Christopher A. Kearney

A collection of accessible and scientifically proven strategies for parents struggling with school attendance problems in children of all ages. School attendance problems are a common and worrisome challenge faced by many parents. Even in milder forms, poor school attendance can increase the risk of social, behavioral, and academic problems in childhood and adolescence, and even into adulthood. Unfortunately, parents often have trouble understanding their children's school attendance issues and are uncertain about how to help. Getting Your Child Back to School is intended for parents grappling with school attendance problems at the elementary, middle, and high school levels. Covering a wide variety of attendance problems and special circumstances, the book offers practical, step-by-step strategies parents can use themselves, including asking the right questions, evaluating the severity of the problem, and knowing whom to consult. Parents will learn to change a child's negative thoughts around school, establish a clear and predictable morning routine, and set up a system of rewards for going to school. New to this edition is material on very severe and chronic cases, including discussion of educational alternatives; mindfulness approaches and parent involvement strategies; teletherapy and other options for young people who have been out of school for an extended period; and more extensive guidance on working with school officials. Easy to read and filled with concrete strategies, this book was the first of its kind dedicated to educating and arming parents with the tools they need to resolve their children's absenteeism; this new edition continues to offer the best available scientifically-proven guidance for parents determined to get their kids back to school.

School attendance problems, even in mild forms, are a significant risk factor for social, behavioral, and academic problems in childhood and adolescence. These cases tend to be urgent and complex in nature, with problems that manifest both at home and at school. As such, mental health and school-based professionals need practical and efficient strategies to resolve school attendance problems. Helping Families of Youth with School Attendance Problems is a real-world guide to addressing school attendance problems at different levels of severity and complexity. The book offers specific procedures for many types of cases to address these problems in a relatively short period of time, and within the constraints of most private practice and school settings. The text also considers developmental level, with distinct coverage of elementary school children as well as adolescents in middle school and in high school. The book consists of seven empirically-supported chapters that guide readers through assessment, consultation, and intervention processes. Given the limited timeframe frequently faced by mental health and school-based professionals, these processes are often blended. Beginning with an overview of school attendance problems, the heart of the book offers core intervention components as well as other procedures to enhance the effectiveness of these components. These components cover key aspects of anxiety and contingency management, school reintegration, and school engagement as well as suggestions for many specific scenarios. The final chapter focuses on chronic and severe school attendance problems and other highly challenging scenarios common to these young people. Helping Families of Youth with School Attendance Problems is a must-have resource for mental health and school-based professionals alike, as well as for others who regularly engage with this population.

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.

School refusal behavior is a common and difficult problem facing parents of children and teenagers. The behavior often results in severe academic, social, and psychological problems. A child's absence from school also significantly increases family conflict. If your child experiences anxiety or noncompliance about attending school and has trouble remaining in classes for an entire day, When Children Refuse School, Parent Workbook, and the corresponding Therapist Guide, can help. The third edition of When Children Refuse School, Parent Workbook, is designed to help you work with a qualified therapist to resolve your child's school refusal behavior. This edition introduces parent involvement strategies, especially with respect to intervention compliance, and offers recommendations regarding consultation with school officials. 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 throughout the assessment and treatment of your child and provides answers to questions you may have about the process of therapy. 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 child's anxiety.

Children who miss substantial amounts of school pose one of the most vexing problems for school officials. In many cases, school personnel must assess these students and successfully help them to return to the academic setting. This can be difficult considering most school-based professionals are pressed for time and do not have access to proper resources. The information in this book can help school officials combat absenteeism and reduce overall dropout rates. Designed for guidance counselors, teachers, principals and deans, school psychologists, school-based social workers, and other school professionals, Helping School-Refusing Children and Their Parents outlines various strategies for helping children get back to school with less distress, all of which can be easily implemented in schools. This fully-updated second edition provides recommendations for a multi-tiered approach to school absenteeism that concentrates on prevention (Tier 1), early intervention for emerging cases (Tier 2), and more extensive intervention and systemic strategies for severe cases (Tier 3), with each tier based on empirically supported strategies grounded in scientific research. A chapter on assessment describes several methods for identifying school refusal behavior, including time-limited techniques for school officials who have little opportunity to conduct detailed evaluations. Worksheets for facilitating assessment are included and can easily be photocopied from the book. Other chapters provide advice for working collaboratively with parents, preventing relapse, and special issues. Topics such as poverty, homelessness, teenage pregnancy, violence, and school safety are also addressed, as are individualized education or 505 plans and consultation with other clinicians.

School absenteeism is a pervasive and difficult problem faced by mental health and school-based professionals. Even in mild forms, school absenteeism has been shown to be a significant risk factor for social, behavioral, and academic problems in middle childhood and adolescence, as well as psychiatric, economic, and occupational difficulties in adulthood. Problematic absenteeism has been examined for decades by professionals of many different disciplines, leading to a considerably fractured literature. Managing School Absenteeism at Multiple Tiers provides an integrative strategy for preventing, assessing, and addressing cases of youth with school absenteeism at multiple levels of severity and complexity. Dr. Christopher Kearney presents a multi-tiered framework based on prevention (Tier 1), early intervention for emerging cases (Tier 2), and more extensive intervention and systemic strategies for severe cases (Tier 3). Each tier is based on empirically supported strategies from the literature, and emphasis is placed on specific, implementable recommendations. This approach is based on a Response to Intervention model that has emerged as a powerful guide to prevention, assessment, and treatment of social and academic problems in schools. Response to Intervention is based upon tenets that parallel developments in the school absenteeism literature: (1) a proactive focus on early identification of learning and behavior problems and immediate, effective intervention, (2) universal, targeted, and intensive interventions, (3) frequent progress monitoring, (4) functional behavioral assessment, (5) empirically supported treatment procedures and protocols to reduce obstacles to academic achievement (including absenteeism), and (6) a team-based approach for implementation. This user-friendly, practical guide will be useful to mental health professionals, school administrators, guidance counselors, social workers and psychologists, as well as others who address kids with problematic absenteeism such as pediatricians and probation officers.

Chronic shyness can pose a serious threat to a child's academic, emotional, and social development. Children who are extremely shy may miss out on important learning opportunities, have trouble making friends, and avoid activities and events that they might otherwise enjoy. This can be troubling for parents and school-based professionals who do not have enough time or expertise to coax shy children out of their shells. Silence is Not Golden: Strategies for Helping the Shy Child provides information for parents and educators on the nature of chronic shyness and its most common clinical manifestations among children (such as social anxiety and selective mutism, the refusal to talk in certain situations or settings). Kearney, an expert in childhood anxiety disorders, offers strategies for helping readers to determine the form and purpose of a child's shy, anxious, and avoidant behaviors, and methods for enhancing a child's participation in social interactions at school and elsewhere, with the ultimate goal of preventing such problems from recurring in the future. Alongside social anxiety and selective mutism, other types of anxiety that may cause a child to appear shy in more specific situations-such as separation anxiety and certain phobias-are also discussed. Presented in a conversational style, Silence is Not Golden features widespread visuals, open spaces for writing, step-by-step procedures, and other pedagogical features that enhance its utility, clarity, and responsiveness. This book is a must-read for parents and teachers, as well as professionals who work with shy children, including clinical child psychologists and psychiatrists, social workers, and pediatricians.

This text examines anxiety-related disorders of childhood. It provides mental health guidelines for treating childhood anxiety disorders. Innovative approaches are presented regarding prescriptive treatment strategies, group in interventions and the role of family members in treatment.

To learn more about Rowman & Littlefield titles please visit us at www.rowmanlittlefield.com.