It is the start of another year, and this often means lots of change and new experiences for children, whether they are entering a new year at their existing school, starting a new Day-Care or Preschool, or having their very first year at school although this is a very exciting time it can also come with some big feelings.
Hopefully there are some helpful tips below that can ensure you can navigate this new chapter of your child’s life with success and positivity!
Pre-Transition
It is very important that if you know that your child might experience some challenges and feelings of worry or anxiousness it is vital to try and give some gradual exposure before they have their very first full day. A lot of the work, and setting a child up for success happens before the child starts their new school, preschool or day-care. We have found the following can help:
• Visiting the new day-care/preschool or school to just walk around/explore the environment, see the room that they might be in, playgrounds etc.
• Meeting the new teachers and educators – getting to know them and be comfortable around them
• If possible taking pictures of the environment and staff/educators that your child will be working with – creating a social story with your therapist once you have these pictures could be a great idea too that you can then read with them to get them prepared and ready to go!
• Communication between the new educators, parents and therapists to pass on any useful strategies and recommendations when working with the child
• Creating an ‘About Me’ information sheet for your child with their likes, dislikes, what might help them, triggers, and any other useful information that could be easily accessed and read by anyone working with them – your therapist can also help you make one of these!
• Helping your child practice and ensure they are confident with some of the skills that they will need to be independent in, or not require too much assistance with depending on their age, such as:
- Being able to dress/undress for toileting, or changing uniforms during the day
- Opening containers and packets of food that are in their lunchbox
- Being able to navigate locks on toilet doors
- Manipulating zips on their bags and pencil cases
- Being comfortable and willing to help pack away, manage their own belongings and transition between a variety of activities/lunch/recess breaks throughout the day.
First Days
Although it might be tricky, as educators and teachers are very busy people, especially if it is around the first few days of a new school year it is so important to try and have some open communication and the opportunity to get some feedback to how your child is settling in.
How your child feels in the first few weeks is vital, and fostering a positive experience is the key to ongoing success when starting at a new place. The below ideas could be great to try and do to ensure this can happen:
• Pre-plan a meeting within the first 2 weeks of your child starting the new school, preschool or day-care – even if you think it might be a really quick and there might be not too much to chat through it is great to have this just in case
• Have a solid drop off/transition into the new environment
• Although it might be challenging try not to hang around too much when dropping your child off!
• They might not share and say much, but pay close attention to your child’s general affect and emotions – sure they will be a bit tired and some meltdowns at the end of the day for the first few weeks are normal, but be sure to look out for any real out of character behaviours that could be a sign something is not quite right
• On the other hand if your child is older encourage conversations with them on how their day was – try and ask more specific questions, so instead of ‘How was your day?’ instead try questions like ‘What did you play at lunch?’, ‘Who did you sit next to?’, ‘ What book did you read in English?’ etc.
• See if your therapist can go into the new environment to have an observation or session with them to see how they are settling in, and they may also be able to chat to the educators and teachers
• Setting up a visual schedule so your child knows what will be happening during the day, and then when it will be home time/who will be coming to collect them.
Ongoing
As your child becomes more comfortable, and really settles in to their new environment it is always important to keep the communication going, here are a few 8ps and things to keep doing to ensure your child not only starts on a positive, but this momentum continues:
• Booking in a team meeting once a term/every 10-12 weeks if needed to give the opportunity for open discussion on what is going well, and maybe any areas that might require some more support to be pro-active
• Implementing a communication book that will help you know how their day was, but parents can also write if they have not had a good sleep/tricky morning etc. which is always good for staff to know for the day ahead
• If possible and appropriate for your therapist to visit a few times every now and again, if there are not regular sessions at school/preschool/day-care to check in with educators and ensure any strategies can be implemented
• Ensuring that all involved in the child’s care have each others details such as email addresses for ease of communication
• If big feelings and meltdowns after the first month continue definitely look at seeking some extra support or investigation, as although this can be common it could definitely be a sign of challenges and your child struggling to cope with aspects of the day
• Getting your child involved in their day at school/preschool/day-care, for example getting them to help decide and pack their lunchbox, plan the after school routine with them and things they might like to do when they get home etc.
• Be sure not to overload your child with after school activities, especially at the start as processing a new environment and the demands of the day can be very taxing, so you want to ensure they have had time to rest and recharge before a new day!