Transiting to School.

The basic neccesities that parents provide for their children are food, shelter, safety, and education. Every child has the right to good education and the opportunity to learn skills in a conducive learning environment. 

As for children with special needs such as autism, education and skill-learning starts much earlier for them than it does for other children, but perhaps in a different way. We have a different approach towards preparing these kids for school as they have different abilities and different needs. Hence we shall look at school and see it in their perspective as well.

Wendy Lawson said, “School was a nightmare!”. Her school years were difficult as she already found it a challenge to adapt to change, what more in an environment that had many unpredictabilities.  Instead of focusing on learning and making friends, Wendy probably spent her time coping with these changes. If I were her, school wouldn’t be a happy place for me either, much less a place to learn new things.

This is why we encourage children with special needs to gain the neccesary skills (also academic skills) in a conducive environment before gradually introducing them to a school environment where other children are present. This is a crucial stepping stone for these children to slowly adapt to a new environment and a new routine.  During this time, they are taught to be independent, to be  comfortable with big group of peers, and to understand rules in a classroom. Once the child  achieves these few things, learning should be an easier sail for him or her.

Every child is different but these are the areas to look into when considering whether its time for your child to be exposed to a school environment:

1)   Independence: Is your child toilet trained? Does he know how to put on his own shoes? Can he feed himself?

2)   Communication skills: Is your child able to communicate, respond and initiate communication in various ways? (verbal, sign language, PECS, or any other communication devices)

3)    Language skills: Is your child able to understand and follow instructions?

4)    Cooperation: Does your child have the ablity to cooperate and self-regulate?

5)    Attention: How much attention is your child able to retain in a given moment?

6)    Basic school skills: Can your child participate in circle time, lining up, staying in class, etc?

When the child is ready, we recommend gradual entrance to school. In our experience, some children started with a few school visits first before attending one full day a week. Once the child is successful we increased the days to two, and then slowly moved towards them participating five full days in a week. This is done only if the child is learning and coping well in school. To make sure our child is more succesful in school we always recommend a shadow aide to follow the child to school.

A shadow aide's role is to support the child in coping with the school environment and routine. This involves guiding them in responding and following the teacher's instructions, facilitating peer interactions and play time, identifying new targets as well as being the communication bridge between parents, teachers and therapists. The idea of having a shadow aide to go to school with the child is for the child to be able to participate in school dynamics independently with initital support that gradually decreases as the child’s independence increases. 

In the following blogpost, we will provide examples of given situations and the appropriate response that Shadow aides should take in each. 

Stay tuned! 

Written by 

Lee Yu Ying

Consultant, EAP Malaysia