Back to School Tip #1: Is the teacher ready for your child?
August 7, 2010 by Leslie E. Packer PhD
Filed under Advocacy, Featured, Tips
School has already begun in some parts of the country, and around here, parents are already getting anxious about when school resumes right after Labor Day. They’re anxious about the teacher not understanding their child’s disorder(s), they’re anxious about the teacher misinterpreting the child’s symptoms as misbehavior, and they’re anxious that the teacher will say or do something that will start their child off on a sour note for the 2010-2011 school year.
If you haven’t done so already, take some time and send a letter to your child’s teacher. If you send it now, it may be there waiting for the teacher when teachers return to set up their classroom. Getting the letter to the teachers before school starts gives them a chance to read it and absorb it.
Do not assume that the teacher will have read your child’s entire I.E.P. or 504 plan. In some areas, teachers are not even given hard copies of these documents that they can hang on to. Your goal is to write a relatively short letter that will help the teacher get off to a good start with your child:
