School refusal

This term is the pathological/medical model framing of a neurodivergent person’s inability to attend school (school-induced trauma); it centres the blame within the child and implies that a child is making a conscious choice, out of ‘bad behaviour,’ to be obstinate about attending school. Framing it this way invalidates the internal experience of the child/young person and places all responsibility for ‘fixing’ the situation onto that child and their family.