Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) parental guidance

This guidance has been produced by Lancashire Educational Psychology Service. It has been created based on current research/best practice and on what local families and schools have told us about things that are helpful for pupils with Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA).

What can you do?

Speaking with your child about why they are not currently able to attend school is likely to make them anxious. It can be helpful to acknowledge this but tell them that you want to know how they think or feel. We have tried to include a range of resources that might support them in sharing their feelings and thoughts about school. 

Sometimes children may find it hard to tell you face to face, perhaps you could ask them to write it down, email or text you. Some children also find it easier to draw how they are feeling.

Your child may benefit from having greater control over the strategies that they use to overcome their EBSA or what their first steps are. Although they will still need your support and guidance they will be more capable of carrying out some of the strategies independently and are likely to want to do them independently.

There are some activities within the EBSA toolkit that you may want to complete with your child or they may want to complete them with someone from school, whom they trust. There is a card sorting activity (pages 21-25) or a mapping the landscape activity (pages 26-31 for the primary version and pages 32-38 for the secondary version), which will help you and the school staff to understand what is ‘pushing’ or ‘pulling’ your child to being at home and at school. There is also a laddering activity (pages 39-43) which young people and parents have told us has helped in ordering their worries and looking at what the young person thinks are the first steps they can achieve in their return to school.

In our experience, a plan is likely to be most successful if the young person has ownership over the next steps they feel able to manage, rather than the adults making assumptions about this. It is also important to remember that these steps will likely need to be very small.

Finally, as a parent it can be really difficult to see your child unhappy. Make sure that you have someone to talk to too. This could be a friend, family member or an organisation such as those listed below or at the end of this guide.

Parents can speak with an educational psychologist from Lancashire Educational Psychology Service through the parent/carer helpline:

  • The Educational Psychology Service parent/carer helpline is temporarily closed. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

Lancashire SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SEND IAS) is a service that provides free, confidential, impartial advice and support to parents with special educational needs and children and young people with SEND.

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