Summer comes and goes in the blink of an eye and before you know it you are filled with mixed emotions with the start of the new school year. On one end you are looking forward to regaining some structure and predictability, but this may be overshadowed by the unknowns the new school year will bring for your child. Questions fill your head. Will my child “work” with their new teacher? Will their teacher understand them? Will my child finally find a compatible peer and maybe even get invited to a playdate or party? Will my PPT team help create an IEP that truly reflects my child and works off of their strengths? Taking on all these thoughts on at once can feel overwhelming, but it does not have to be.
Fall is a fresh start. Whatever happened during the previous school year, good or bad, should be used as a learning opportunity to create new goals- new goals for yourself as a parent, new goals you would like your child’s team to meet, and new goals for your child. Creating a plan or identifying steps you can take to make progress towards those goals is essential. A plan will serve as a road map during the school year to help keep you, your child's team and your child on track, should you feel like you are heading off course. If you have not already recognized it, you are your child’s most influential advocate and you will likely find yourself actively immersed in this role at some point during the school year. There are 10 behavior analytic strategies parents can use to set themselves up for advocacy success this year and help alleviate some of the stress and feelings of uncertainty associated with the daunting task of feeling like you are sometimes swimming against the tide. Afterall, in the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, a French writer and aviator “a goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Photo Credit: Clipart: Numbers 1-10. Retrieved from: http://www.clipartmasters.com/numbers-1-10-clipart-Hh5XQQ.html. No Copyright Intended.
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