When to Make a Referral

WARNING SIGNS

If you notice ongoing symptoms or behaviors that impact the student’s functioning at school, with peers, with authority, and/or at home, please make a referral. Symptoms may include (but not limited to):

  • Ongoing behavior problems at daycare, school, home or in the community

  • Hyperactivity or constant movement beyond regular playing

  • Frequent, unexplainable temper tantrums

  • Unusual fears or worries

  • Difficulty taking part in activities that are normal for your child’s age

  • Difficulties with concentration, attention, or organization

  • Withdrawal from friends or activities they used to enjoy

  • Ongoing lack of energy even when rested

  • Difficulty in going to sleep, staying asleep, or waking up

  • Sudden outbursts or explosive emotional reactions

  • Prolonged negative mood and attitude

  • Frequent physical complaints with no apparent cause

  • Inability to cope with problems

  • Inappropriate or unusual reactions to others

  • Sad and hopeless feelings without good reason, that don’t go away

  • Avoiding friends or family and wanting to be alone all of the time

  • Persistent nightmares

  • Seeing or hearing things that are not real

  • Significant changes in behavior over a short period of time

  • Violence towards oneself, others, animals or property

  • Refusal to go to school on a regular basis

  • Ongoing decline in school performance

  • Deliberate disobedience or aggression

  • Inability to complete tasks on an ongoing basis

  • Opposition to authority figures and little or no remorse for breaking rules

  • Extreme perfectionism

  • Inability to make decisions

  • Extreme mood swings with no apparent cause

  • Unable to get along with others in most situations

  • Worries about everything, even minor things on an ongoing basis

  • Becomes easily bored or angered

  • Isolation, loneliness, and a lack of friends

  • Risky or dangerous behavior including: recklessness, running away, setting fires

  • Feeling hopeless or worthless

  • Frequent outbursts of anger or inability to cope with problems

  • Self-injury, talk of suicide or actual violence