Welcome to this week’s Try This Tuesday. For details on how to participate, please check out the welcome post.
I know it’s almost summer, but if you’re in the middle of preparing an IEP like I am, you are already thinking about back to school time and how your child will adjust to a new grade, new teachers, new classmates, new routines, etc.
Amazing Grace from Moms of Special Needs Children is here today to share a way to make sure your child’s entire team is ready to support your child the first day of school.
STUDENT ORIENTATION
by Amazing Grace
As soon as possible, and BEFORE school starts, the following needs to be done so your child can transition to the new school year smoothly and without any problems. I do this EVERY year with my son and it really helps him adjust to the school surroundings, personnel, and new class schedule.
I add this list to my son’s IEP each year so the IEP Team knows what I will be doing with my son and what they must do.*
1. Provide daily visual/written class schedule(s) for Student.
2. Provide a walk-through of the Student’s daily schedule. In schools where the schedule changes from day to day, the student should have the opportunity to practice all possible schedules several times.
3. Practice route(s) from various classes to the bathroom, counselor’s office, home base, locker, etc.
4. Meet all teachers and relevant personnel.
5. Obtain books for home use.
6. Place to store books in classroom.
7. Provide Student with names of all teachers and relevant personnel in binder (you can take pictures and post them in the binder).
8. Show Student where his assigned seat in each classroom will be.
9. Obtain agenda book to put in Student’s binder.
10. Obtain school rules and explain to Student.
11. Obtain school supplies list.
12. Obtain locker by home base and put dial barrel type lock on it. Practice with lock.
13. Bus procedures written up and explained to Student.
14. Cafeteria procedures written up and explained to Student.
15. Student will meet school personnel whom he can approach during the lunch period when encountering problems.
16. Show Student where he will sit in the lunchroom.
17. Practice routines such as finding homeroom from the bus stop, opening locker, going through the cafeteria line, etc.
18. Procedure for leaving class and going to the bathroom written up and explained to Student.
19. Obtain gym locker near adult supervision and put dial barrel type lock on it. Practice with lock.
20. Practice dressing out for P.E. (obtain gym clothes).
21. Student will meet safe person and visit home base.
22. The procedure for seeking out the safe person and home base written up and explained to Student.
23. The Travel Pass and the procedure of its use explained, written up, and given to Student before school starts. (Have time limit on use).
24. Obtain bus driver’s name, bus number, where bus stop is, and what time pick up and drop off is. Be sure bus driver knows that student is to sit directly behind him. Provide the bus driver information on the specific behavioral and emotional concerns of Student.
25. Show Student where he will eat lunch that is in a quiet place away from the lunch room (if Student eats at an alternative place).
*If the IEP team says you cannot add this document to the IEP, they are not correct. IDEA considers the parent input to the meeting as important. Therefore you can request that the Parent Attachment (what is below) be included as part of your official input to the official IEP document.
Image courtesy of Clipart For Free
Amazing Grace says, “I am just a mom who has a son diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome. Here is some info I would like to share with others about special needs children. Sharing information is the key to finding answers.” You can visit her at Moms of Special Needs Children.
On that note, please join in and share the creative solutions YOU have found to your own challenges, or feel free to post your own challenge for input from others.
As the host of Try This Tuesday, Trish shares some of the solutions she has found to make life easier and invites you to do the same. You can also find her blogging at Another Piece of the Puzzle and Autism Interrupted.
My you have done your homework. There are so many things there for only children that I haven’t even considered yet as we’re in Elementary school right now. All that gym stuff! Eeek.
For little children I think the names of the teachers and their photographs might be useful as mine never remember names. They’re usually available for the school website which is handy to print out. [as much as for me as for them!]
I also arranged for a visit during the holidays so I could photo different rooms and the route so they could take along a little booklet a bit like a map to help them navigate through. The link between seeing the place and the visual reminder helped a lot.
Cheers
Thanks for this! I am printing this out so that I can adapt it to suit our needs.
[...] If you, like me, are already thinking ahead to back to school time and making the transition as smooth as possible, take a look at today’s Try This Tuesday. [...]
Excellent list. For children with mobility issues – nos. 2 and 3 could be exploded into whole new lists.
I arranged and attended my patient’s pre-visit to high school in his power mobility with the counselor and parent. They had no idea how much consideration had to be given to his different mobility. His schedule was changed to accommodate his needs prior to school starting.
Wow a great article. We are about finished with school but I sure wish I had read this list years ago instead of learning the hard way! The PE lock thing was a major issue. We had wonderful staff in middle school and high school that helped, but the combination lock that had to be EXACT was impossible for my sons with their fine motor skills let alone remembering the combination. We obtained permission to go with a key lock and I safety pinned the key inside the shorts pocket and they kept the shorts in their back packs when not in PE so the key was always available. Just worked for us.
I’m gonna ping this, because I have a few things I’d like to suggest/clarify that I do for my ASD son. One of which is the schoolbooks thing; most counties/commonwealths will allow an child with an active IEP to take a set of schoolbooks home (parent usually signs them out) to use for homework. It cuts down on the amount of items the child is responsible for and has to carry throughout the day.
As far as PE, most schools will allow children with an IEP to waiver out of Physical Education in the higher grade levels (Middle & High School). However, if you are heck bent on getting a Regular/General Diploma (which we are), you can find out of your county/commonwealth/state has an Online Virtual School. If so, then your child can sign up for, and take classes through that school while simultaneously attending regular classes. We have done Personal Fitness and Life Management classes during the past summers (while in Middle School) and they have counted toward his High School credit. I’m sure I’m not in the minority, but I want my ASD child nowhere near a locker room if I can avoid it. This is one way to do that.
Hope this helps! My post is forthcoming too, I guess we all have been to IEP meetings recently!
This is good stuff Trish and I will surely refer to your list as Little Miss gets older. Middle School is just around the corner!
This is very helpful. We have an IEP meeting this Thursday. My little guy is in a special ed. class for autism. It seems like total chaos, but I think I can use some of the things on the list. IEPs can be intimidating. Thank you for the education. This is so important.
Wow, thanks to everyone for their additional ideas, and a special thanks to Amazing Grace for sharing her wealth of knowledge with us here!!