Is my child ready for school?
When did my 5 year old grow up? I’m sure many parents ask this question, time and time again! How is my baby now off to school?! The thought baffles and saddens me! Yet, here we are. School is upon us so I’m going to accept that and try my best to prepare my Preppie for what’s coming.
As a speech pathologist, I often have parents ask for practical ideas and tips for how to ready their child for school. This is a hard one because all children are different! The best advice I heard was from an assistant principal,
“School is where children learn, we don’t expect them to come having learnt all there is to know!”
What a relief! As parents we can fall into the trap of thinking our children should know all their letters and numbers, write words and be reading, even before they have walked through the school gate. These skills are wonderful however there’s more to learning that just this! We should consider our children’s social and emotional skills too when transitioning them into school.
So, here are my top tips;
Preparing your child for school
Feelings - Label feelings you see in characters on tv and in books. Talk about how you’re feeling and how you think others may be feeling, based on their facial expressions/body. Being able to label feelings and identify how we feel (and how our friends feel) is an important social and emotional skill, one will help children communicate with others in heated or hard moments. Don’t be afraid to use more than ‘happy, sad, angry, scared’. Use more descriptive words like ‘uncomfortable, nervous, terrified, exhausted, out of control’.
Play dates - Organise one on one play dates (with a cousin or friend) or head to the park or beach, where you’ll find lots of children. When we let kids play with other children, it gives them the chance to negotiate, share, take turns, get along with others and have fun! Watch from the side lines and step in and guide if needed. Play can be hard work. We are all different and have our own unique ways of doing things.
Use lunchboxes NOW - Let your child practise opening and manipulating tricky containers and bottles. This will give them, and you, confidence for when they start school. Hungry tummies can make for cranky and tired children! Consider visiting the grounds of your school, and find the drink fountains. Practise getting using the taps (these can take a little strength and learning how to apply the right amount of pressure to make them work!)
Practise self care - Toileting and clothing. Can your child take items of clothing off and put them back on (manipulate zips and buttons, velcro shoes)? Can they wipe themselves after the toilet and wash their hands once they’re finished? Some children benefit from assistance from an Occupational Therapist to help develop the fine motor skills needed to achieve these tasks. And if your child hasn’t yet learnt these skills independently, don’t panic! Try to encourage them to give these tasks a go, at home, over the next few weeks while you’re there to help them. Chat to their teacher if you have concerns when they start school.
Syllable clapping - Another pre-literacy skill that you can have fun with, is tapping the beats in words. Another game we play in the car (because let’s face it, it can fill in the time and make those long trips more bearable), where the kids try and guess the word that’s in my head. I say the word to them, broken up i.e,, “Can you guess what I’m thinking about … aer-o-plane?” The ability to break up words into smaller chunks and then push these chunks back together, is what we do when we try to sound out tricky words and spell long words! If we start to have fun with these types of activities, it is a great start to developing some solid foundation skills that will go on to help develop literacy skills at school, when our teachers introduce letter sounds and writing.
Stories - Read stories, tell stories, make up stories! In the bath or at bedtime, reflect on what you did that day and discuss what’s planned for tomorrow. Stories are wonderful for developing narrative skills and oral language, as well as expanding a child’s vocabulary.
The Invisible String - If you haven’t read this book with your child, I highly recommend it! It deals with the topics of separation, as well as grief of losing someone who is special. The premise of the book is that we are all tied together with invisible strings - so even when you are not around those you love (mum and dad leave you at school), you can remember that you are loved and not alone! It is a great book and one to consider adding to your collection, particularly with the transition to school. We are placing a ‘xoxo’’ Remindables tag on my daughter’s bag to remind her that she is loved and thought of, even though we won’t be around as much.
So to all the parents who have a child starting school this year, I wish you all the very best! Cry tears if there’s the need and enjoy those young cuddles before they run out. To all the teachers who will be teaching and supporting our children, we thank you. Please try hard to see our children as the unique learner they are. Nourish and guide them and be patient as they learn. And lastly, to all the kids starting school … you’ve got this! Enjoy and have fun! See you at 3.30 😃
Lauren is a speech pathologist who has over 15 years experience working with children and teenagers who present with a range of learning and communication difficulties. Lauren is passionate about helping others and loves to find simple and creative ways to make learning fun! The blog posts featured on this site are written on behalf of Remindables and are intended for educational purposes only and to provide general information and an understanding on a particular topic. By using this blog site you must be aware that the information shown is not to be used as a substitute for therapy advice and you should therefore seek the opinion of suitable professionals to assist you. The views expressed here are the author’s views alone and not those of their employer or others, unless clearly stated. 