Storytelling for School Refusal
EMDR for Kids and TeensAn additional strategy for really young kids is using a story to get them to go to school. So Alex, he was five years old, really struggling with going into kindergarten, did not want to go into kindergarten, was very upset, would cry a lot in the car before his mom got him there, and he was just not having it. One of the things that I did with the mom is I talked to her. There's this really great super old book from the seventies called Annie's Stories, and this is where the therapist helps the parent come up with a story with the problem woven in for the child, a way of handling the problem, and then a positive ending that incorporates whatever the child is interested in.
So the parent and I came up with a story that was involving Winnie the Pooh. What I'm doing with the parent, we've come up with the story, mom is telling this story in the session to Alex, and then she's slow tapping on the child's knees, looking at the child as she's telling the Winnie the Pooh story. And then the next day when they go to school, she reminds Alex of the story. He's in his child's seat. He's not crying. He's listening to the story.
Kids aren't stupid. They know that the story is really about them, but this is a great way to have an emotional buffer. Having a story like that that has their issue in it, you incorporate the solution, and then the positive ending. And Alex was able to go in smoothly into kindergarten that day.