Back to School Transition Time

Posted by Melissa Hincha-Ownby Jul 27, 2008

Having two children on the autism spectrum, I see first-hand how my two thrive with a structured routine. The transition into summer was difficult but in the last few weeks we’ve all seemed to get into a groove. Of course just as things start to run smoothly, another big transition is coming up – back-to-school.

My son starts school on August 6 and my daughter the week after. That gives me about a week and a half to prepare my son for the start of the school year. He will be attending a new school this year so the transition is going to be even more difficult. We’ve visited the school campus twice already and just recently found out the name of his teacher.

Last year, in first grade, my son did not say his teacher’s name until about a month into the school year. He knew her name; he just refused to use it. The teacher was fine with it but this year, I’ve decided to incorporate the teacher’s name into our daily conversations. He knows who his teacher will be and we talk about what she might be doing to prepare for the school year to start. Hopefully he’ll feel more comfortable using her name this year.

Another step we are taking to prepare for back-to-school is starting our before-school and after-school routines. When we wake up in the morning, we go through the steps on our before-school picture schedule. Hopefully this preparation will help my children have a smooth transition into the new school year.