Child School Refusal and Anxiety Disorders Clinic

Oh, school days. For some kids, it's a time of exploration, learning, and fun. For others, though, it's fraught with anxiety over tests and social situations. While helping these children cope, the UNLV clinic is expanding research to improve how counselors and therapists help these young clients.

Who it's for: Children ages 5 to 17 who persistently avoid school because they are anxious about classroom situations, have specific fears related to school, or have trouble separating from their parents.

What the clinic does: Assesses and treats the children and counsels parents on ways they can help their child overcome the problem. Fees are based on the family's ability to pay.

The person to know: Christopher Kearney, director of the clinic and a professor of clinical child psychology. He started the UNLV clinic in 1991, but began researching the field while pursuing his doctorate degree. "In graduate school, I was working in the children's section of an anxiety clinic," he says. "Children with school anxiety began coming in and no one knew what to do with them. I took them on as part of my dissertation and have been researching them ever since."

Little-known fact: "Parents are always amazed to find that this is so common — their kid isn't the only one," Kearney says. "My estimates, and those of other studies, indicate that between 5 and 28 percent of children will experience difficulty attending school at some time in their lives."

Info: Contact the clinic at 702-895- 0183 or ckearney@ccmail.nevada.edu.