School Avoidance & Refusal: Root Causes, Strategies for ADHD Students (w/ Alana Cooperman, LCSW)

In this hour-long webinar with ADDitude, Alana Cooperman, a senior social worker at the Child Mind Institute, discusses the underlying causes of student absenteeism - which are often related to anxiety - and how to identify and address them in school and at home.
#adhd #school #students
This ADHD Experts webinar was originally broadcast on July 9, 2024.
Download the slides associated with this webinar here:
www.additudema...
5:00 what is school refusal?
6:00 associated with these conditions/ degrees of SR
8:00 what does school refusal look like?
10:00 risk factors for SR
12:00 Four functions of SR behavior
16:00 the role of anxiety in SR
17:00 "avoidance is a very common reaction"
20:00 how daily struggles of ADHD lead to SR
23:00 anxiety doesn't go away on its own
25:00 Treatment for SR: CBT
27:00 exposure therapy : putting a plan to get to school, building distress tolerance
29:00 the worry hill
32:00 gradual desensitization plan
38:00 if they stay home keeps things as boring as possible
42:00 how can I tell if my kid is really sick?
43:00 how to validate a kid who is having stomachaches due to anxiety
44:00 what if a kid is getting suspended and loving it?
47:00 if a teen wants to leave a new school, what to do?
52:00 what about college students who are having SR?
54:00 does high school SR tend to continue in college?
55:00 does exposure therapy work with ADHD?
57:00 how does ODD fit in?
58:00 SR and suicidal ideation
59:00 how to handle explosive kids during exposure therapy?
Related Resources
1. Download: Social Anxiety Facts and Falsehoods
www.additudema...
2. Read: Why School Stress Is Toxic for Our Children
www.additudema...
3. Read: 6 Good Reasons to Change Your Child’s School
www.additudema...
4. Sign Up: The School Avoidance Alliance's Master Class for Parents (use discount code: Additude)
content.school...
5. Sign Up: The School Avoidance Alliance's Course for Educators (use discount code: Additude)
content.school...
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[@AprilFelix-u9g]

Do you have any printable downloads with this information? I love the Thinking Traps and Worry Hill!

[@leilap2495]

The fawn response was not included. I do not agree with the use of CBT for neurodivergent people. Why? Because they are experiencing these actual things. Telling myself what is happening to me is all in my head is pretty much gaslighting. I would like to see a focus be more on exploration of other educational options that would be a better fit, such as through IEP, 504, consequences for bullies, another school entirely, another type of school, etc. And rather than mentioning medication last, I would do that first. And if a kid has abdominal pain, it could be a manifestation of something physical that is adding to anxiety through the gut-brain axis. Dairy and/or gluten are examples of common culprits, especially if they also have hypermobility, which affects the digestive and other muscles as well as the joints and skin.

[@Make-A-Roni]

CBT doesn’t tell people “it’s all in your head”, it’s a proven therapeutic skill that has helped/is helping a great many neurodivergent people struggling with the challenges in their lives. You may find it useful to explore CBT further before disregarding it.

[@leilap2495]

@ I didn’t have a therapeutic experience, and many others feel similarly. I’m tired of seeing CBT being brought up as a panacea, when so many others feel similarly and so many different therapeutic modalities exist, others that I strongly believe would have a higher chance of helping a neurodivergent person. How would you describe the reframing process of CBT other than essentially “how you have been seeing it is wrong, and if you simply change your perspective it will magically get better.” I find it overly simplistic and frankly insulting to one’s intelligence.

[@sukhvindermangat1087]

How is it "Gaslighting"? ​@@leilap2495