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How to address school avoidance: Intervention strategies that work

Published on
Aug 5th, 2025
|
Reviewed on
Aug 4th, 2025
|
Updated on
Aug 5th, 2025
Written by
Talkspace
Reviewed by
Laura Magnuson, MA, MS, LAMFT, VP of Clinical Engagement

Recent research estimates that between 1% and 5% of students experience school refusal. School avoidance (once referred to as “school phobia”) can manifest in many ways. Children might refuse to go to school without being able to explain why. They may have anxiety-related student absenteeism. Experts have also linked the issue to comorbid psychiatric conditions, like anxiety and depression. It’s important to note that school avoidance isn’t the same as truancy. 

Unlike being truant, school avoidance involves children who want to attend but are struggling with emotional distress that makes showing up feel impossible. Early identification is crucial in helping students overcome the factors contributing to school refusal. There are red flags in behavior that every educator should watch for, including increased or frequent nurse visits, reluctance to get out of the car, emotional outbursts, and “sick” days with no clear medical cause. 

Read on for powerful school avoidance interventions you can use in partnership with families to disrupt a refusal cycle. Together, we can use a number of effective strategies to help students reengage with school in a positive, supportive, and sustainable way. 

Why early intervention in school refusal matters

The longer children are out of school, the harder it becomes for them to reintegrate. Social circles, academic success, and a general sense of self-worth are all impacted when students regularly miss school. 

Absentee behavior due to emotional discomfort can increase anxiety about returning to school, creating a cycle that’s increasingly difficult to break over time. If not caught and addressed early, even short-term school avoidance can become a long-term problem. Studies show that chronically absent students are more than 7 times more likely to drop out of school.

How to address school avoidance

There are several simple yet effective ways to implement school refusal interventions. Any school staff member can use the following strategies to support students who are dealing with school avoidance. 

Build trust and psychological safety

Every student needs to feel psychologically safe at school, but it becomes paramount when dealing with children who struggle with school avoidance. For these kids, even just walking into the school building can cause extreme, often debilitating anxiety and panic. Making sure they have adults they trust and that they feel safe is a critical school avoidance intervention to have in place. 

Some strategies that can build trust and psychological safety for students include:

  • Showing students they’re valued by acknowledging their fears.
  • Ensuring students know that their vulnerabilities won’t be met with punishment.
  • Acknowledging students’ strengths.
  • Listening with authentic empathy.
  • Being honest and calm when interacting with a child who shows avoidance. For example, you might say, I know I don’t have all the answers, but I’m hoping we can work together so you feel safe at school.
  • Setting expectations and offering help. Students should know you expect them to attend school, but they should also be reassured that they’re not alone. 
EXPERT INSIGHTS
"Any way that schools can build safe adult relationships at school will be beneficial for students. Schools can build those interactions into the students schedule whether it’s an advisory period, regular check-ins with counselors, and conversations with a school resource officer. The school can also normalize conversations about emotions by having intentional conversations with the safe adults speaking about their own emotions and modeling that it’s okay to speak about emotions."
- Laura Magnuson, MA, MS, LAMFT, VP of Clinical Engagement

Equip and engage families

Students often require more support than you can provide yourself. Their needs don’t start or stop at the school door. Involving parents and families is vital. Parental support and consistent communication between home and school can improve student attendance. Partnering with families helps diffuse anxiety and tension, both at home and in school.

You can equip and engage parents, families, and loved ones to help students by:

  • Coming up with easy and creative ways to welcome student caregivers into the conversation.
  • Keeping dialogue open so parents can share patterns they see at home.
  • Openly discussing students’ anxiety triggers.
  • Ensuring that both home and school recognize a child’s struggles.
  • Reassuring caregivers that they shouldn’t feel guilty or like they’re “failing” at parenting.
  • Reminding parents that collaboration can lead to long-term results.

Create a support and reentry plan

Even after a short absence, walking through the school doors can be terrifying for some children. Developing a reentry plan that’s flexible and tailored to the student can make a significant difference. Make sure you have documented attendance patterns and attempted to identify triggers. It can help to reflect on the following:

  • Does the child seem more successful if they arrive later?
  • Is the child avoiding a specific class?
  • Does the child have access to a quiet space when they arrive at school or as needed throughout the day?
  • Are certain social groups contributing to anxiety?

After some preliminary research and discussion, you can come up with an effective and positive reentry plan. You can craft a reentry plan by:

  • Breaking the plan into manageable, stress-free steps.
  • Starting with a small and achievable milestone. For example, the student might agree to spend 10 minutes in the building or attend their favorite class one day.
  • Making sure all school staff are on board.
  • Celebrating even small wins.
  • Not rushing the process. One “good day” doesn’t always mean success, so be patient.

Strengthen school-home communication

If school avoidance is becoming a growing concern, focus on improving school–home communication. Effective and meaningful communication must be about more than just logistics, though. Sending home attendance updates every week or scheduling regular check-ins is a great strategy, but it might not be enough.

Try the following:

  • Make sure messages to caregivers are relational, not transactional. For example, Jenni seemed more anxious today and asked to go to the nurse’s office. Just checking in to see how mornings at home have been going this week.
  • Validate the family experience by asking for a caregiver’s thoughts. They often know their child better than anyone and can share expert insight.
  • Keep daily communication journals to help track and identify patterns.
  • Remember to share positive moments.

Offer ongoing support

Unfortunately, school avoidance doesn’t usually vanish overnight. Consistent and ongoing support will be crucial to a student’s progress. Make sure someone from the school checks in with students each morning during the transition back to regular attendance. Creating a welcoming environment can be a positive way to maintain momentum and move forward.

You can offer support to students by:

  • Designating one teacher or school staff member as the go-to person for check-in.
  • Conducting regular quick team debriefs to ensure no red flags are being missed.
  • Watching for signs of returning setbacks (uptick in tardies or absences) and checking in with students and families. 
  • Reassuring both the student and their family that setbacks are a normal part of the process.
  • Being attuned and flexible to the student’s needs.
  • Providing online therapy for students
  • Offering consistent and specific encouragement that recognizes both effort and outcome.
  • Figuring out small accommodations that can help the student reacclimate. 
  • Enhancing support for students with tier 2 and tier 3 interventions
download-student-mental-health-roadmap

Address academic triggers

Some children avoid school because they feel overwhelmed by the material or fear failure. Whether it’s test anxiety or being afraid their peers will realize they can’t read, recognizing and addressing academic triggers can help a student return successfully. Reducing academic stressors helps children rebuild their confidence as they reengage with their peers and school days.

Consider the following tips for addressing triggers:

  • Work one-on-one with a student to identify subjects, assignments, or skill levels that trigger anxiety.
  • Offer small and reasonable accommodations, such as extended time or alternative test locations.
  • Tailor instruction as much as possible.
  • Make sure students know you believe their needs are genuine.
EXPERT INSIGHTS
“It’s important that the adults welcome the student back without making the student feel bad for missing school. A teacher can add support by reminding of all the resources available to make up work and this may include reminding of tutor time available.”
- Laura Magnuson, MA, MS, LAMFT, VP of Clinical Engagement

Build emotional regulation skills

Being unable to regulate emotions can be a significant reason a student is avoiding school. If you notice a student is quick to shut down, cries easily, or becomes visibly upset during stressful interactions, teaching them emotional regulation skills might help.

Here’s how you can help students build emotional regulation skills:

  • Teach them how to practice mindfulness.
  • Encourage journaling.
  • Offer coaching on how to recognize anxiety triggers.
  • Teach coping skills that can be used in real-time, such as deep breathing or taking a time-out.
  • Use role-play or offer step-by-step guides that teach coping skills.
  • Collaborate with school counselors to develop and implement short, daily strategies that are easy for students to master and apply.

Foster connection and belonging

Students are more likely to return to school if they feel a sense of connection and support from both their peers and teachers. Making sure they have access to small group activities can help them feel included. It’s also important to let them know they don’t have to be perfect to show up. Reinforce the idea that showing up counts more than being perfect.

You can foster connection and student belonging by:

  • Assigning a peer buddy.
  • Offering leadership roles in the classroom.
  • Inviting them to take part in school clubs or lunch groups.
  • Ensuring they have access to a staff member or teacher who can serve as their “safe person.”
  • Openly celebrating efforts in milestones instead of focusing solely on outcomes.
  • Offering autonomy by giving students choice in things like seating, group assignments, and assignments.

Collaborate across roles in the school

School avoidance interventions must be a collaborative effort. No one teacher or person can do it alone. Students need to know they have a whole team behind them. 

Collaboration should extend across disciplines and involve as many people in the school community as possible. This will demonstrate to students that everyone is concerned about their well-being.

Tips for school community collaboration:

  • Involve teachers, administrators, staff, counselors, nurses, social workers, and families as part of the effort to help a student return to school.
  • Make sure everyone (from the bus driver to the front office) is informed and on the same page. Anyone can spot a pattern so it can be addressed as quickly as possible.
  • Have regular team meetings.
  • Focus on problem-solving rather than assigning blame if issues recur.

Reengage students with consistent, compassionate support

Students struggling with school avoidance must feel emotionally safe and supported, both at school and at home. Routines, trauma-informed practices, and daily check-ins are all effective school refusal interventions that help build a safety net students can trust and rely on.

Long-term reengagement can’t work unless schools and families are willing to work together. Keep communication lines open and ensure that students return to a non-judgmental environment. A focus on the home-school partnership will be critical as you move forward, helping students. 

Request a demo today to learn how Talkspace can help you implement school avoidance interventions that work, so your students are at school, healthy, happy, and learning. 

Sources: 

  1. Ulaş, Sümeyye, and İsmail Seçer. 2024. “A systematic review of school refusal.” Current Psychology 43 (21): 19407–22. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05742-x. Accessed July 19, 2025.
  2. Fremont, Wanda. 2003. “School refusal in children and adolescents.” American Family Physician 68 (8): 1555–61. https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2003/1015/p1555.html. Accessed July 19, 2025.
  3. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. 2016. “The Relationship Between School Attendance and Health.” https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED592870.pdf. Accessed July 19, 2025.

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