Back to school anxiety.

[Starshine970]

School is starting sooner this year then I expected (considering we got out in June!) and I am not ready for this. Our previous school year didn't have the best of experiences so I know that adding to my nerves. This year I am trying to plan out a better approach so I hopefully have a much better relationship with his teacher. I am 100% not speaking ill of his last teacher. We just didn't communicate well with each other. I do better with more direct communication and less "fluff" I know my child has behavior challenges so I rather you speak more straight forward. And on the same level I do genuinely want to know how he is doing even if he is doing well. Our school doesn't have a policy to do parent teacher conferences and I am going to request them this year. My son doesn't have any verbal delays but he has never been much of a historian about his day unless its amazing or horrible. So last year unless he misbehaved greatly I had no clue about his day. He has such a spunky personality I enjoy hearing any tidbits about his day. My kiddo doesn't even recall the names of kids he plays with everyday at school.  No real questions here I just needed a place to decompress a bit of my nerves. 

[Lisa Lightner]

Ok, since you said you just wanted to vent, I won't offer any tips. But, as August gets closer and you have questions, feel free to ask!

[JSD24]

Does your child have an IEP or a 504?  Has the school done a special ed evaluation to see if he needs something more than general ed?  (The fact that he doesn't remember the names of classmates has me a bit concerned that he might have a delay or disability.)  My daughter wasn't a great communicator either.  In retrospect, it was a sign of her autism.

I'll give you an idea on what you might be able to say to your son:  What was the best thing that happened at school today?  The worst?  There is info on the forum here about Ross Greene.  He has a whole protocol on talking to kids & getting them to open up.  This is the link:  

One thing I learned this summer is the more you talk to kids, the better.  They learn so much about little things when you sort of narrate what you're doing/what's going through your mind.  It actually helps them with reading by giving the background knowledge so they better understand what they read.