Product Overview
This guide is designed to support schools in understanding, identifying, preventing, and managing school refusal and avoidance behaviors among students. These issues are becoming increasingly prevalent, impacting a growing number of school-aged children each year. Such behaviors can occur at any age or grade level.
For some students, the prospect of going to school can trigger intense fear and stress, making it difficult for them to leave the safety and comfort of their home or preferred environment. These students are not just “skipping school”—they are stuck in patterns of distress, avoidance, or maladaptive coping, and require coordinated, compassionate, and strategic interventions. When schools understand the factors that are driving avoidance and respond with early identification, tiered supports, and strong family-school-community partnerships, attendance improves, and students regain confidence and stability.
Sections include:
- School Avoidance Prevention Strategies
- Warning Signs
- School Refusal/Avoidance by Severity Level
- The Four Functional Categories of School Refusal
- Fostering Family Partnerships to Promote Positive Student Outcomes
- Gradual Exposure to Reintegration
- Anxiety Reduction Techniques
Sharon Bradley, M.Ed. is Founder and Principal Consultant for RestorativeFlo Educational Solutions, LLC. As an educational leader, she works diligently to help shape school districts’ approaches to truancy prevention, social and emotional development, and restorative practices for all students. Throughout her 20+ years in education, she has served as social emotional learning/restorative practices director, alternative high school principal, assistant principal, dropout prevention program coordinator, general education teacher, and special education teacher. Mrs. Bradley is trained in Family Engagement, Crucial Conversations, Social Emotional Learning, and is certified as a Restorative Practices practitioner.
