CHILDREN
A word about panic attacks and children who don’t want to go to school.
There can be many reasons why children are temporarily unhappy
at school. Parents and teachers often have good insights into these reasons
and manage them well without the need for professional advice.
Sometimes a problem persists, seems more than appears on the surface, or genuinely
feels to be a growing problem. Children may complain of stomach aches, headaches,
sickness and may in fact be sick. They can be tearful and simply seem very unhappy.
Again these symptoms can last for a few weeks because of something changing,
stressing or bothering the child, but with some quiet, supportive conversations
the problems are often resolved. Should the symptoms persist or increase in
intensity and you have already spoken with your G.P., it may be worth a conversation
with Learning Insights.
Parents’ and teachers’ perspectives are invaluable to us, and this is where we would prefer to start. We work very closely with other professionals and so do not need to make everything a psychological problem. Sometimes a combined approach with the child’s G.P., the school and the family is all that is needed.
Sometimes a learning difficulty can underlie the child’s
distress, even in the most able of children which is often a surprise to parents
and teachers. Remember a learning difficulty does not mean the child lacks intelligence.
However, it can cause the child to become very anxious about their performance
as they cannot predict when they will succeed and when they will fail at school.
They are often told they are lazy or that they can’t be bothered to try.
This is very punitive to them as they often try very hard and due to their learning
difficulty (often very subtle) they still make errors which look like lack of
effort or attention.
If you want to read more about Specific Learning Difficulties (SpLD) check out
Parents, Children + Schools.
If any of this rings a bell and is making sense for you, follow this up with a call to Learning Insights or click on CONTACT US.