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Getting the Most from Special Education Services This Summer

  • amykdtobik2
  • 13 minutes ago
  • 4 min read

By Karen Kaplan, MS

Some parents wonder why their child with additional needs has not qualified for extended school year (ESY). They fear they might not continue to move forward without ESY to bridge them.  Many are concerned that the regular teacher will not preside over the summer classroom program. Others are concerned about the shortened day schedule. The new teacher is probably wondering who her students are and how she will support them. Perhaps she is wondering how to help them transition.


Most of all, the student could feel anxious as the routine will be different, the children might be different, and their regular teacher will not be there.


So, how do we lessen the OMG feelings everyone may be encountering?

  1. Introduce the new teacher before ESY begins. Let the regular and replacement teachers meet and discuss classroom routines, curriculum, and students' strengths and challenges. Let the ESY teacher meet the students prior.

  2. The new teacher might send a visual note home introducing themselves. It would be helpful if the note included a picture of themselves.

  3. The new teacher might also send the revised daily and weekly schedule home, giving students an idea of what to expect. A visual schedule could help them transition.

  4. There is usually a break between regular school and ESY, so parents can help by marking off the days before the new transition. They might revisit the teacher's note several times before the new day occurs.

  5. I hope that the new teacher will have reviewed each student’s individual education plan, including any behavior support plan and therapist recommendations.

  6. It is my hope that the teacher will learn their students’ interests and use them to build activities and projects during ESY that will motivate students.

  7. It is my hope that any new and different that the teacher wants to develop will be gradually introduced, in small manageable chunks.

  8. I hope the new teacher will find ways to introduce meaningful activities that develop comprehension, motor planning, executive functioning (organizing and problem solving), social skills and regulations, communication skills, and curiosity.

  9. As the school day will be shorter, parents may want to explore summertime activities that can build all kinds of skills that may not be able to be acquired in other seasons. 

    • Swimming lessons build motor planning, strength, and endurance.

    • Trips to the local state fairs can widen vocabulary, increase social skills, open new and novel tastes of foods and beverages and increase giggles.

    • Let them help you plan a vacation and learn to pack a suitcase. They might look up the place on a website, noting sights to explore.  They might map the vacation out. They might find the right place to stay and book the reservation.

    • Summertime can offer special festivals in your local communities (Peach Festival, Antique Festival, Art & Wine Festivals)

    • Summer often brings an increase in the heat, so developing some indoor home activities is a great opportunity (board game day, dance party night, favorite films days). This is a great time to explore special interests in films, music, and games.

    • Then there are indoor physical activities that could be explored (bowling, indoor rock climbing, roller-skating rinks, movie theaters, art galleries, museums). Maybe there is not enough time during the regular school year to do some of these.

    • Many students might not like the following ESY ideas, but it is a great time to do many of them. Set up a chore chart and finally model and encourage your individual to strip their bed and make it, carry the dirty laundry to the laundry room, use the washer and dryer, help with some meal preparation, and, of course, help with some shopping.


ESY can present some challenges, but with the right planning and support, these might be lessened. Students with special needs can receive a beneficial program and continue to learn. With the help of parents, summer can build even more skills than might occur only in the school setting.




Karen Kaplan, MS, is a native San Franciscan. She completed her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, in speech pathology and audiology. She minored in special education and obtained her speech therapist and special education credentials in California. Karen worked as a speech therapist for schools for 20 years before opening her own residential and education program for students with autism. She worked in credential programs at Sacramento State University as well as UC Davis and spent 20 years directing private schools for those with autism and similar learning challenges. Karen founded a non-profit, Offerings, which helps cultures globally to understand those with developmental challenges. For seven years, she founded and facilitated an autism lecture series and resource fair in Northern California. Karen still facilitates an annual Autism Awesomeness event. She is currently consulting, helping families, schools, and centers for children, teens, and adults. Karen has authored three books: Reach Me Teach Me: A Public School Program for the Autistic Child; A Handbook for Teachers and Administrators, On the Yellow Brick Road: My Search for Home and Hope for the Child with Autism, and Typewriting to Heaven… and Back: Conversations with My Dad on Death, Afterlife and Living  (which is not about autism but about having important conversations with those we love).



 

 
 
 

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Exceptional Needs Today is published under Lone Heron Publishing, LLC Copyright 2020

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