We've all had a student like this come in for help one time or another. Here are some suggestions for how we as tutors can grab the student's attention and get him or her interested in being at the appointment. The disengaged student often looks around the room and has no eye contact with the tutor. The unfocused student often bounces around from topic to topic. The blamer, well, he or she is just that.
Nothing is the student's fault.
He or she never does anything wrong. It was not my fault that you were not in your office when I called at the last minute. Some students may appear to have the worst attitude when in fact they could have a learning disability. We should never criticize until we know the facts. Give a lot of positive feedback -No one likes criticism.