The developed treatment plan is a behavioral program for the remediation of the child's school phobia. The behavioral approach was selected based on an examination of theoretical explanations of children's fear of going to school and the attendant support, or lack thereof, observed for each of these theories of school phobia.
Regarding the examination, most psychological explanations of school phobia held that it occurred as a result of anxiety about separation from the mother (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994). However, review of the research on school phobia shows that it often does not develop until after the child has attended school and has been separated from the mother without problems for periods up to several years (see: Papalia & Olds, 1992). Thus, the psychological approach was judged as not providing a firm foundation for the development of a program to remediate school phobia.
On the other hand, a good deal of research suggests that behavioral explanations are the most valid accounts of school phobia (Kauffman, 1995). These explanations postulate that traumatic incidents at school (e.g., threatening or stressful demands for academic or social performance which the child feels unable to meet) causes the child to seek escape or refuge at home. Adding to the support for the behavioral explanation is the fact that behavioral principles have long been used successfully to remediate the condition (Papalia & Olds, 1992).
The program that was developed for the seven year old child referred to the guidance clinic for school phobia was designed based on learning principles utilized in a variety of successful behavioral treatment programs for school phobia, many of which were developed years ago but are still being used to treat school phobia in current times (e.g., Ayllon, Smith & Rogers, 1970; Gelfand, 1978; Bernstein & Garfinkel, 1988). These programs used many different treatment modalities, the most frequently utilized of...