What Can Make Your Child Run Away From School?

Every student, at one point or another, feels like “skipping” school. You may notice your child dragging his/her feet while returning from school. They may try to come up with excuses why not to go to school one morning. These type of behaviors, though not initially alarming, may be the signs that your child is simply bored. It’s important for parents to dig deep into the matter if such instances continue to accrue, and get informed about other symptoms associated with school refusal behavior.

School refusal behavior can happen at any age is more evident in children between the ages of 10-13. According to a long list of studies, if such a behavior is left unaddressed, the issue may develop into a far more serious one.

Parents must look out for these common emotional symptoms when dealing with school refusal behavior:

• ·        Depression
• ·        Fatigue and tiredness
• ·        Frequent Panic attacks
• ·        Social Anxiety 
• ·        Aggression
• ·        Noncompliance and defiance
• ·        Negligent attitude towards life in general
• ·        Developing a temperamental behavior

Below are a few reasons that your child may have developed this behavior:

1. To evade the academic burden as much as they can. It's been observed that some New York special education schools may sometimes go overboard with their academic expectations form children with special needs.

2. Your child may be facing issues with sensory processing, or sensory integration (nervous system receiving messages from sense organs to give behavioral responses).

3. The child may be dealing with some form of bullying in school. For some children with special needs, being bullied by their peers can become too much to bear, so it's very important to keep a close eye on the child and their behavior and to deal with the source of the problem once it has been discovered.

4. The child might be experiencing some issues one or more individuals teachers or school personnel. There have been instances where a child has received severe punishments by teachers and has a hard time coping. Parents may decide on making surprise visits to their child's school to get a better sense about what's going on when their child is in school.

If you sense your child may be dealing with any of these issues it is important to discuss them with his/her teachers and school staff. Ignoring these signs can have far more serious consequences.