School Anxiety and School Refusal in Kids (S1:E25)

Our guest for this episode is Jessica Malmberg, PhD, the Clinical Director of Outpatient Services at the Pediatric Mental Health Institute and assistant professor of child psychiatry at CU School of Medicine.

Dr. Malmberg talks us through a common behavioral issues of school-aged children – school refusal – and provides insights, advice and tools to help prevent, manage and understand this behavior.

In this episode:

• Outlining and identifying the underlying symptoms and signs associated with a child refusing to attend school
• How primary care providers (PCPs) can assist parents who are experiencing guilt
• Identifying the four most common reasons that children refuse to go to school
• Exploring the effects of social media on children's behavior when it comes to school refusal
• How a PCP should approach treatment of school refusal
• The recommended frequency of follow-up care for kids who are refusing to go to school
• The importance of connecting parents to community-based resources
• Preventative practices parents can set up in the home to prevent this behavioral issue
• What an excellent prognosis looks like for children experiencing school refusal
• When it's time to refer to a mental health professional
• PCPs in the Denver Metro Area can refer patients to the Children's Hospital Colorado Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic or to a local community mental health center

Resources for dealing with school refusal:

• School Refusal: Information for Educators (.pdf) from the National Association for School Psychologists
• School Refusal in Children and Adolescents from American Family Physician
• The Functional Assessment of School Refusal Behavior
• Effective Child Therapy
• Division 53 of the Society of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology website
• School Refusal from the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry