{"id":5688,"date":"2017-09-14T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=5688"},"modified":"2017-09-28T10:03:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-28T14:03:56","slug":"10-tips-for-a-successful-school-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/10-tips-for-a-successful-school-year\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Tips for a Successful School Year"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"10%20Tips%20for%20a%20Successful%20School%20Year\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><em>Help! School is starting. I want to make sure I have done my homework so this year is better than last year.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Parents and kids are anxious about return to school. Here are <strong>10 Tips<\/strong>, from Advocate Pat Howey, to help you get off to a good start at the beginning of the new school year.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-22239\" src=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/kids.mom_.goodbye.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/kids.mom_.goodbye.jpg 900w, https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/kids.mom_.goodbye-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/kids.mom_.goodbye-768x512.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Help Your Child Deal with Transitions.<\/strong> Is your child making the transition from preschool to kindergarten, from elementary to middle school, or from middle school to high school? Plan to take your child to visit the new school or classroom before the first day of school.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Reread your child\u2019s IEP.<\/strong> Do you understand what the school agreed to provide? Do your child&#8217;s teachers understand what they are to provide? \u2028\u2028Is your child&#8217;s IEP SMART? (specific, measurable, action words, realistic, and time-specific)? (Review <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/bks\/feta2\/ch12.ieps.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Chapter 12 about SMART IEPs<\/span><\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/feta2.sm.store.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Meet with your child\u2019s teacher(s) to discuss your child\u2019s special needs. <\/strong> Take a picture of your child to the meeting. Teachers are more likely to take a personal interest in your child and remember your child\u2019s special needs if s\/he has seen a picture of your child.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Take extra copies of your child\u2019s IEP to the meeting with the teacher(s).<\/strong> Never assume that teachers have had time to read your child\u2019s IEP before school begins. Teachers have many things to do as they prepare for the first day of school. The teacher may not understand how important the IEP is to your child\u2019s success. Leave a copy of your child&#8217;s IEP with each teacher.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Make a List of Important Things About Your Child.<\/strong> Make a list of the five most important things that the teacher(s) need to know about your child. Explain why these things are vital to your child\u2019s success. Leave a copy of the list with each teacher.<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. Prepare to Deal with Potential Problems Early.<\/strong> If your child is in general education classes, prepare for the teacher(s) who wants to see how your child \u201cgets along\u201d before making any changes in the way they run their classrooms. \u2028\u2028Teachers often take this position because they want to give their students a fresh start. You may need to explain why your child may fail unless the teacher understands his\/her unique needs and provides the necessary services, accommodations and supports.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. Resolve Old Concerns and Issues. <\/strong> If you have concerns or issues that were not resolved during the last IEP meeting, request another IEP meeting immediately. Try to resolve these issues and concerns before your child begins to have problems this year.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. Get a New Assessment.<\/strong> Consider getting your child&#8217;s skills tested very early in the school year. Where are your child&#8217;s skills on standardized educational achievement tests? Use these scores as baseline data. You can compare these scores with scores obtained at the end of the year to measure your child\u2019s progress. (See Chapter 8, Your Child&#8217;s Evaluations, in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/store\/feta2.sm.store.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy<\/span><\/a>).<\/p>\n<p><strong>9. Go to your school\u2019s Open House.<\/strong> In addition to giving you another chance to meet with your child&#8217;s teachers (and make a good impression), teachers often explain their classroom rules during Open House. When you attend, you have a chance to see if your child may have trouble understanding the teachers&#8217; rules. You will also be in a better position to explain these rules to your child.<\/p>\n<p><strong>10. Get a bound notebook.<\/strong> Use the notebook as a \u201ccontact log\u201d to send messages to the teachers. Write a sentence of two to the teacher(s) every day. Do not make your child the bearer of messages about problems at school. Make an extra copy of your log often in case the notebook is lost.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Have a great school year!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Help! School is starting. I want to make sure I have done my homework so this year is better than last year. Parents and kids are anxious about return to <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/10-tips-for-a-successful-school-year\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":22239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,529],"tags":[801],"class_list":["post-5688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advocacy","category-parent-rights-responsibilities","tag-back-to-school-tips"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5688","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5688"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22284,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5688\/revisions\/22284"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}