Paedeia Episode 6: Six Students with School Refusal
In 1961, a now famous article was written in a journal called The Lancet. In the article, the author – a London-based pediatrician – wrote about six children with coughs. The purpose of the article was to help pediatricians-in-training understand the importance of appropriate diagnostic practices; after all, at that time in our history, a cough could have meant anything from allergies to tuberculosis.
In this podcast, Dr. Berney and Dr. Richard take a similar approach to a modern day concern – school refusal. As was the case with coughs in 1961, school refusal today can be caused by many different things and it is imperative that parents, teachers, and mental health professionals thoroughly explore the cause of the refusal. We are often eager to jump to blaming the student for being lazy or careless. However, it is only through understanding WHY the student is avoiding school that we will come to the most appropriate intervention.
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