Anxiety attack for SS
SS has been coughing all weekend but kept telling us he felt fine. He felt a little warm but insisted that he wasn't sick. BF kept him an extra night last night (Sunday) and brought him to school this morning. They had to stop by BM's house to pick up SS's backpack on the way. She lives in a different county, and they did so well getting ready and out the door with plenty of time that they ended up getting to her house about an hour early. So, SS and BF sat and chatted with BM about the weekend and how much fun SS had. SS seemed to be feeling fine. Then, when BF got SS to school, everything fell apart. He started crying and hyperventilating and he couldn't even talk. BF held him in his lap and had no idea what to do. He called BM who told him to bring SS back home.
She says that this is what happens when SS doesn't feel good and doesn't want to go to school. I am not really sure. What if it has nothing to do with his feeling good, and just that he doesn't want to go to school? When we had our emergency family pow-wow, SS and BM informed us that he was skipping school 3 or 4 times a month because he just didn't want to go. She said that it averaged out to about once a week. There's got to be something that's making this kid want to not go to school.
I asked BF if there was maybe a bully at school that was picking on SS. He asked SS but SS didn't really know what he was talking about.
Does anyone have any experience with this? SS makes good grades, he's on the honor roll and everthing. He's only 9 years old and I would hate for him to become a bad student for the rest of his life because of whatever's bothering him now.
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Does the school have a counselor?
Talk to his teachers...a lot of teachers in this age group have kids in their class keep a "journal". It's their sneaky way of finding out how the kids are doing on ALL levels.
I'm with you....it sounds like an anxiety thing...been there done that with BS who is a very anxious kid anyway, and it's always been about a test, trouble with a kids, too much attention brought to him by teacher, etc.
"SOME PEOPLE WEREN'T MEANT TO HAVE CHILDREN"
There could be a bully or...
I teach middle school and whenever an otherwise good student avoids school like that, there is usually an outside cause. Sometimes, it is a bully or a mean teacher, but other times, it is simply a child who wants to stay home and play and who has learned that mom or dad will come running if there are the right symptoms. A good clue for this - when asked where the pain is, it is rather general or if the illness happens at a specific time. Talk to the teachers - ask if you SS gets sick at certain times during the day or week (before a test or a project, for example). If there is a pattern, then you will need to work with BM not to take him out of school. The teachers will also be able to let you know if there are any problems with the other kids.
Hope this helps.
I think you've got it
I really think that this is the case. I think that SS knows that if he cries and acts all upset that BM will bring him home and not make him go to school that day. Like I said before, this has become a habit with him where he's missing about one day of school every week. The bad thing is that BM has him classified as "special needs" and they can't fail him or come after her legally for missed school days. So he's pretty much learning that he doesn't have to go to school if he doesn't want to and no one will do anything about it.
*~So sayeth Nymh~*
Our son is "special needs"
Our son is "special needs" And he was starting to get sick more often. DH and I sat down and talked about it. Son is autistic (high function; intelligent; but social cues missed) and was TERRIFIED of being called upon in class. On Mondays he was supposed to compliment a student.... any student on anything. He was sooooo terrified of giving a "wrong" answer he would worry himself sick. I called him out on it (my leg hurts... growing pains.... I can't walk) I allowed him to miss school... BUT he had to go to work with me, eat his lunch box lunch and do school work (gotta love homeschool sites!!). He couldn't do any fun stuff (video games... watch TV... etc). The rule in our home is.... too sick for school... too sick for fun stuff.
Once we figured out the problem, we talked with Son... we gave him a battle plan on picking a student and explained what a compliment was. He hasn't missed a day since.