Back to school time for kids with autism can be stressful. The anxiety of the unknown factors like: who will my teacher be? What friends will be in my classroom? What time will my lunch be? Will my teacher be nice or mean? What should I wear on the first day? Will people like me?
The thoughts spinning through their minds tend to stay internal and manifest as behaviors like not sleeping at night, snapping at siblings, and not eating.
There’s a lot to consider when you have a child with autism returning to school, they might need extra support from the school AND from home. Here are 7 ideas of how to support a child with special needs as they go back to school. These are ideas that I’ve found to be helpful for my own child and for students I’ve worked with over the years, and I hope they can help you as well!
Before we get started, I want to make sure you know that the best first step is to reach out to the team at your child’s school and ask for support. Your child’s special education teacher and school administration should be willing to work with you on helping your child transition.
1 – Tour the school
The school district I work in offers students with autism and other diagnosed disabilities tours of the building and classroom the week before school starts and they are tremendously helpful! If your school doesn’t already offer them, don’t be afraid to ask the principal or your child’s special education teacher for a tour of the facilities a few days before school starts. Most buildings are happy to help alleviate some of your child’s anxiety! Just note that most teachers won’t have their classroom’s completely setup at that point and the school building itself may still have piles of materials in the hallway. Know that this is completely normal and will all be cleared by the first day of school – I don’t know how custodians do it!
2 – Give them opportunities to talk about their concerns
If your child is verbal and able to discuss future events, sit down with them and discuss what worries they have about the upcoming year. Ask leading questions and give them plenty of time for your child to process and answer them. Here’s some questions I ask my own son:
- What do you think about school starting next week?
- What teacher do you hope you have?
- What friends are you excited to see?
- What makes you worried or feel afraid?
- What can I do to make you feel better?
- How can your teacher help you on the first day?
- Are you excited or worried about riding the bus?
If your child is non-verbal but is presenting with signs of anxiety, using their method of communication to ask simple yes-no questions can also give them opportunities to vent and for you to be supportive.
When my child is ready to talk about school, I always offer words of comfort like, “Your teacher is so-and-so, and she has always been my favorite teacher at your school…I remember when you told me you like playing with (child), I bet you will at least see him at recess this year…I know going to school can be scary when things change, but the rules are still going to be the same, and you know your gym and music teacher…All the adults at the building are excited to see you and will help you if you have questions.” These kinds of comments reassure him that while some things are unknowns, there will be familiar people and routines. Reminding him that the support system at his school is there for him also helps calm both our nerves!
3 – Use a visual countdown
Using a large calendar (if you have one) or just a simple countdown written on a dry erase board (or the bathroom mirror works just as well) to countdown the days until school starts will help them know how much time is left before the first day. Try to mark the passage of time with events or special memories on each day before school starts back up.
As an example, here’s a fun countdown you could try during the final week of summer vacation:
5 days before school starts, play a board game as a family before bedtime,
4 days before school starts, take the kids to a splash pad,
3 days before school starts, go back to school shopping and pick out backpacks, lunchboxes, and a new pair of shoes,
2 days before school starts, make picture frames and print their favorite summer memory to put in the frame,
The day before school starts, have an ice cream sundae bar for dessert to celebrate the last evening of summer together!
Please know that this countdown can also create anxiety for some children, so if you try it and it causes more harm than good, just scrap it and move on!
4 – Create a Social Story
A Social story about going back to school is one of the easiest ways to prep students with autism for going back to school. It usually includes descriptions about their school, classroom, and teacher along with reminders about the rules at school.
You can check out the back to school social story I created HERE on TPT. It’s fully customizable in PowerPoint format and it includes blank areas to add photos of your child’s school, classroom, and teachers. If you enjoy using it, please leave a review on TPT – did you know leaving product reviews gives you credits that can be used toward future purchases? Not only does it help my little shop, but you also get a reward!
5 – Read books together about school
This one kind of goes with social stories, but if you don’t have time to create your own story, there are lots of already created options. Here are a few great book recommendations for students at each grade level:
General First Day of School Books –
The Pigeon HAS to Go to School
6 – Practice the routine
Kids with autism thrive on routines (but I didn’t have to tell YOU that), so giving them their morning and afternoon routines before school starts will help alleviate the anxiety they feel about that unknown.
I like to write out the routines for the morning for each of my kids and then we review it together. Once we’ve gone over it and they agree that it includes everything they think they will need to do, you can practice running through it at the times on the schedule. This includes waking up early and going through all the steps – this also helps to ensure that you’ve remembered everything that needs to get done, and that they won’t be late for school.
In the afternoon, I like to practice the after school part at the right times so the kids know what it’s like to be asked to do homework at a certain time and eat dinner at the time we will normally eat. Then we get ready for the next day by practicing laying everything out we’ll need the next morning.
7 – Use More Visuals
As I’ve said before, I’m a big advocate for visuals in all aspects of a child’s home and school environment. Visuals give them tools to be successful without adult help and will make parents and teachers’ lives easier. There are lots of options for visual tools that help students with autism, here are the ones I’ve used that might work for your family:
- Clock with time blocks colored in to indicate activity – this is a nice alternative to the traditional visual schedule that younger students use. It’s great for older kids who are ready to start telling time.
- Visual checklist for routines – this helps kids to stay organized and complete all the steps before it becomes a routine. You can use written or picture checklists to help them complete the routines you decided on earlier.
- First-Then or Token Board – for younger kids (or older kids who don’t seem to be enjoying school) offering a reward at the end of each school day or school week will help keep them motivated to get up and get going and be on their best behavior at school. You can use a written or visual first then board that reminds them of what they will earn for completing a day/week of school. Now, I know there are all kinds of concerns about offering kids rewards for expected behavior, BUT, think about it this way: kids are too young to earn paychecks, and as adults we go to work expecting to get a payment at the end of every two weeks (or whatever your pay schedule is). Would you go to work if that weren’t the reinforcement you were earning? I know very few people who would continue working without that reinforcement. Along the way, we’ve learned to enjoy what we do for a job, but I would argue that the paystub is what gets us all to begin working in the first place. If my child needs to earn a bowl of his absolute favorite ice cream on Fridays to have motivation to go to school for a little bit, I’d say it’s worth creating that visual reminder and using that reinforcer! After all, how many of us mark on our calendars or have a printed schedule to track our company paydays?! There’s nothing wrong with incentivizing school (or work).
In summary
Going back to school can be stressful for kids with Autism or other special needs. The unknowns create anxiety which can cause behaviors to pop up toward the end of summer break. A back to school social story like the one HERE or published books along with opportunities to talk about their concerns will help give your child opportunities to express their concerns.
Your child might also benefit from touring the school ahead of time and practicing the routine for school days. Visual supports such as a countdown to the start of school or visuals for your routines help give kids with autism the tools they need to be successful and help them feel in control of their schedule.
Going back to school doesn’t have to be a stressful time! With the right support in place, students with autism can know what to expect and thrive from a nurturing home environment!
If you found these tips to be helpful, let me know in the comments below! If there’s another tool you used to help your child, also leave that below to share with fellow parents!
For back to school ideas for students with CVI see this post by Special Achievers!