Prepare Your Child For School
We could not just throw our child to the school and expect them to “swim” in it. This may be the method used by older generations but it is not effective and could be harmful for child with ASD.
The Better You Prepare Your Child, The More Your Child Will Enjoy School. As the Chinese saying, “A Great Start is Half A Battle Won 好的开始是成功的一半”。 Most of the child’s expectations and anticipatory feelings come from his parents’ attitudes. So we must prepare them well with good attitudes toward schooling life.
There are many ways we could prepare our child for the school. Here I am sharing some of the basic that you can easily help your child to cope with the new environment, the new routine and the new challenges they will face. The better you prepare him, the lesser issues he/she will face in school.
1. Tell His/Her Name
Your child should know his own FULL name. It is important that he is able not just to tell others his first name but his full name. As there may be many person in the school with similar first name, it is difficult to check which class your child belongs to if he get lost, need help to call his parents or other emergency.
2. Contacts Available
Your child should also know his FULL address and important Phone Number(s) such as home and parents’ contact numbers. However, it is usual that for younger kids they are not able to remember all these. If he doesn’t, write it on a slip of paper and tuck it in the front pocket of his shirt or somewhere he knows where to find if he needs it.
3. Basic Self Care
Train your child early if possible to take care of the basic need himself as much as possible. Some child with ASD may find this challenging and will need more more time to prepare for this. Train him to take care of his personal needs such as dress himself, button, zip clothings and put on his shoes. You may want to search for easier to wear shoes (if school permits) then learning to buckle shoes initially. Introduce each new skills to take care of himself slowly and gradually. Don’t expect them to know how to take care of themselves but they need to be taught to. Most essential needs should be taught first, others could be later.
4. Find Buddy
It will be great if your child had a elder siblings in the same school that could take care of him or at least give a bit of support. However, in most cases, this may not be the case. If your child is riding a bus, try to find someone he knows to sit with him. They could be his classmates or his neighbors who could accompany him and make him less lonely until he knows how to find friends on his own.
5. Self-Equipped
Parents should prepare the school bags with some necessary items that you think your child may be using. You know your child best so you know if he will need an extra pair of pants, handkerchief or a jacket to bring along to school. This is especially important if the schooling time is longer and your child may not yet be toilet-trained, self-feeding or knows how to take care of some personal needs. A water bottle and a clean handkerchief is something I always prepare for my son.
6. Praises and Encouragement
Beside ensuring sufficient sleep and good nutritious breakfast each day, remember to provide ample encouragement. Send him to school with a big hug, a kiss or good praise or encouragement (“You look smart in your school uniform!”, “You will love your class activities today and have fun!”).
7. Important Notes to Teachers
In case of emergency, your teacher will need to find the important information about your child as fast as possible. Make a small laminated cardboard or write in-front of the school notebook the parents’ name, parents’ contact numbers, home numbers, home address and emails.
Other important details such as Drug Allergy, your child’s’ peculiar behaviors and needs should be written on somewhere which is visible and hard-to-miss places.
There are more schooling tips in the forum. If you are a member (free to join), you will be able to find them under the “For Members Only” section.
If you knows of any other things that could better prepare our child for school, please drop a comment.
