Help Set Your Child Up For A Successful School Year
For most kids, each new school year means getting to know a new teacher and getting used to different social dynamics within the classroom. This may not cause issues for outgoing and flexible kids, but it can make for a difficult start to the new school year for children who struggle developmentally, socially, and academically.
One way to help your kids have a successful start to the year is to prepare a quick and helpful Get to Know My Child guide for their teacher.
Knowing that teachers are very busy at the beginning of the year, I recommend sharing information about your child to help the teacher quickly get up to speed on your child because first impressions are everything. If your child doesn’t connect with their teacher right away or they have a negative experience at the beginning of the school year, it can be hard for them to recover and can affect them for weeks, months, or the entire school year.
As the parent of a child with ADHD who communicated with my child’s teachers almost every day through fourth grade, I can share that helping the teacher to understand your child and sharing information on what strategies worked the prior year at the very beginning of the year is helpful to the teacher and can help to set your child up for a successful school year.
I highly recommend keeping the guide under one page so it’s easily digestible and helpful. Here are some suggestions on what to add to the guide that you want the teacher to know about your child:
Your child’s interests
Does your child love dinosaurs, trains, or butterflies?
Does your child love drawing, singing, gymnastics, karate, or playing hockey?
Is your child obsessed with the Bruins, Red Sox, Taylor Swift, Star Wars, or Moana?
Tell your child’s teachers about their favorite sports, heroes, activities, talents, movies, books, or characters they love. This gives the teacher an opportunity to connect with your child on something that your child cares about. Connecting to a teacher can help relieve a child’s anxiety, and connection is more likely to positively affect behavior than anything else.
Your child’s strengths
This section is especially important if you have a child who struggles in school developmentally, socially, or academically because you don’t want your child to be labeled by his or her diagnosis so that it becomes your child’s identity. Instead, you want to help prepare the teacher to be able to see and capitalize on your child's strengths.
Here are some examples:
Joey is bright and a quick learner. He grasps new concepts quickly and easily.
Annie is very social. She makes friends easily and is a born leader.
Noah is really curious and likes to ask lots of questions.
Your child’s struggles and what has helped in the past
This is where you share what your child struggles with, specific things you do at home, and strategies other teachers have used that have been successful. Keep this section to three or four comments so your reference guide is just one page.
Here are some examples:
Maria struggles with anxiety, but when she is asked to help with a job, it helps her focus and calms her. Maria loves to help, so it often helps her feel better.
Joey is an active little guy who has trouble sitting still for periods of time. Last year, his teacher would allow him to get up and go to the back of the room where there was a podium. He was better able to concentrate and complete his assignments when he worked standing up.
Any outside support your child is receiving
This is where you can inform your child’s teacher about any outside tutoring, occupational therapy, or other outside support your child receives.
The guide lets your child’s teacher know you’re engaged and want to help. It also equips them with practical and constructive ways to connect with your child and create successes up front!
Do you want more support to help your child have a great year? This month in the Confident Parenting Club, I’m sharing strategies for getting your kids to talk to you about their day at school, supporting kids through friendship challenges, handling homework headaches, and making homework easier. Join the club to get your most pressing parenting questions answered and support to help your child have a successful year. Click here to check out the Club, and use coupon code SCHOOL to get 25% off when you join.
