An Approach for School Counselors: Behavioral Consultation with Parents of Youth with School Attendance Problems

The current study investigates and discusses the effectiveness of behavioral consultations that school counselors can apply to students with school attendance problems (SAPs). A school counselor adopted the rapid school return approach in a school-based behavioral consultation with parents of a 13-year-old Japanese male student who refused to attend school. After the parents implemented the approach, the student resumed his regular school attendance, which continued until the end of junior high school. The A–B design in a single case study was employed as the research design. Throughout the implementation of the approach, the findings indicated that- (a) school counselors should conduct behavioral consultation sessions with parents periodically; (b) school counselors and parents should discuss who is responsible for the escorting process; (c) school staff and school counselors should collect accurate attendance data of students with SAPs daily until the end of the academic year; and (d) school counselors should view SAPs as a persistent problem for students, which can relapse at certain points during compulsory school. This current case study suggests that behavioral consultation with parents of youth with SAPs can be effective in dealing with students who refuse to attend school and are unwilling to seek specialists’ help.