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September 4, 2018

Teenagers with School Challenges: Executive Functioning

Executive Functioning is a fancy term to refer to challenges with planning, initiating, executing and organizing tasks and information.

When students move into high school, they are expected to independently navigate a schedule of 5-8 classes, all with different timelines, expectations and assignments. Students must keep up with materials, deadlines and schedules to be sure work is submitted on time to the right teacher in the right format.

Even with the websites and emails and ways to track and schedule using technology, these skills are not easy for any of us (adults included).

Teens Get Overwhelmed

For some teenagers, these tasks feel daunting and overwhelming.

Many teenagers just give up.

Others try their best but fail to execute a complete plan. They may do the work but never turn it in at school.

Parents are scratching their heads or yelling in frustration. “Why are you failing math?” “Where is your missing geography homework?”

How to Help Your Teen

It is most helpful when a student can have just enough support to learn these skills.

A teenager needs to experience success to have the motivation to keep trying. For some teens, this support means having a teacher or mentor who helps them make a schedule and checks in weekly on the assignments and progress.

Taking big projects and breaking them into manageable chunks with due dates for each part can help a teen maintain organization.

Teens, Teachers, and Parents Working Together

A teacher or mentor also needs to have some email communication with both the teenager and a parent so that a teen can have support at home in meeting deadlines. This small team can really help scaffold executive functioning skills for a teenager.

Students with learning disabilities, ADHD or Autism tend to have impaired executive functioning skills already, making this process more difficult than it is for teenagers who have fully functioning prefrontal cortexes. Often, schools are willing to be more accommodating and provide more scaffolding and support for those students who have a disability.

Connect with CLEAR

If you think your child might be struggling more than other students with executive functioning skills, CLEAR Child Psychology can help. We can assess skills to see if a disability is present and/or consult with families to work out a plan to tackle these issues.

Also, on our companion website CLEAPE, we offer free articles on “organizing” that provide more information and strategies to parents and teens. www.cleape.com

Don’t let your teenager put his or her head in the sand. Executive functioning is an important life skill. Get help before challenges escalate and grades start to fall.

Help your student achieve success, build skills and maintain high motivation.

Contact CLEAR today at 303-222-7923 or visit our website at www.clearchildpsychology.com.

August 15, 2018

Parent-Teacher Collaboration: What to Expect and How to Make the Most of Your Relationship

The idea of parent/teacher meetings can be scary or uncomfortable for parents, particularly when your first child is starting school. It’s your first time navigating parent-teacher relationships.
CLEAR Child Psychology offers five points for you to consider as your child begins school. Here’s what you should do in those first weeks or months!

One, get to know your child’s teacher at the beginning of the year. Go to any offered open houses or school tours to meet school personnel. Familiarize yourself with the school and school community.
Early exchange of information about your child should be positive from teachers and parents. Help your child’s teacher get to know all the wonderful things about him or her and build a relationship before addressing any unique learning needs.

Two, if you can, volunteer occasionally in your child’s classroom. These opportunities are another way to understand the classroom and to get to know teachers and aides.
Even spending an hour there once a month will help you gain a better understanding of the classroom structure, flow of the day and other requirements.

Three, teachers and parents should have open email, note or phone communication so that a child’s needs are met through collaboration.
Some classrooms will have websites with information about what the children are learning and links to homework and enrichment information.
Parent-teacher meetings will go more smoothly if you know something about the lessons, homework and day-to-day classroom schedule and interaction.

Four, as a parent it is important to go into a meeting with your own questions.
Be prepared to listen to your child’s teacher and also have information to share or questions to ask about assignments, classroom behavior and aptitude.
If you have concerns that your child is struggling with certain material, share them with his or her teacher so you can be on the same page.
At the same time, hear a teacher’s praise and concerns, thinking all the time about collaboration to meet your child’s needs.

Five, Collaboration is key. If you have ideas about what works for your child at home, share those and expect that your child’s teacher will share what works at school.
For strategies on specific concerns you may have for your child, see www.cleape.com.

If you come into a parent-teacher meeting with a few ideas for your child’s learning, it is more likely that your child’s teacher will share his or her ideas and collaborate with you to best support your child. Win-win!

School and home collaboration is the most effective way to support learning and troubleshoot concerns.

We hope your child has a wonderful school year!

August 7, 2018

Back to School Transitions

Wondering how to get your child ready for school this fall?

As a parent, you know your own child. You know how he or she copes with transitions.

Whether this is your first year of school or your child is going into 5^th grade, some children struggle with the end of summer and the start of the school year.

At times, schools offer camps or activities toward the end of the summer that take place at school. These opportunities can be helpful ways to gradually transition your child back to the school setting.

In the absence of camps or sports activities that get a child back into school, consider other ways to support your child in the weeks leading up to school starting.

First, think about bedtime, wake time, and lunchtime.

Summer schedules change as children attend camp, go on vacation, go to the pool or stay up late to watch those summer action movies.

Try to set up a consistent schedule that closely matches your school schedule.

Gradually ease your child or children back into a regular routine so that they are not shocked when school requires earlier mornings and rules around snack and lunchtime.

Next, take advantage of any opportunity to introduce your child to his or her new teacher in advance. Preferably, find a quiet time to meet the teacher, see the classroom and even find his or her seat or cubby can help a lot.

Give your child a chance to see the structure and expectations, read any classroom rules or see the daily schedule.

Allow your child to tell the teacher about interests, favorite classes, etc. Even 15 minutes to get a glimpse into the school year may help your child get off to the right start.

While not every child in the class may have such an opportunity, request this brief meeting if you know your child struggles with transitions back to school.

Every teacher wants to get the year off to a good start. Your child’s teacher should be open to meeting him or her in advance to improve the probability of a successful first day.

Usually, schools are happy to accommodate you on a teacher training and set up day.

Finally, try to plan some play dates with school friends in the weeks leading up to the transition. See if you can find out who is in your child’s class.

Otherwise, meeting with students in and around your child’s grade level, even to play on the school playground, if accessible, can help your child turn his or her focus back to the fun aspects of school and things to look forward to in the new school year.

Sometimes, difficulty with transitions can be related to general flexibility. Parents might find this article helpful to learn more about helping your child be flexible. https://cleape.com/organizing/flexibility/

If you continue to have concerns for your child, call CLEAR Child Psychology to schedule a consultation.

We hope your child has a smooth transition and a great school year!

July 31, 2018

How www.cleape.com Can Help Educators

What is CLEAPE?

Cleape, Knowing What’s the Matter, is a free tool developed to help parents and educators understand a child’s learning needs.

Developed by clinicians who have worked in schools and who have expertise in areas like school psychology, speech and language pathology, behavioral analysis and occupational therapy, CLEAPE helps parents and educators collaborate and address learning needs.

What will I find on CLEAPE?

www.cleape.com has 99 articles on specific concerns a teacher or parent may have for a child. All the articles are free. Each article contains research-based tips and strategies an educator can try in the “What to do” section.

CLEAPE provides references at the end of each article with up-to-date research.

References also include books and resources a teacher could use and share with a family or parent to help meet the learning needs of a child.

Why was CLEAPE developed?

The MTSS (Multi-tiered Support System) process can feel daunting, which is why CLEAR Child Psychology offers this free resource to encourage collaboration and the use of research-based strategies to meet the needs of a child.

Reliable information at your fingertips to meet professional requirements

As classroom teachers know, when parents and/or teachers have concerns for a child, they are required to implement interventions in the classroom that are research-based to address a specific learning need.

Teachers are required to progress monitor to see if interventions are helpful and to determine if additional supports like a Section 504 Plan or an Individualized Education Program (IEP) are necessary to help a child succeed.

Access targeted strategies, web-based interventions, and resources

At times, parents and teachers will find that a child has needs that require a special plan or other team members like a Speech Pathologist or School Psychologist. Share https://cleape.com/professionals/ with parents.

At other times, teachers and parents will find that a few targeted strategies make all the difference. See https://cleape.com/moving-sensing/handwriting/ for children who have sloppy handwriting. This article provides many strategies a parent and teacher can use to address this issue and help children improve their writing.

If a child is struggling to learn to read, this article provides helpful web-based interventions and strategies to try as well as resources for parents to seek outside tutoring if reading challenges persist https://cleape.com/learning/basic-reading-skills/. We know from the research that early intervention from parents and teachers for reading leads to the best outcomes. A combination of school support and home support can help a child make faster progress.

Sometimes a child has a few social challenges that are not evident until he or she is expected to be successful in a classroom. A teacher can provide a parent with great resources to practice social skills by providing this article https://cleape.com/socializing/parallel-play/. Social skills are another example of a skill that responds best to early intervention and strategies from parents and teachers.

Together, we can improve student outcomes!

We hope this free resource will lead to early interventions and better outcomes for your students. Please share www.cleape.com with your colleagues.

Collaborations with parents can improve student outcomes. Please share www.cleape.com with parents at your school.

Last but not least… Connect with CLEAR

You are not alone. Be in touch with the clinicians who created www.cleape.com by visiting our sister site www.clearchildpsychology.com. We are available to provide professional development to educators, in addition to other supportive services.