshops for school districts and mental health and other agencies regarding school refusal behavior and selective mutism.

Dr. Anne Marie Albano is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety and related disorders in youth. She has published more than 100 articles and chapters and is the co-author of several cognitive behavioral treatment manuals and of the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule for Children, all published by Oxford University Press. Dr. Albano served as a Principal Investigator of a 6-site, National Institute of Mental Health-sponsored study entitled "Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Treatment Study" (CAMS) and the Extended Long Term Follow Up of CAMS (CAMELS) and also was a PI for the Treatments for Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS). Both trials examined the relative efficacy of CBT, medication, combination treatment, and pill placebo in youth.