School is Starting!
- Behavior Advocacy Admin
- Aug 9, 2023
- 4 min read
What you can do to help prepare your child AND yourself for the upcoming school year.
It's that time of the year, again! How did summer fly by so fast? Some schools have already started, others will be starting next week, and others by the end of the month. Whether you are preparing for Elementary School, Middle School, or Highschool (or its your child's FIRST year going to school full time); we will review Tips and Strategies to help ease this Routine Transition.
A Change in Routine
Summer is over, and school will be starting next week! But, my child isn't waking up until 8am! The school said I need to get my child on campus by 7:05am. I've tried to have them go to bed earlier but my child is saying "I'm not tired". It feels like I will be going from 0 to 100. How do I deal with this?
Changes in routine happen for all of us; many times throughout the year. Most commonly, we can think about "Weekends"; once we get to Friday we feel the reinforcement (RX) -- "the weekend is almost here". Then when Monday comes, "Oh man, I wish my weekend was longer"--we lost the reinforcement and now it seems like the next opportunity to get that RX is so far away. We can also think of Holidays, a 4 day weekend or 1 week off for spring break, it's always difficult to get back into a routine after we had a break. The longer the break, the more difficult it is to re-establish our routine.
The effect that is valuable here is....how much reinforcement do I need to RE-START my routine on my own? Is school motivating to your child (both socially and academically)? This question will help to gauge how much practice and intervention is needed to prepare for transition. The lesser the motivation, the more time, planning, and intervention may be needed to support the transition.
Heading #1: Planning Strategies
When their is less motivation, more planning and practice is needed to assist the transition. Planning to make small adjustments to your child's daily routine should start 1-2 weeks before the upcoming transition.
Priming: Priming is such a fancy word for: letting someone know of upcoming changes or expectations. --- "Well, I've been telling them school is starting soon". Priming, usually needs to happen more frequently if their is less motivation for the transition. Priming can be done using a visual schedule (see below). Priming can also be used with REINFORCEMENT! --"Let's count down the days by putting a sticker on each day that has passed".
Visual Schedule: For some kids, calendars and schedules really help! It gives them a concrete format to see the time it will take to go through this transition. It also allows interaction with each day that passes until the "OFFICAIL" schedule change.
Visual Schedule's can take many formats: magnetic, written, pictures, a grid. Experiment and collaborate with your child to find the best format.
Click Here for example Visual Schedules
Shaping: Let's get their slowly. We never want to rush and we want to make sure we are reinforcing are child's attempts to change their routine with our help. Each time they make a bigger attempt, REINFORCE. Maybe the first 2 days, our goal is to go to sleep 15 minutes earlier than the night before. Maybe our goal is to get out of bed by 7:30am instead of 7:45am. Setting achievable short term goals can ultimately help with achieving the bigger, long term goal.
Supplementing Activities: One big concern, is thinking about your child going from a relaxed, care free, flexible daily schedule---to ---sitting in a chair at a desk for 5 or more hours! How will they do that!?
Start filling up your days, plan for extracurricular activities for your child at scheduled times while also finding and presenting "Mentally Challenging" activities. Start a project, create daily challenges (e.g. "Can you solve 5 problems today"), play games, play strategy games, watch popular game shows together, start a puzzle.
For more suggestions, contact Behavior Advocacy
Heading #2: Supporting Providers
Who will be there to help me get through the first week?
If you think you are going to do this alone..... you don't have to. Behavior Advocacy LLC specializes in providing support and connecting parents to local resources that can be supportive with the transition to a new school year.
IEP: Does your child have an IEP? If so, contacting your IEP team the week prior to school starting can help to establish communication and supports systems. Review the IEP, and ensure that the school team is able to continue fulfilling the supports outlined within the IEP.
RCOC: Regional Center of Orange County: Is your child registered with the Regional Center of Orange County? If your child is over the age of 3, under the "Lanterman Act", there are several different services other than Early intervention, which members may
Behavioral Health Providers: Lastly, if you are receiving ABA Therapy, contact your supervising BCBA to help implement interventions to prepare you and your child for the next school year.
Comments