What helped your SEND child settle into a new school year? Share your advice – you could win a £200 voucher!

[geemumsnet]

Whether it’s a change of teacher, a new classroom, or even a whole school, September can be a nervous time for children with special educational needs and disabilities, and for parents too.

That’s why we’d love to hear from you if you can relate to any of these experiences, and what helped the most (or didn’t) for you and your child during the transition.

Was there a particular strategy, tool or routine that helped? Did a teacher or SENCO go above and beyond?

Your tips or shared experience could really help another parent going through this for the first time.

By sharing, you’ll be entered into a prize draw to win a £200 VEX voucher - so you can spend it on whatever helps your family start the school year off right!

Principal of Whinfell School (Autism School) Paddy Sandham and Suzanne Mulligan, headteacher at Beverley School (SEMH School), will also be available in a few weeks to give their advice on the thread!

I can only speak for myself but it took two years of effort including taking the local authority to tribunal twice to secure an EHCP to do my best to attempt to ensure the transition worked ok for my child. I find the lighthearted tone of your post inappropriate considering the state of the SEND system and that the government are actively working to reduce or remove children's legal rights.

Bring a toy to school day. When they take their teddy it helped them feel at home.

Social story about what to expect and pictures of new staff.

Ds1's school do a full week on the new class timetable with the new teacher at the end of the summer term. So much better than just a meet the teacher morning. They know exactly what will happen, where to sit etc and have fully experienced it before they return. This would be great in all schools, not just sen ones.

My autistic DD is going into y10 and the only way I've been able to help her with fears of returning to school is to help her blend in as much as she can, so others don't realise she is different. Take the skirt to the tailors and have it altered to just the right length (too short), same handbag, same shoes. If she's masked to the max she will face being there.

An amazing SenCo who truely understands my child, the routine he needs, and the movement breaks to burn off some energy!
They group with him with right children for his needs, and work to encourage him everyday.

He is with the same children each year due to being in a specialist setting so the start of the year has less challenges due to returning to a familiar environment with the same faces, and same teaching staff. This takes a lot of the uncertainty away.

I found keeping in touch with school friends during holidays helped them settle back, especially where the friends were in the new class. Also, buying fun stationary (eg Smiggle) to add to a new pencil case was a winner.

Meeting with the teaching, extra transition days. Talking to son about new class/teacher.
Every year how well it goes depends upon the teacher there’s some great ones and some poor ones.

For us what helped was a social story about one classroom finishing, a different social story about the new classroom and plenty of visuals including photographs of the staff and the classroom. Also the advice not to use the new visuals until just before school started so that we didn’t have anxiety over the whole summer.

For my son is having plenty to of time to meet the new teacher and see the classroom and where he will be sitting. This year we are incredibly lucky that his TA from last year is moving with him and she is amazing and just gets him. I think it’s also the school understanding that child and their needs. We already have planned for extra choose time in September as he adapts to the new classroom and teacher.

Our wonderful mainstream primary school provide us with a little book at the end of term with various pictures - the new classroom, where the coats hand, the toilets, the classroom door etc plus the new teacher and other classroom staff - often picture of DD with the staff. We look at it regularly through the summer to help her remember what’s going to happen. Then the day before term starts we are invited to go into visit for half an hour, just a quiet visit to say hello to the new teacher, a Quick Look around the classroom and see where her new desk is. It works for DD.

In the last couple of weeks of term, as well as the usual ‘everyone spend the morning in the new class’ thing DD and her TA will find any excuse to walk past or into the new class so its location and look can be cemented in her mind. Our school is fabulous.

I have been into school in July to find out about the new classroom, coat hook and teacher and asked to meet the teacher in advance of the new term, it has really helped.

My nephew is ASD (diagnosed) and he always settled in quite well, after mum took him to the new classroom, and met with his teacher the week before the new term - it was only about after 6 weeks in did his behaviour always deteriorate - once he had got used to the surroundings and felt more comfortable did the disruptive behavour start - he had a one to one for 20 hours a week - but she was shared as a resource by the teacher - it was only after taking it to the governors that things change and his one to one support worker was able to sit with him and he began to improve - if you think things are not working - take your concerns to the head teacher of governors if you are not happy with things.

If you would like to explore statutory support for your SEN child, rather than adjustments that may not survive a change of teacher, school or management, please join us on the EHCP support thread.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/5309128-ehcp-support-thread-no-5?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=app_share

My DC's school have an interschool transition day in July where all of the children get to meet their new teacher, and classroom, and where everything is, and what differences there are from their old classroom
The SEN children have this separately with their support assistant who will be moving with them, to help with the transition. Works beautifully.

As well as the usual move up sessions, our primary invited us in on the inset day to see the classroom and teacher just before term started without everyone else there. It was much appreciated.

My DS has had a support assistant since the SEN statement was agreed, and she has taken DS to the new classroom, and will go with him to year 5 as she has since year 3.
DS has met the new teacher - who is also new to the school, the SENCO has arranged with with all of the SEN children in this year group - so I am optimistic of settling into year 5.

Everyone moves into their new class 2weeks before the end of summer term. Then they know what they are comign back to after summer.

I'm not sure I can advise but I'm here for the tips as my (undiagnosed but likely ADHD) DC is moving schools and I hope to make it as smooth as possible. They attended the transition day and enjoyed it, I've organised flexible working in Sept so I can be there to do all drop offs and pick ups in the early days, and I want to meet the teacher as early as I can.
Any other tips gratefully received!

Mine were given a book to fill in with photos of their family, things they liked and didn't like, hobbies and where they went on holiday - it was a book of happy memories to keep in their tidy draw, and to show to their form teacher.

My autistic daughter moved from a tiny primary school to a 6 form entry secondary school last September.

• We had several trips to the school before the end of term.
• We asked the Sendco to put us in touch with other neurodiverse starters and we had a few play dates with 2 other girls before school started.
• we shared a ‘communication passport’ with the school which was given to all of her teachers detailing her interests, learning profile, challenges etc.
• she has sensory processing differences so we slowly ‘broke in’ her shoes, clothes and bag over the two weeks before school started.
• we made a really big thing about her choosing her own bag, pens, rulers, rubbers etc. (thank you Smiggle). That way she was really excited about getting to finally use them all.
• she chose her favourite (portable) cuddly toy to take with her to school. She actually still takes a cuddly toy but chooses a new one every day.

We still had wobbles and a few bumps along the way but we definitely feel that all of this preparation helped massively!

What helped us was listening to our child and not sending them back into a school environment that was not appropriate to their needs.

Assume nothing. Yes, reports should have been transferred and reasonable adjustments communicated to secondary school but it often doesn’t happen. An email to the SENCO attaching the documentation with a cheery “just in case this got lost in the transition” and 4-5 bullet points of what is needed most. Once you have the timetable you can email the head of year with a summary of what is needed to be known immediately (e.g. xxx is dyspraxic and cannot write effectively by hand, he needs access to his laptop whenever other students reach for a pen “) and ask for this to be forwarded to all his subject teachers

@Dolphinnoises's advice is sensible. And should be repeated at least once a term. I teach sixth form and the information transfer in August/September can be overwhelming. A reminder in October or January would be a good idea.