Helping Families of Youth with School Attendance Problems: A Practical Guide for Mental Health and School-Based Professionals

by Christopher A. Kearney

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190912574
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/14/2019
Series:	ABCT Clinical Practice Series
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Christopher A. Kearney, PhD, is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Dr. Kearney's research interests include school refusal behavior, selective mutism, posttraumatic stress disorder, perfectionism, and other anxiety-related conditions in children and adolescents.

Table of Contents

Series Foreword
About the Author

Chapter 1 Introduction to School Attendance Problems in Youth

Chapter 2 Rapid Assessment, Consultation, and Immediate First Steps

Chapter 3 The Anxious Elementary School Child

Chapter 4 The Attention-Seeking Elementary School Child

Chapter 5 The Anxious Middle/High School Adolescent

Chapter 6 The Disengaged Middle/High School Adolescent

Chapter 7 Chronic and Severe School Attendance Problems

References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"While many of us may take school attendance problems for granted, any affected parent or school-based professional knows how overwhelming and perplexing problematic attendance can be. If left untreated, school attendance problems can have a debilitating impact across the lifespan. The world's leading authority on school refusal behavior has done it again! Christopher Kearney has written an eminently practical guide that addresses how to effectively manage a wide range of acute and chronic school attendance problems. This book will be an indispensable resource for parents, school-based professionals, child and family therapists, and graduate students." — Andrew R. Eisen, PhD, Professor and Co-Director, Child Anxiety & Related Disorders Clinic, Fairleigh Dickinson University

"Once again, Dr. Christopher Kearney, within his long history of clinical and educational experience, has written a worldwide reference book to address school attendance problems. The intervention procedures stand out, particularly, for their connection with the real world providing concrete suggestions that can be adapted to the needs of each case. This book is essential reading for anyone who cares about school attendance problems and occupies a central place in my personal library." — Dr. Carolina Gonzálvez, University of Alicante

"Students with school attendance problems are often treated as the problem. The commonsensical idea of understanding the problem as a larger family or systemic issue is to be applauded in this book. As such, the book offers practical scientific and informed practices for everyday implementation and truly translates research into practice from understandings of the pathology of school attendance." — Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, PhD, Past President of International Association for Truancy and Dropout Prevention, Co-Founder of International Network of School Attendance, Tenured Professor and Researcher in school absenteeism and truancy

From the Publisher