can anyone give me some ideas as to what to do for my son mason to get him ready for school come sept. he is not good at changes in routine-his speech has already ended for the summer-no extended school year for him yet. and in sept goes m-thurs all day for school. what can i do to help him get ready for this. it is going to be a big shock to his system and routine and i am sure he is going to cry alot
Find out snack and lunch times and adjust your summer to follow.
There are stories like Franklin and movies to help get use to the idea. Lots of talking about feelings ect. Or the first 100 days of school.
A keychain with photo of you in it, so you can tell him when he gets sad to look at it... inform teacher of this strategy.
Play school at home with work sheet to practice on.
Hi Cyndie I know exactly how you feel sending Nick to school was the hardest day ever!!!!! I know all kids are different but to shed some light.... after about a week my son had adapted very well he loves school and even gets mad on the weekends when we don't pack his back pack!!!!! He loves the routine and scedule so it is perfect for him! Belive it or not out of all four of my children he is the easiest to get out the door in the a.m. and he is the only one of my kids with a disability!!! Good luck to you and your son you will be surprised at how well he might adapt!!!I know in the twin cities they really do push for an all day program. My kids had no problem with it. As far as the key chain thing goes, some schools don't allow that. It could be used as a weapon , if the child got angry and threw it at another student or even the teacher, etc. I know with my kids schools they prefer you not send stuff like that.
Tammy
I would start off with familuarizing him with the school and the idea of going. Photos trips there even playtime on the playground.
I would find out the schedule he will be on time he gets picked up or that you have to leave at. Then I would decided what time he needs to wake up and start getting ready.
I made a picture schedule for Tyler to follow. Wake uo go to bathroom, get dressed eat breakfast wash face brush teeth. If you know he needs to do some ritualistic behavior make room for it. give free time breaks if he isnt able to stay on task. For my son, what I did was allow "FREE TIME" AFTER he was done... This way he had a reward to work for (his cartoons) Sometimes a timer helps set it for x mins and tell him when it beeps he should be done with that task and move on to the next task. Make sure you dont rush things.
Once you set everything up I would plan errands to the store at the time you need to leave at for school. Lunch at school lunch time and so on. Then start waking up and using that schedule all summer long!
Good Luck
we used the book "blue goes to school", we read the story and also pointed out the objects in the background ( easels, tables, chairs,ect) most schools are really receptive to giving tours in order to help the child become adjusted. it's a great way to start out on the right foot with the school. i went 3 times when it came to my son going to school, the first time i went by myself, i learned the teachers names and took pictures of the classroom, office, nurses station, ect. I told him what abig boy he was ect. we really put a positive spin on it. now, i have to be honest and for the first few weeks i had to carry him into class ( kicking and screaming, mind you) but once he realized that this was the real deal and it wasn't so bad, he adjusted well. like all things. it will take time and it's a big adjustment for not only the child but for us parents aswell. I like the idea of playing school at home and perhaps if you included your older son, he will realize that school is actually a really fun place.It really depends on what works best for the child. At age 3, my DS worked best iwth a picture schedule of what he had to do. Now at 5, he can work either off a written list or by some verbal reminders. He know has an I DID IT chore chart that lists the things he supposed to do each day and when he completes them he moves them over for an award. We do not use it for everything, but rather for the things he either forgets to do lots of the time or fights us doing them (for example his morning chores are to use quiet words instead of yelling when upset, brush his teeth, and brush his hair). You can add in anything that you like and if you go to their website http://www.projectkitsforkids.com/ and click on the I did it logo they have a link to print off a PDF of all the stickers so you cna acutally make your own and put them on index cards whatever.
At age 3 we really started working with DS on transitions using a timer or count down method. We let him know excatly how much time he had left (15, 10 ,5 ,1 minute intervals) and that reduced how bad the tantrums got. As he got closer to 4 and started to tantrum we would give him the choice of complying without a tantrum or losing a priviledge (as he understood and liked choices). As for changes in the schedule, we would try to prepare him in advanced for what was coming up (we are already talking to him about kindergarden and the changes that he will be making).
We are rather lucky that DS can handle many changes to most routines and we are able to work around what he can't. This is because the rest of us do not have very stable schedules (Dad's shifts changes everyday/week, and I am a student so my schedule varies by day each semester) so wecan even change the person who is getting him up and ready each day. What we try to keep constant is the procedure, up out of bed, bathroom, food, dress, brush hair, brush teeth, socks, shoes, out the door, so at least he know what is expected and can anticipate that.
To get megan ready for school we did a few things. First she was goign to be riding a bus so we got a toy bus with people and role palyed megan gets on the bus and waves bye to mama. We also bought a blues clues video about going to school, we are obsessed with blue. Bought books about goign to school, blue has one, franklin has one and i think dora too. We also took pictures of the school and bus and kept her familar with them. The other thing you can do that i think helped is we took her to the school playground to play. I hope there help and good luck.. Megans adjustment to school at 2 and half went great I was surpsrised as heck, she loved the routine of school