Please help! I'm sure it's just a period of adjustment, but dd is having a
lot of issues since starting school this last week. She had some small
tantrums & crying in class, but nothing major. It's home that things are
worse. She has a hard time going to sleep, is very irritable, wakes up
screaming in the middle of night, etc. Her bedtime rituals are more
intense, must have the light on to sleep, she gets very upset in the
evening about school. Then in the a.m. she is okay until about 10 mins
before we leave for school, then she starts tantrumming. Once we get
there, she is fine--goes right to the other students & holds hands with
them (they all holds hand in a line to classroom). She's not even aware of
us once she joins the line.
We have the picture schedule & social stories, not sure what else we can
do for her. Is this pretty typical? I know a lot of it is her physically
getting used to this schedule. But, it's hard seeing her struggle at
bedtime & be so upset in the a.m. Also, it's been a rough time for our
older dd heading off to school amidst all the crying & tantrums. I
guess if there is any advice to offer, to help her out, please tell me!
Thanks!
All I can suggest is reassurance.The more she knows you understand the more hope shell have.School is stressful enough for any child.Sticking closely to a strict night routine will help.My son also incorporated needing the light on last school year.He said he was having nightmares of School.So not sure if this helped.Good Luck!
My 6 year-old is usually a pretty easy going kid. He was fine at school this past week, but once he got home the monster came out. He was better by Friday, but he's still a bit off. I know he's just adjusting to the new schedule and routine.
Our speech therapist actually took this past week off. She told me she typically gets cancellations because kids are adjusting to their new schedule, so she figured it was a good time for a break.
Hang in there!