Help! My Child's School is Closed!
So far 2020 has been fun, right? Parents across the country are preparing to be home with their children for an unknown amount of time. This is an absolutely terrifying prospect for parents of typically developing children, that feeling is compounded for parents of special-needs children. I’m not going to sugar coat this: the next few weeks are going to be hard; your patience is going to be tested more than it ever has been before. I’m hoping this post may help to calm some of your fears and give you some guidance on how to survive this absolutely crazy situation we are all in.
*This post does not just apply to special needs kiddos, all children in my house will be doing these things until schools open back up! *
Why is this going to be so hard for our kiddos? Structure. School creates a very structured environment that leads to predictability in a child’s day. They wake up at the same time, start school at the same time, and the schedule at school is for the most part, posted, talked about, and followed throughout the day. Children on the autism spectrum typically do very well in a highly structured environment like school. ABA therapy is highly structured to provide this consistency as well. Structure helps to comfort a child who may not know what is expected of them (academically and socially). We see the effects of this when a child may do very well at school, and their behavior is pretty good during the week, but things fall off of the rails on the weekends due to the lack of structure. 2 days is usually OK for a child to be without structure, 3 weeks (or more?) is a different animal. Many special education programs have what they call an extended school year (ESY) to cut down on the time a child is not in school to prevent regression and a routine shock when they are home for a while, and again when they are expected to jump right back in to the school environment.
Inserting some structure into the home environment can help to increase the predictability of your child’s day, give them something to look forward to, and help you get through this extended time at home and one step closer to bedtime. How do we do this?
Schedules
Take some time to develop and print up a daily schedule for your home. You can use text and pictures to help your little learner see their progress throughout the day as well. Have your child get dressed every morning as if they are going to school, this will help to signal the start to their day and that they are starting their activity schedule for the day.
Schedule fun activities and try to do something interactive once a day. This social distancing situation makes outside play more difficult, and in my area all of the indoor play areas we usually frequent are either closed or should be closed! It’s time to get creative.
Here are some ideas for a fun activity to plan with your children:
https://familyeguide.com/boredom-busters-110-fun-at-home-activities-for-families-kids-2/
Here is an example of a daily schedule for your kiddo:
Chores
Include chores in your schedule, have your child do simple chores that are in their repertoire. Help them make their bed, have them set the table, have them help you throw clothes into the washing machine to do a load of laundry. You know your kid and what they can do, and this is an excellent time to push their boundaries and see if they can learn how to do a new chore.
Visit a virtual museum
No really! Take advantage of this time to take your child on a virtual field trip.
Get in on the online learning train
These education companies are offering free subscriptions due to the school closings
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NUKLZN7hGSu1Hzm70kfzBKs-lsSELaEMggS60Bi2O2I/htmlview
Set up a reinforcement system
I am willing to bet my nicest bottle of wine that your child’s teacher has some kind of reinforcement system set up in their classroom. J/K, I’m going to need that bottle of wine, my birthday is next week and I’m pretty sure my nice restaurant date with my husband was just cancelled. Back to reinforcement. It may be difficult to get your child to engage with and follow their schedule at home. Weekends are for having fun! Why do I need to do schoolwork? There’s no school! Well, when you’re staring down a 30-day weekend, it’s time to put in a reinforcement system in your home. Please see my post about token systems for more information on how to do that!
It’s hard to say what the next few weeks will look like, but at the very least we know that it is going to look like kids who are stir crazy, parents who are wondering if the risk is big enough to just go to the park this one time, and trying to figure out how to keep our kids on schedule so there isn’t such a huge shock when they do get to go back to school in a few weeks.
You will get through this; your child will get through this. Take some time this weekend to create an action plan for your family and know that I am always here for you if you need me!
In the meantime this is also a great resource on how to help your child cope with the anxiety that this uncertain time can bring.
https://blog.chocchildrens.org/7-ways-to-help-kids-cope-with-coronavirus-covid-19-anxiety/
Oh and one more thing…
