Suggests that children can face fears better and feel safer in their environment by associating their own fears with characters' fears in a story. Provides suggestions for reading. (JOW)

Discusses the symptoms, causes, effects, and treatment of school phobia. (CM)

Explores common clinical childhood fears (separation anxiety disorder, social phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder) and suggests balancing treatment with input from psychologists, teachers, and parents. (Author/JOW)

School phobias, affecting about 1 percent of school-age children, are disruptive to the student, parent, school staff, and other students. Research has identified the difference between normal fears and phobias that can be debilitating and painful. Effective and appropriate treatment requires a team approach with the principal a key player in…

Although violence is popularly perceived as a source of fear in schools, students cite scholastic achievement and positive interactions with students and teachers as primary sources. Parents are not as fearful of safety in local schools, and teachers are more likely to cite factors that affect their students outside of school rather than in the…

Results suggest some progress in formulating educational environments that reduce the level of school fearfulness among black children. Other studies should explore the differences in classroom atmosphere that nediate these encouraging results; i.e. patterns of pupil-teacher and pupil-pupil interaction. (Author/AM)

A two-stage intervention successfully eliminated a 9-year-old boy's intensive fear in a new school setting. First, the child learned to identify a cue accompanying strong anxiety response; second, he learned to induce a competing cognitive coping response--blocking negative feelings with confidence--reinforcing song lyrics. Author/CMG)

Two studies examined age and sex differences in scores on Dunn's School Anxiety Questionnaire and on "worry-emotionality" questionnaire for third through eighth graders. Data support the multidimensional approach to the study of school anxiety. (GO)

This fact sheet discusses the role of the school counselor in interventions for school phobia, transient and latchkey children, and children from single parent families. (MCF)

Provides strategic and structural therapy concepts to use when addressing a child's school phobia. Describes how a family systems approach, which is solution-focused, employs family resources and fosters parental competencies. Offers a case study with a careful analysis of each session. Discusses implications for school counselors. (RJM)

School refusal was one of the behavioral symptoms exhibited by a 12-year-old Japanese boy with Heller's syndrome, a disorder in which normal or near-normal development for the first few years of life is followed by a loss of speech and social skills, along with other behavioral symptoms. (JW)

Suggests that if children's emotional concerns are not met, any attempt at cognitive learning is useless. Describes the Right Start Program, which smoothes the transition from home to school through a school picnic, "let's read" night, class visit, and optional home visits. Notes some possible impediments to implementation such as teachers'…

This paper presents a case study of successful intervention with a boy (in fourth grade at the time of the intervention) who would not speak in the school environment. Intervention involved medication with Fluoxetine to relieve anxiety, parental involvement, and a six-step behavioral therapy plan of gradually increasing speech demands in the…

Explores fears and phobias of childhood from a behavioral perspective. Maintains that many childhood fears are mild, age-specific, and transitory, whereas others persist beyond normal developmental limits. Maintains that severe school phobia is difficult to manage. Notes that reports of successful behavioral treatments of fears/phobias are rare in…

The goal of this book is to assist parents in understanding their children's behavior. Chapter one focuses on the transition to school and addresses preparation, first-day jitters, changing schools, when to begin elementary school, promotion, and retention. Chapter two addresses academic issues at school and focuses on dealing with learning…