13 yrs. Grade 7

Elementary School

For our family, anxiety and school refusal followed years of our child’s being sent to the hall or the principal’s office for not sitting still in his seat or for being a distraction to the others in class. Even after having assessments done and recommendations from the psychologist for accommodations for ADHD and LDs, he was seated at his desk with no writing tools and his desk turned backwards, so he couldn’t have anything at his desk at all. Little was done to address the LDs until it was too late. His self-confidence tanked, and he just believed he was…

8 yrs. Grade 2

Elementary School

My son is a very bright child. He reads above grade level; math skills are above grade level; he’s kind and willing to please. He was in grade 1 last year and began getting notes home about his behaviour. It didn’t sound like our son. We talked to him, and he told me he was being sent out of class almost daily for about a month. We set up a meeting with the teacher. She told us that she was sure he had ADHD and that some medication should help him. She told us we needed to be tougher on…

9 yrs. Grade 3

Elementary School

My son would refuse to go to school and tell us he’s stupid and he hated himself and wished he was dead. The school and division had no supports for him and refused to have a psych consult for his reading. Six days before his diagnosis, the Inclusion Coach told us, “He’s just not ready to learn to read yet.” Then he was diagnosed as dyslexic. We moved him out of French Immersion, despite the school saying he could do it. His anxiety has improved, and he no longer wishes to die, but every day he knows he’s not getting…

10 yrs. Grade 5

Elementary School

My daughter has a kidney disease that causes low immunity and weekly infusions in hospital. This is a critical and complex disease that will not go away until she receives a transplant. She is struggling to find routine and normalcy. She has been diagnosed with separation anxiety and does not want to be away from home. This leads to refusal to attend school.

13 yrs. Grade 8

Elementary School

My now 13-year-old has exhibited school refusal since kindergarten. Not just protest, but full-on-won’t-leave-his-bed-refusal. No punishment or withdrawal of privileges has ever helped. I wish we could homeschool, but his father (my ex) won’t agree to it, and, frankly, I’m not equipped for it. I have tried and continue to try all the resources and don’t know what else to do. My son is steadfastly unreceptive to therapy. He is also unresponsive to traditional discipline/withdrawal of privileges, etc.

10 yrs. Grade 5

Elementary School

Every day, you dread the sound of the phone ringing. It’s 9:30 and you just know it’s the school. The principal may ask if he can come home, or he’s going to be on the line saying he doesn’t feel well. When you refuse his leaving, you must deal with the anger he has, because he just slammed the phone down. And you know he’s not going to participate until he calms down. Even then he feels like no one cares about him. It tears you apart knowing your child feels so helpless, but you don’t know what else to…

12 yrs. Grade 7

Elementary School

My daughter’s school refusal and anxiety were definitely linked to her diagnosis of ASD1. We were not able to get that until she was 11, and only via private practice. It led to high anxiety and depression. Even though she wanted to go to school, starting in kindergarten, she experienced difficulty getting there. She experienced social exclusion from preschool onward. She experienced bullying/relational aggression from preschool onward. She had to change schools once, and after that, because her second school told me she didn’t qualify for assistance for her ADHD diagnosis (blatant lie), I chose to change again and send…

13 yrs. Grade 8

Elementary School

When my son was in kindergarten, he would cry all the way to school, saying he didn’t want to go. He would say that I was the worst mom ever and that I was mean for making him go. I could handle this, even though it was heartbreaking, as most days, he would get to school, wash his face (we kept a facecloth in the backseat so he could wipe off the tear stains), and would go in. One day, after several months of this, we had a rough day getting out the door. He wanted to stay home, told…

7 yrs. Grade 2

Elementary School

I would love to tell my whole story, but I feel it’s too long and honestly still so emotional of an experience to retell in full. I will share that I followed my gut and was right that my son had learning disabilities and wasn’t just misbehaved. I will say that being told your child will “get over it” or just needs to settle in, when you knew the problem was bigger, was exhausting. Lastly, I will share that, when a child doesn’t want to go to the park, you might think “oh why?” and ask questions. Did something happen…

11 yrs. Grade 5

Elementary School

My son’s class of 25 is currently in a music/food prep kitchen, which was quickly converted due to massive school population growth. The room is crowded, and the acoustics make the room so loud, even noise-cancelling headphones don’t help him. They didn’t have coat hooks and needed to use bins on the floor until January. How can we expect students to feel valued and safe at school when they’re crammed into makeshift rooms? Funding needs to be increased so school overcrowding doesn’t get worse.