Arlo went back to school in December 2024 and now attends for three hours a day with educational support in place for him, but he is struggling to sleep. He’s often so anxious the night before school that he’s awake until 2 or 3am.<\/p>\n
Arlo\u2019s problems first began when he started nursery at the age of three. He was born in June 2019, nine months before the UK went into lockdown, so he wasn\u2019t used to socialising.<\/p>\n
“He was so anxious on the way there,” says Lisa. “He\u2019d ask, ‘When am I coming home?’ ‘How long am I going to be there?'” She only managed to get him to attend around 30% of the time.<\/p>\n
At first, Lisa thought Arlo\u2019s issues were down to separation anxiety<\/a> and were something he\u2019d grow out of, but when he started school it became clear this was far more serious.<\/p>\n “Arlo went to school for a month and a half to two months at most,” she recalls. “He stopped eating proper meals, only wanting to eat strawberries. He was making himself ill. It was really sad to need to reassure a young child so much. It was a lot of hard work and heartbreak as well.<\/p>\n “I thought there is something wrong here,” Lisa adds. “None of my other children have done this.”<\/p>\n Lisa with her son Arlo, who gets so anxious about school he often can’t sleep until 2am or 3am the night before. (Tom Wren\/SWNS)<\/p>\n As Arlo didn’t turn five until the June of his first school year, legally he wasn’t required to be in school until he started year one in September 2024. “I told the school that I didn’t want to put Arlo back in school and let him deal with the stress of being there and wouldn’t send him back until there was something in place to support him,” she says.<\/p>\n Lisa, a stay-at-home mum to five children, is one of thousands of parents struggling to find the right help for a child with severe anxiety issues.<\/p>\n![\"Lisa](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/25a762e0-1610-11f0-bff5-2269e0fb563c.jpeg\"\/)
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