Transitions for children and young people with SEND

Visit the setting/school with your child as many times as possible to prepare them for what it looks like visually and for them to have an idea of where everything thing is within the school/setting environment.

While you are there, you could take some photos of their classroom, central areas like reception, school hall, playground, where they would put their things and maybe a picture of their teacher. These could then be used to create a social story which can be really helpful in preparing them for what’s to come.

For more information about social stories and how to create them, The National Autistic Society have created an information page with lots of information about social stories.

This is so useful to give the setting/school a good background of your child and young person. This could include:

• Hobbies
• Likes/dislikes
• Triggers
• Things to be aware of in respect of any challenges or difficulties your child may experience in a school environment
• A picture of your child
• The things they like to talk about outside of school, this is so important

If you would like an example template to create your own child/young person passport, contact the 0-25 Service and they can forward a copy to you.

Create excitement and a positive introduction to their new school.

Make a day of it by going to buy uniform and items for school. Go for lunch or for a treat after buying the essentials and spend some time talking to your child or young person about how they are feeling about starting their new school.

Children and young people are mostly excited about starting school and it’s good to create a positive mindset around this.

They may also express they are anxious or worried about some things so it’s good to talk about this in a relaxed environment and you can talk through any of their worries or concerns.

Plan for the first day, what time will they get up, eat breakfast, get dressed, how are they going to get to school.

Ask school for a plan of the day and what they can expect when they arrive at school.

Visual timetables are really helpful and can help to prepare your child for the day ahead and avoid too much anxiety about what they can expect to happen during the school day. You can incorporate pictures and key words in the visual timetable.

Contact the school for example visual timetables you can tailor to your child’s daily schedule.

Spend some time creating a positive relationship with your child’s teacher and SENCO. It is so important for effective and regular communication, whether that be via email/face to face or via telephone. It requires joint effort to create a positive relationship and starting off on this footing from the very start is really helpful.

You could introduce a home to school book, where you can write anything that happens at home that the teacher needs to be aware of and vice versa with the teacher noting down anything that happens at school.

Having a full view of the child or young person really helps to understand how they are getting on and a background as to how their mornings gone before they arrive at school and equally as a parent, if there is anything to be aware of when they return home from school.