Preparing your special-needs child for school

DR RADICA MAHASE

In about six weeks, schools will reopen in TT. Starting a new school, or returning to school after some time can lead to anxiety for many children. For some children on the autism spectrum, as well as children with other special educational needs or disabilities, the whole idea can be a very intimidating one.

Many may find change very confusing, others might suffer anxiety because of a new routine and many are faced with sensory challenges. With this in mind, it is important to prepare children in advance, to help them to deal with the school environment and the changes that might come with going out to school. Author Kate Barrington noted that, “If you have a child with autism, you may need to start preparing him early – before he even sets foot in the classroom.”

Many children on the autism spectrum need to be introduced to new routines slowly. Thus, it might help to start adjusting sleeping hours and eating habits from now, rather than in September when they begin attending school. In this way, they will adjust to waking up and going to sleep at a specific time and accustomed to the idea of a new schedule. Doing so will allow your child to get comfortable with the new changes prior to the start of school.

If your child has difficulties adjusting to new routines, consider using visual aids such as animated videos. Having a calendar with important days marked quite clearly, and also social stories can help your child to understand the entire process and what is expected of him/her. Keeping a scrapbook or photo collection might also help to create a sense of familiarity – photos of every and anything associated with this "new life" – uniform, books, the school, classrooms, the teachers, etc, can help a child to adjust to school with less anxiety.

In cases where the child is attending school for the first time, or is now coming back out to physical school since pre-covid times, it might help to do some "test runs" – that is drive the route to the school, let the child see the school that s/he will be attending. It might also help if the child is allowed to tour the school area, see the classroom, shown how to get to the bathroom area and so on. This will give a sense of familiarity and will help the child to settle in.

Feel free to introduce your child to teachers, staff and aides before school opens in September. For children on the autism spectrum, they will have some time to understand that they will be going into a new environment, with new people so that the while process is not too traumatic for them. It will give the teachers, staff and aides an opportunity to meet and interact with your child before formal classes begin. Also make sure that they are aware of special requirements for your child, so that everyone is on the same page.

Prepare all material before, and let your child get accustomed to these. Involve your child in the entire process – maybe let him/her choose things like book bag and lunch kit and other supplies the school may require. If your child is sensitive to clothes, you might have to make an extra effort to ensure that school uniform is comfortable (remove tags, etc). Also consider letting your child wear his/her uniform to get accustomed to it before the start of school. The idea is to make them feel as comfortable as possible before they go out to school, so that they won’t feel too overwhelmed and anxious.

Help your child to get used to the idea of going to a school and interacting with other children by organising play dates or just taking them out in public spaces such as malls and parks. Many children on the spectrum have difficulties coping in social situations, and while you do not want to force your child to socialise, you want to create opportunities whereby he or she can interact with others or just get accustomed to the idea of having other children around.

Make sure that you are prepared to take your child out to school. Many children on the autism spectrum get agitated when their parents /caregivers are anxious and stressed. They pick up on negative emotions and feelings and this can trigger their anxiety. Thus, no matter how worried or anxious parents are, they might need to mask these in front of their child. Thus, as parents/caregivers, turn to your support system to help you deal with your personal anxiety, so that your child feels less anxious by the idea of going to school.

According to Maureen Bennie of the Autism Awareness Centre, “Starting a new school is stressful for anyone, but careful preparation is the key to success. Creating predictability about the school day will lessen anxiety and fear. There will be new challenges to face in a different school, but a solid support system and coping strategies will make the transition to a new school an easier one.”

Radica Mahase is the founder/director of Support Autism T&T