hi Everyone

I mentioned some time back being interviewed for TV with a friend and her son about School Refusal.
It is going to be on tonight - THursday the 1st of August (Australia) on Today Tonight at 6.30pm. I am hoping it is balanced as they are not my favourite program as they over dramatize things and in the promo - of which I feature saying one line...they say something about it becoming and 'epidemic'....and it starts off 'could you child really be allergic to school?' mm...slight exaggeration there! And they also mention the word truancy for some reason. Hopefully the program segment itself will explain more.
For those of you in the UK or elsewhere - you can check out the website:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/

At the moment the promo is on the top right hand side but later will be a video you can watch.
Fingers crossed for coverage that is positive towards understanding - we hoped that even if we might help at least one child and parent - it was worth it. I think my friend's son is having second thoughts about having spoken on the program....its a tough one but he is 17 and made that decision to go on. I am sure he will be fine after its all passed over-
Ironic in a way that my son has been having trouble just lately and so has my friend;s son....we felt so positive on the day of the recording : )
Take care everyone-
Linda xx

Just watched the promo. It certainly sounds over dramatised! Will be interesting to see the actual programme though.

hi Sharon and everyone

The program itself was good. They had all the truancy as a comparison at the beginning and then said ' but.. some kids are just not like this etc. I had friends ring and thought it was good.
It was felt it showed how serious the issues are. They also interviewed the person who runs the School Refusal unit that we had attended years ago and also someone from the Monash University research unit - that I have also mentioned on the forum. You will now be able to watch the program on the website.
Interested to know how others felt the whole thing is portrayed as it is so hard from my point of view to watch myself and not feel a tad uncomfortable!
Good luck to everyone for the last day of the week -
Linda

Thank you, Linda. It is now in the Blog.

I thought it was very good. And you did really well!

Sharon x

Thanks for that Simon.

And thanks for your comments, Sharon! I was pretty nervous on the day - and you have such bright lights shone in your face that you can't see much! My son thinks I was an embarrassment. He is after all a teenager - and they don't generally think their parents are 'cool'. I'd rather that than he be worried about kids at school discovering via the show that he has anxiety.

Take care
Linda x

Hi

So far the feedback from individuals - local shops - workplace are very positive. Some people very concerned that they had no idea what i was going through. Others surprised they had not heard about it. One mum talking to me about her son having been bullied and how she felt when talking to the school about it (made to feel like an over interfering mother - but they listened to her husband). Sadly, n another week - everyone will have forgotten the story.

The comments posted after the showing of the program are your typical negative comments from those who have nothing better to do than send obnoxious posts on the internet. I recall this happening in the UK after a mother and son were interviewed on TV. Someone on the forum asked us to send some positive posts. At the time I was quite appalled by how vicious people could be - so accusing when they have no idea. I sent a post explaining - one of a few that were posted at the time. Likewise there are a few positives amongst those that haven't a clue. People just rant and rave about their pet hang up - and in this case it seems to 'spoilt brats' are the favourite. Also one believing the whole idea of school refusal is a result of pill companies pushing their product (!!)

One big problem that I think results in these kind of comments is the name 'school refusal'. It is an anxiety disorder that 'results' in school refusal and I'd like to see it promoted as that and not a 'phobia' or a 'refusal' or anything along those lines as that tends to indicate that the child is just being stubborn and having a tantrum for no apparent reason other than they don't like school. I wonder if we can lobby the change of term one day? It has changed from phobia to refusal - so what - I wonder - should it be called? Perhaps no matter what we call it - if connected to school - which it is - there will always be misunderstanding. Seems there are a lot of people out there in the community who didn't like school - and wish they had missed a lot too! Says something about our education system rather than school refusal.

There will always be these kind of reactions - and if you ever read these kind of things - just keep in mind that they are actually written by people that haven't experienced much in life. And also sometimes it can be a case of too close to home - so they lash out at others and say how ridiculous we are - when in fact they have issues in their own backyard. I think I have grown tough skin over the years!!

Take care everyone - and those of you still on holidays- enjoy - enjoy - enjoy....
Linda xx

Link to watch the segment on the TV program is:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/article/-/18282562/school-phobia/

All the best to everyone
Linda

Hi Linda - I thought the program was brilliant - well done!!! I must say I was pleasantly surprised as I normally steer well clear of our current affair programs because of the way they report things. But it was a very good representation of what we and our children go through every day. The negative comments of course are expected. Especially when even our closest friends and family don't understand. I have sent the link for the program to a few of mine :-)

Thanks for your comments, Sandy. Must admit I was surprised too as I never watch these kinds of programs either and was concerned when the promo was way over the top.
The comments by people in shops etc who know me has been very positive. No one at my son's school has mentioned it to him - so we can relax that they don't know me or have forgotten me (and we have different surnames). My biggest fear was the comments that might be made to him. The other boy has also only had positive comments - mostly from teachers at his school. Perhaps kids don't watch current affairs like these either...probably on their iPads and computers!!
All the best
Linda

Hi Linda,

I thought it was great and you did really well.

My daughters tutor from Hospital and Home Tuition told me ages back that they won't call what our kids have School Refusal they prefer to call it School Anxiety as she says our kids aren't refusing to go to school they can't physically go. My daughter from day one has desperately wanted to go.

Hope everyone is enjoying the summer break and hang in there those of you down under.

Sue

I just watched this, I saw it posted on the blog page. So good to see that programs like this are now being made, I hope there are many more of them in Oz and around the world.

Here is the you tube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v88VFCvkVaU