EMOTIONAL DISORDERS
PRIMARY SCHOOL
WHAT TO DO
(and what to avoid)
QUICK guide for teachers
INTRODUCTION
Those students who are thought to have no future and are believed to be ‘going wrong’ do not come to school alone. An onion enters the classroom: several layers of passion, fear, worry, resentment, anger, unsatisfied desires, furious renunciations accumulated on a substrate of disgraceful past, threatening present, future closed. How can teachers identify indicators of suffering in their students? And at that point, what can they do or what would be better not to do (or to say)?» (Pennac, 2008).
The excerpt you have read above seems to me particularly suitable to accompany us in introducing this volume.
The point is: how can a teacher identify indicators of suffering in their students? And at that point, what can he do or would be better not to do (or say, of course)?
In the meantime, we must point out that here we are referring to emotional labors, that is to all those behaviors from which we can deduce the presence of an emotion impacting negatively on the pupil. Whether this fatigue is, or may become in the future, a real emotional disturbance, is not what concerns us at this stage. First of all, because the pupils in primary school are small (due to age) and some disorders structure themselves over time, but also because it is not the teacher’s job to make a diagnosis. I dare say that it is not good for teachers to speculate about this either, because they could go astray and create beliefs which would influence the relational and communicative approach towards the pupils themselves.
Therefore, I invite you to be objective and respect your own perimeter of competence to facilitate also the connection with other professions: each one has its piece.
The teacher as a reference
The role of the teacher is fundamental to intercept and observe behaviors that can show in filigree emotional weights on the heart of the pupil.
It will be crucial to adopt an appropriate emotional posture that allows the teacher to stand in front of that student with respect, open eyes and right words. This also means being the adult who validates and does not minimize any emotion experienced in class (although he/she can exercise criticism towards inappropriate actions), who understands and makes comfortable the relationship by opening up to communication about it. The teacher is, especially for children in primary school, a figure of maximum reference and feeling understood and welcomed falls on the dawn of the idea of self.
At this age children (and I am referring especially to the under eight) still struggle in emotional literacy and it becomes important for the development of this aspect open dialogue with respect to what you feel, give a name to everything that agitates in your belly.
The reflection we can do, however, takes flight from much higher than this: emotions, even before becoming the object of a careful look at potential labor, are natural and inevitable feature of learning (as well as basic ingredients in everyday life). We could say that «pupils and teachers experience a wide range of emotions while learning and teaching» (Lucangeli, 2019). From here we can make two observations: this issue of emotions also involves teachers (but we will talk about it later) and our cognitive functioning is affected by the emotional front.
The effects of negative emotions
Emotions are divided into primary and secondary. While the first ones (anger, fear, disgust, sadness and joy) are part of us from birth, the others come later in growth and are mediated culturally and cognitively. I mean that anxiety, guilt, shame, etc. come as a result
of subjective thinking (sometimes imbued with culture). Let me give you an example: if I, writing these lines, thought «Here, I will be inaccurate... certainly I will not be able to explain myself well» I would start to feel anxiety (and this because the focus of my thought is strongly catastrophic and threatening, and we know that threat calls anxiety) at a certain intensity. On the contrary if my thought was «Some points are difficult to write, I will try to think about it a little more because I would like that the concept is clear to as many readers as possible»... Well, I guarantee you that the anxiety would accompany me anyway, but it would be of less intensity. It would be on a functional level, because the physiological activation would make me even more careful and precise.
I used this example and anxiety specifically to get to put on the plate what instead happens if the negative emotion comes to overwhelm us (staying with the example, we think of a very intense anxiety): we stop working. The executive functions go into difficulty, the mind becomes saturated with these thoughts and at a stroke sweeps away all school-type content. Thus, a student who is in the grip of negative emotion related to the task being performed or the context (see performance anxiety) will be more likely to fail. The same thing will happen if the emotion is, in fact, a real emotional fatigue that the student is experiencing independently of the school environment, but which is still felt between the benches.
In this volume I tried to synthesize what to observe, what to say (and to not say) and what to do (and to not do).
... and the effects of positive emotions
We must be clear that, of course, all this is also true on the contrary: if learning is immersed in a dust of positive emotions, we will increase the probability of success (as well as clearly of wellbeing!). It becomes necessary, therefore, first of all a reflection on the emotional air that you breathe in class during your lessons; this «fertilizes» the soil making it fertile for a good class climate. It does not prevent the students from carrying within themselves other difficulties, but contributes to a good emotional posture of
the teacher at first and then increase the gradient of reception within the class itself.
You will find very often, regardless of the type of emotion at stake, the suggestion to gratify children with the use of social reinforcement. It is obvious, in fact (but we all experience it in our daily lives), how to emphasize the successful experiences (even better if not related only to the result of the performance but also to the process, in short, to the commitment) increase the likelihood that this will happen again. This is because being gratified gives emotional fuel, makes us want (even this emotional) to do it again and again. It starts a real emotional cycle that improves the sense of self-efficacy and has a positive impact on self-esteem and motivation. Not only (and that’s why I mentioned it earlier): you also get a potentiating effect on commitment. This is why we gratify the process as well as the outcome: precisely to deliver into the hands of the student the idea that the seed of change or improvement is in his/her own hands.
In fact, the opposite path is also true: failure, stumbling, error can have a negative impact on one’s sense of self-efficacy and self-esteem, resulting in demotivation. This arrangement risks increasing the probability of a new failure that will confirm the idea of oneself as one who does not make it.
The elevator and the coach
At this point, it will be clear even to those who have not seen it before, how important the figure of the teacher is for his/her students. Obviously not only from an educational point of view, but also as a reference adult who can give him/her a pair of glasses with which to look at the world and in a positive way. We have already said, and we reiterate, that this function is absolutely not on a clinical plane. The teacher is not asked to do what he/she does not have to do either by role or by regulation. Better saying that he/she has to «mark» pupils (Lucangeli, 2019), that is to leave its mark on the learning and life in class. Turning to them a look of
understanding and validation that makes them feel welcome and seen. Even in their labors (and, I do not think it is necessary to repeat it, especially in the light of personal strengths).
We could, then, bring the figure of the teacher, just as we would for any other adult who meets a child on his way, to that of an elevator and a coach.
Let me explain.
According to a beautiful metaphor described by Alberto Pellai (2016), the functioning of our brain can be compared to a three-story building. On the ground floor is the reptilian brain, the place from which all survival-oriented reactions arise. In the middle floor we find emotions, while on the upper floor there are thoughts, reasoning and reflections: it is the rational floor.
When a person, in our case a child, is overwhelmed by a strong emotional wave, the emotional floor floods and prevents access to the upper floor. Indeed, if we think of a child in the grip of strong anger, it is easy to see how he/she is not very accessible on the level of reasoning. This configuration, in which the rational part of the brain is switched off while the emotional part is super charged, is described by Siegler and Bryson (2012) as an «emotional deluge».
The adult’s role in such situations is, according to Pellai’s metaphor, to provide an elevator between floors. This lift brings tools to regain balance.
Having solved the mystery of the elevator as a metaphor, let’s turn to the coach.
Imagine a moment of strong anger on the part of a student (for example, we think that he has thrown an object or done harm with gestures or words to a partner). The teacher who leaves his/her mark, as we said before, does much more than bring calm between the desks and then resume the lesson. Of course, bringing back the peace and making sure that there are no consequences for anyone (safety first) is a fundamental first step (at which sometimes we stop for lack of energy or time, and it’s fine). If, however, you want to be more refined, you can live this episode seemingly
negative as an opportunity. To see in what happens an opportunity for growth, that is the possibility of reflecting together, of learning new strategies and useful knowledge about oneself and others, is to be a coach. Gottman (1997) defines it (speaking of parents, but the underlying principle can be extended to teachers) as using «emotional moments as opportunities».
Let’s think about the conflict, a situation that abounds in the classes, and how a look of this type is nothing more than the possibility (after verifying that the situation has returned to calm and everyone is fine) to get into circle time and talk together. To train (here it is) the ability to agree a compromise, to negotiate, to explain. The whole having not normalized and validated the rage but, if anything, having put under examination the mode of expression of the same.
The strength of the class group
When we talk about emotional fatigue, the group also plays a robust role: it is within its dynamics that class life takes place. Investing time to strengthen the class group as a system of belonging that offers each member an environment of inclusion and welcome is clearly a protective factor for the student who presents emotional struggles. It is widely demonstrated that «receiving support, consideration and being involved by the classmates means being more active and participating in class» (Zanetti, Berrone and Renati, 2017, p. 365). As always, however, a favourable environment not only supports learning but also has this effect because it creates an emotionally positive environment. The latter has a relapse on learning, in a close two-way embrace.
Communicating with families
On the stage , sometimes dramatically other times in a much less obvious way, the emotional fatigue of the student, must also rise the family.
The task of the teacher, in concert with colleagues, is to involve parents, making them aware of what is observed in class and, therefore, also of signs of possible suffering. Opening a communication channel with families allows not only to inform, but also to collect information, share approaches and communicative ways, build alliances. All this does not find, sometimes, the availability of the interlocutor, resulting in teacher’s frustatration.
This can happen for several reasons, probably as many as the number of families with which teachers come into contact, given the subjectivity and potential uniqueness of each situation, but one of these still has to do with emotions. «Don’t cry», «Don’t get angry»; how many times we have heard it said (or maybe we have said it), without thinking about the fact that blocking and thus misunderstanding the emotional experience in children is harmful. And I am not afraid to be clear on this point. The message that can pass is that the child is wrong to feel that emotion and therefore can not trust (neither at that time nor in the future) his/her emotions and, at the same time, he/she stimulates emotional control. In fact, on the other hand we could have an adult who struggles to stand before the emotions of others (I’m not talking about the parent who would not want to see his child suffer, who would?) and tries to stop that suffering to, actually, not suffer himself/herself. It becomes, therefore, emotionally strenuous to come into contact with the suffering of the other and in our specific case of the child. Understand, therefore, that there may not be much of a connection when you contact the parent to bring him to this stage. The stage where he/she is showing an indicator, perhaps, of suffering.
Experience emotional difficulty as an opportunity
This aspect, however, is even more important for the purposes of this volume because the teacher, although not in front of a son but a student, can also experience this fatigue. The relationship that it has with its own emotions, with a possible strategy of
emotional control, with the suffering of others (and with living his own) can be an obstacle to an emotional posture functional for the good of the pupils and the class.
We mentioned this at the beginning of the introduction and now it is time to use again a term, also written a few lines above: opportunity.
Also for the teachers, to see in critical situations in class (let’s think back to the conflict between students used as an example earlier) an opportunity this time not only for the pupil, but an opportunity for themselves, to know each other better, to experiment, to ask questions, to struggle to find answers.
Being a teacher is hard work, even on an emotional level. I do not say it, that I do not do it by profession and would not allow myself to be so snobbish, but the data tell it and, above all, the teachers I meet in supervision and during training tell me.
So, here we will have in mind the emotions of the pupils, but we cannot disregard how important it is (besides cohesion between colleagues, collaboration with the family and the climate of the group-class) also the emotional well-being of the teachers, as we shall see in the Appendix.
The latter counterbalances stress, which is made up of many factors (feeling inadequate, poor working conditions, lack of control, etc.), but here we highlight more the difficulty of relationship with pupils as a particularly challenging condition (Bombardieri and Simoni, 2021).
Many authors indicate resilience as a positively contributing condition, understood as «the ability of an individual, group or community to face, prevent, overcome the negative effects of existential difficulties and emerge strengthened from negative experiences» (Grotberg, 1995).
I find it effective for the purpose of our reflection to also refer to what Bombardieri and Simoni (2021) say about it: «resilience is building good relationships, taking care of them, seeking them».
And once again the relational plan appears loud and clear which, as already mentioned, is the one on which the possibilities
of the teacher to contribute to the well-being of the pupils are found. Take care of the relationship through effective communication and an open heart. If we have followed the red thread that we are drawing, we will be clear as this is also part of the antidote to stress in the work context of the teacher. Take care of yourself so you can feel good in class and with the class, starting what Lucangeli (2019) calls «emotional contagion».
On the one hand frustration, performance anxiety, sadness, fragile self-esteem and self-efficacy, on the other hand group cohesion, quality interpersonal relationships, learning from error, stress success.
If you think about it, we can read this last sentence with the teachers in mind, but also the pupils! Emotions are part of everyone.
The book’s organization
The book you have in your hands is divided into 3 sections, each of which refers to a particular emotion: anger sadness anxiety.
For each section you will find five behaviors observable in the classroom; for each of them, we will try to focus on some hypotheses that can help us understand possible motivations behind that behavior («Why does it do this?»). I want to point out that what you will read will be one of the possible scenarios because, as you can imagine, the picture changes according to the details and therefore the same behavior enriched by other information can change the meaning. A behavior is not only related to an emotion, for example. In short, it can be more complex than that. The scenario was chosen, however, based on clinical experience and scientific studies.
The suggestions you will find in this volume also try to cover the whole of primary school, but let us not forget the need to take
into account also the differences in the development trajectory of the various ages (between 6 and 10 years passes a nice slice of growth!).
We will then follow one of the possible leads and you will be led to suggestions on «what to do» and «what not to do» with pupil and class group.
In the «What to keep in mind?» part we will try to understand what the rationale behind it may be, and therefore refers mainly to theoretical constructs.
The practical part will be implemented again in the final part of each chapter either with «Some ideas on how to intervene», or with «Expert advice».
In these pages you will find theoretical concepts, operational indications, practical strategies, ideas, points of reflection and advice that will accompany you to face moments in class that require a good dose of mind and heart.
Enjoy reading and good work!
INTERRUPTING the lesson
WHY DOES HE/SHE DO THAT?
Because it is difficult to bear the limit to respect and the frustration that would result.
Because he needs to be the center of attention compared to the rest of the group.
Because he tries to avoid the activity by sabotaging it.
Identify a possible common element in the various occasions on which he has had this behaviour
Welcome calmly and bring everyone’s attention to the main topic
If the content is relevant, reinforce it by indicating the opportunity of a different timing
Assign an alternative task, waiting for the right time to say/do that thing
WHAT TO DO WHAT NOT TO DO
DO NOT react in an authoritarian way; this would discourage any positive intentions
DO NOT belabor yourself with reproaches that would delay the resumption of activity
DO NOT devalue the content, if appropriate, but suggest more appropriate ways and times
DO NOT underestimate your verbal communication (interrupting the pupils?) and non-verbal (for example, the look)
What to keep in mind
The student who interrupts the lesson can use this mode to convey content appropriate to the activity that is taking place or try to deviate, in a dysfunctional way, the trajectory of the lesson. In the first case, it could be an expression of competence but still of difficulties in self-regulation, especially in the management of waiting times. Not only impulsiveness, but also the disruptive emotion of wanting to say something can make self-control difficult. In the same way, this fatigue can also characterize the student who, on the contrary, fails to retain an action or a dissonant statement with respect to the activity and which, therefore, interrupts by changing topic and talking about something else.
In any case, the effort to regulate verbal actions or behavior inappropriate for the context in which you are (therefore not online by content or timing) can indicate a real difficulty to the inhibition capacity. The latter, also linked to emotional aspects (such as frustration and anger), is part of the executive functions, understood as: «the skills necessary for planning to successfully implement and carry out a purpose-driven behaviour» (Benso, 2010).
Another aspect to consider is what this interruption can bring with it on an emotional level: being in the center of attention can respond to a need. And this need can belong to those who want to stand out for bravura and stand out from others, or to those who do not consider themselves capable on the school front and find in the disturbing action, in a rabid key, an instrument within their reach.
In this case, we may not have a student who struggles to inhibit inappropriate verbal behavior or action, but one who has the concrete willingness to interrupt for consideration from the teacher or class group. The goal may be noble and also concern the need for belonging and acceptance, but the means by which the child tries to reach it are inadequate.
In doing so, the student may have gained attention to himself, but the mode of reaction of others (for example, reproaching by the teacher and rejection and denigration by the classmates) may not have a beneficial impact on the already fragile interpersonal self-esteem and perhaps increase even more the underlying anger, triggering a vicious circle.
We must not forget that interrupting the activity, in this case without the will to make a positive contribution to what is being done in class, could have the function of avoiding precisely the activity in question. It could be the primary purpose or even a secondary consequence, therefore a welcome (for the student) side effect. This should open up the possibility of asking whether these activities may be too difficult and if the student is not doing everything to avoid them, even at the cost of being reprimanded.
How to intervene
It is therefore important to also consider the learning area and understand whether the interruption of the student may be due to fatigue (interrupting means delaying or avoiding the difficult task for him) or, on the contrary, high competence. If the interruption is contributory, it could indicate interest in the subject and high functioning compared to learning, despite the effort of choosing an appropriate timing and managing the frustration of not being able to intervene at that time. It will be important, therefore, to involve the student, rewarding these aspects, but at the same time, it will be necessary to channel them, of course, into a more regulatory mode that helps him to manage also anger and frustration in other intervention moments. Indeed, even a possible high level of competition in the group and the need to stand out from each other require attention: if present, small group activities of a cooperative type can be included in class.
An example can also be the token economy, which, if structured with group contingencies interdependent, instead of individual and competitive, can increase the level of cooperation within the group.
The expert’s advice
When the central element is the effort to self-regulate the emotional state followed by a lower ability to inhibit behavior (verbal or not) which then interrupts the lesson, it is possible to introduce elements that, on the contrary, promote a more robust hold. For example, it may be effective to choose limited, shorter working hours in the classroom, alternating with (more or less structured) breaks; times which, therefore, allow the child’s effort to be concentrated into small blocks. Similarly, if the interruption comes anyway, a response can be structured that has as objective to train the expectation and, therefore, provide the student with an alternative task while waiting for his intervention to be considered. This is more functional if the contribution of the student, although disruptive, uncontrolled and inadequate in its timing, turns out to be in line with the contents: Excellent intervention, but wait until the sentence ends, so then you repeat it and we talk about it together. In the meantime, write the keyword/color that little design on the page/etc.».
HE/SHE THINKS he/she
is worthless
WHY DOES HE/SHE DO THAT?
Because he/she has experienced several failures in one or more areas of his/her life and is convinced that it can only be so.
Because he/she fails to give the right attention to the occasions where he/she succeeds positively.
Because it was told to him/her by someone important and does not doubt its veracity.
WHAT TO DO
Be careful that the value attribution methods you use are on the action, not on the person
It also enhances small successes
Involve colleagues and family so they have a firming look at the child’s qualities
Share with him, the class, colleagues and families a narrative that sees error as an aspect unrelated to the value of the person
WHAT NOT TO DO
DO NOT avoid criticizing the student, but exploit them to give them a new meaning
DO NOT use adjectives for the pupil as a person, but stick to concrete behaviour
DO NOT minimize the idea that the student has of not being worth anything, but question it with facts
Do not use slogans or motivational phrases
What to keep in mind
A child can communicate his or her perception of impairment by talking about himself as «incapable» or using similar terms. Observing how often this happens, in relation to what and also to which tone of the mood it accompanies is important to understand its significance.
Inevitably, our thoughts run to self-confidence, always in progress and construction, which we could imagine, in this case, as fragile. This idea of self can come from words or attitudes addressed to him by others, so it is important to make the child feel that he is well thought out. Convey with words and looks the fact that the adult attaches value to it. Repeated failure experience may also contribute to the construction of a negative self-image; this can lead to the state that Seligman called «learned impotence» (1996), or to the point where failure is thought to be inevitable. Here the link with self-esteem and the attribution of value (in a negative sense) on oneself is evident.
Keep in mind also a secondary aspect (in terms of time, but certainly not important): besides the sadness to think so (and to know or believe so thought by significant people of their own life, even wrongly of course) Guilt may arise. We imagine to believe ourselves incapable and of little value, perhaps even reinforced by the fact that we imagine that this idea of us is also in the minds of others; su-
rely we will be sad (remember that sadness comes to us even when we think we lack).
But what could further pierce us is to feel guilty because with our behavior (for example, with our school grades) we do not make people who are important to us happy.
Now, imagine all this in the mind and heart of a child and we will understand the suffering.
How to intervene
The thoughts that the pupil makes about himself could be characterized by an idea of himself as blameless, fallible and moreover without too much possibility of escape from this destiny. He may have in mind how the error can be probable, inevitable and unequivocal sign of being wrong as a person, in all its entirety. The icing on the cake? That is worth so little will not make it pleasant, appreciable in the eyes of others but, indeed, different, inferior, excluded.
The teacher may just keep his ears open. And if during an activity he intercepts a sentence that exudes such a ne gative vision, he can suggest different words, as an adult who is listening and simply provides a different pair of glasses to look with. Propose, for example, in stead of «I will never make it» a much more encoura ging «maybe you have not succeeded so far, but next time who knows!».
We therefore focus on a communication made of words that draw a better reality and that are reinforcing.
The expert’s advice
Highlighting, and within an effective and convincing narrative framework, the successes even small that the student gets is definitely a winning move. We are talking, then, to make a massive use, albeit reasoned, of reinforcement.
Social reinforcement, both verbal and non-verbal, is a real passe-partout, but it becomes even more demanding if we make it accompanied by another element. That is, if, after gratification, we specify what this success is made of, what ingredients it is composed of, we help the student not to identify himself with that result, but to link it to actions (e.g. «Well, you have written a good essay! And this is because you were attentive to spelling, you wrote in an orderly way...»). This reading will help him especially in the face of failure (leading him to think «it is the wrong action, not me»).
There will obviously be room for a constructive criticism that goes to suggest what to improve raising the bar in view of the future, but without the previous ingredients the shot does not hit. It does not break through emotional toils, does not allow a window to illuminate the change.
HE/SHE HAS DIFFICULTY in getting into the classroom
Because you want to avoid situations that evaluate your performance, such as audits or queries.
Because he tries to avoid social situations in which he would feel negatively judged, especially by the peer group.
Because it tries to have the attention of adults or secondary benefits (e.g. free time).
WHY DOES HE/SHE DO THAT? WHAT TO DO
Consider the hypothesis that the difficulty in entering the classroom may be a sign of discomfort
Talk to him and ask how he feels and what worries him
He accepts that he doesn’t tell much about his toil
Have patience and reward each small and slow improvement
WHAT NOT TO DO
DO NOT assume that there is a lack of motivation to study
DO NOT make general judgements about the pupil («he is lazy, he doesn’t care about the school»)
DO NOT speak in his absence in front of the companions, especially in a critical and derogatory way
NOT to focus on teaching, but rather on the wellbeing of the student
What to keep in mind
The difficulty of entering, and even then staying, in class (or even at school) can lead us to think of a form of avoidance that, in fact, can tell us about a strong concern.
When the student (just as we all do) identifies a situation as threatening for himself, he begins to enter an anxious state. Anxiety at a low level of intensity can have beneficial effects on performance (imagine that little bit of physiological activation before a sporting challenge). Instead, if called in question by catastrophic thoughts («I will not be able to do well the verification», «I will not know how to answer questions», «they will make fun of me», etc.), increases intensity and risks to send the subject in black out until he carries it, to protect himself from danger, to avoid what at that point stopped being a challenge, but became a threat.
This can happen on several levels, both the performance level (hence the fear of being checked, questioned or asked and made mistakes) and the social level (and sometimes a mix of the two).
Even if concern for others’ judgment (on one’s school performance or self-image) can be the ground for this fatigue, we must keep in mind what might be observable as a consequence on the behavioral level. It is more likely that an action will be repeated if the action itself results in a positive reinforcement: so, to avoid going to school at that point (net of an original effort, or better
said, primary), may have secondary benefits that contribute to the maintenance of behavior. For example, such a situation may prompt an attitude of greater attention and care on the part of reference adults, reinforcing the maintenance of behaviour. The fact that the pupil, who eventually does not enter the classroom, can spend the morning hours instead of at school, at home engaged in free and enjoyable activities can also maintain the avoidance. We do not deal with them here, but we also take into account that in some situations those which have now been described as secondary benefits can act as primary triggers (not relying, therefore, on emotional fatigue). It is equally important to take into account the fact that this type of difficulty can be detected at its beginning, starting immediately with a reflection together with the family, can positively interfere with the risk that you run in the most robust cases that may hesitate in a real scholar refusal.
How to intervene
On an educational plan it is good to think of any type of measure that can allow the student not to be behind the contents lost in case of absence on the days when he has more difficulty entering. Otherwise this (especially if there is the fear of judgment by the compa nions) could increase fatigue, making the student feel more vulnerable (in other words, I feel less competent and my anxiety may be greater). It is also important to understand if there are any school difficul-
ties that could make a negative contribution, increasing the concern related to being in class.
On the social level, it is important to use cooperative learning strategies, perhaps anticipated by tutoring activities or in small groups. Everything will have to be thought and reasoned by the teachers so that an inclusive and fertile situation is created for the creation of functional social opportunities for the student (which then go with the facts to falsify any negative thoughts).
The expert’s advice
If, as a result of the difficulty in entering the classroom, they begin to increase the days of absence, it will be essential to achieve as a first goal an increasing physical presence in the class of the student, even gradually. The exposure to what worries him most can always be gradual: this means structuring a mode and a timing linked to verifications and queries that put him at first comfortable then raise the bar. It is important, therefore, the early and constant contact with the family and collaboration with possible professional figures that, in the most critical cases, will have been involved by the family.
It is also useful to recommend a morning routine, on the days of greater fatigue and therefore absence from class, which nevertheless includes school activities to be carried out at home, so as to minimise the risk of secondary benefit and allow the learner not to lose too much ground on content.
