Help for the Child Who Says No to School

Jane Brody:

James, a tall, bright, personable 12-year-old, had been successful socially, athletically and scholastically all through elementary school.

But everything fell apart when he had to move on to a large centralized middle school. Never a morning person, James now had to get up at 6 a.m. instead of 7:30 to catch the bus. Once at school, he had trouble finding his way around and arrived late for many of his classes. Rather than asking for reasons, which included being bullied and hit by several older boys, his teachers simply gave him late marks and detention.

James’s grades plummeted, and his feelings about school crashed with them. He couldn’t sleep at night. He started missing school a few days a week, then found himself unable to go at all. His parents were understanding and spoke to school authorities about his problems, but nothing anyone did seemed to make things better, not even disconnecting the television and computer to reduce the “rewards” of staying home.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at August 29, 2006 10:02 PM
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