School back to normal…but not

Over the past few months as the world has navigated the COVID-19 pandemic, we have all had to make sacrifices and learnt to adjust our ways of living and our expectations. Routines have been turned upside down and our regular schedule has been replaced with, in many cases confusion, abundant juggling and working through ours and our children’s anxiety.

Nobody likes big changes to the routine but some people need structure, rules and black and white concepts more than others. This may sound very familiar if you are the parent or carer of a child with additional needs. For this reason and many others, parents the world over (and Australia-wide) breathed a sigh of relief when governments announced that schools would return in a staggered fashion. Whilst in Australia, the exact details of the social distancing measures in place are varied and still being finalised, one thing is certain – the school children are returning to, will seem different to the one they left! For many children the first few days will be the honeymoon phase. However, as strict social distancing measures come into force, the playground an emptier place without all of their friends and their classrooms laid out differently, this may cause anxiety and further confusion! This article hopes to share some ways we can best prepare the children who need consistency the most to cope with any changes they may face. These tips are aimed to help you to navigate not only the return to school but also the inevitable changes that may still be ahead and that may occur regularly for some time to come!

SCHOOL: Every school will be following guidelines that are similar, but individual practices may differ. It is a good idea to communicate with your child’s school to understand what changes are in place. Once you know these, try to find a visual way to go through these with your child before they return to school. It is important to be very specific with the school about what your child usually needs help with and therefore what changes they will individually notice e.g. if they need assistance to tie their shoes and they come undone, can they still get help for that and how will they know to ask? You can also ask the school for pictures of what is different e.g. front office or classroom layout so that your children don’t get a shock when they arrive. 3) VISUAL SCHEDULES OF ROUTINE : Visual schedules that show the order of activities at certain times of day are a great idea for children with additional needs even when we aren’t dealing with COVID! Some children will respond well to a schedule for the whole day and others will need it broken down into smaller portions. But one idea of these schedules is that they introduce and hopefully enforce a consistency for that part of the day and help children to visually process what is expected of them. If their timetable in school is changing, ask the school to please send you an updated version so you can go through it with your child the day before and they know what to expect. Other places a visual schedule may be useful is for the morning and evening routines. 4) PHOTO FAMILY CALENDAR: It is highly likely that children may be in school on different days and during different times. Parents also will likely be returning to work slowly and things may not be as predictable as before in terms of who is taking them to school; when are certain people at home and who is at what activity when. One idea is to have a weekly planner and have photos of each family member placed next to where they will be on each day and at what time. Whilst this may change over time, it is something you can go through with your child each night ahead of the next day. 5) PROMOTING RESILIENCE AND

1) SOCIAL STORIES: In situations like these, there are a myriad of uses for social stories and they can, of course, be made personal to deal with exactly what your child needs to understand more than they do already! If you haven’t already, it is a great idea to find a social story (there are many good ones online) that explains coronavirus and why we are having to be so careful all the time. This is also a good way to introduce the ideas that things are going to continue to change. Social stories can also be used to navigate why different members of the family are going back to school in different ways and at different times or to explain the new school rules (if you know them). 2) UNDERSTANDING THE CHANGES AT

ACCEPTANCE OF CHANGE: There is no doubt that this period of time with the uncertainty it has brought with it has been extremely unsettling. However, in addition to the practical strategies that I have suggested, it can also be helpful to use books, conversations and games to use this time to teach that change in life is inevitable and by showing some flexibility, their resilience will grow and develop and they as a young person will thrive. Some of these strategies may be things that you are already doing but any consistency you can introduce at this time is likely to help your child. It will make it easier for them to process information, calm any underlying anxiety and make them feel as though they understand their reality and your expectations.

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