"There is no standard child. Every child has talents, passions and abilities unique to them."
- Brad Johnson (author)
Sometimes, despite the best of circumstances, children will struggle with learning when they are in school. Occasionally, the challenges appear soon after a child begins school, while other times challenges emerge as the elementary years progress.
And whenever challenges begin to appear, there are big conversations to be had between parents and the school.
I have been on both sides of the table, so to speak - as the parent of a child experiencing challenges at school - and many, many times as a teacher and/or school administrator attempting to support a family whose child has begun to demonstrate learning complexities.
It is not easy being in either position - these are our children, the humans who embody the greatest emotional investments of our lives. Knowing they are encountering challenging experiences impacts us emotionally - our job is to protect them after all - as well as logically as we try to figure out a cause and the shortest route to a resolution of any problems.
We are their protectors and we are also their life-guides, especially when children are very young. Navigating school-related challenges feels like something we should be able to do quite easily because we were all students ourselves at one time.
Emotional responses from parents are essential because they ensure the family will be there to support their child no matter what happens - ever! Emotional responses require empathy and patience on behalf of the school as we all come to accept and understand whatever challenges a child is encountering, and together we continue to place the emotional safety and physical well-being of each child at the centre of our thinking.
Logical responses from parents are essential as well - the questions, suggestions, approaches offered from a learner's family are the beginning steps towards discovering and implementing the best possible supports for each child. And logical responses from the school should offer a pathway to discovery and implementation of those supports.
It is when the emotional responses and the logical responses become tangled together that the biggest conversations occur. It's been my experience this almost always happens whenever any child is finding school to be a struggle for any reason - it is almost inevitable that families and school staff will spend time working through possibilities, concerns, fears, questions, suggestions together before any learner is able to feel supported with whatever learning challenge they are facing in school.
I am going to try and unpack these processes a bit over the final few blog entries I will be writing as Principal of Eric Harvie School, since my retirement from this position will occur in just a few weeks. Supporting families, learners and school staff through the processes that emerge when a learner begins to struggle in school requires a significant investment of time, focus and opportunities by school administrators. It is my hope to clarify some of what occurs and what parents might expect that will be of greatest benefit to learners who find themselves encountering challenges in their school.
The most important thing to never forget is that successful support for learners encountering difficulties in schools demands a collaborative, team effort on behalf of both the school and families. Success for learners requires collaboration, sharing and open communication between home and school at all times. It will require their entwined emotional and logical responses to successfully implementation of support for learners.
****************************
When learners begin to experience school as an overly challenging situation, their challenges will usually be presented in six key ways:
- executive functioning concerns
- issues related to attention and focus
- anxiety
- behaviour
- communication
- significant challenges with learning
Sometimes more than one challenge will be represented with one child - this is a fairly common situation and one that schools are well-prepared to respond to with appropriate supports.
Schools always have an organized approach to any issue that becomes a clear indiction a learner is struggling. Often these challenges are best met with suggestions from the teacher - perhaps a checklist to help with organization, or reinforcement at both home and school focused on sharing, asking questions, making requests to go to the bathroom, etc. Simple challenges that are quite quickly resolved are the daily work of classroom teachers and families, working together.
When struggles with learning become too impactful to be handled simply - whether the struggles reflect an actual learning component or an interruption to learning in some way that is prompted by inappropriate behaviour, attention issues, anxieties, communication or self-regulation - then the concern is usually elevated to 'the school learning team' (SLT). This might include any or all Resource or Diversity support teachers, Learning Leaders or school administration. The purpose of the SLT is to acknowledge a child's learning concern and then begin to explore best strategies for meeting that child's learning needs in the school.
The SLT might recommend in-school support with an Educational Assistant, additional teacher support for literacy or math, small group instruction or a school program such as SPARK, Discovery, CALM or another school-developed support approach. Or they might recommend a learner be seen for a speech and language referral, OT/PT assessment, pediatric assessment, social/emotional assessment, psycho-educational assessment, counseling or behaviour support assessment. There are many strategies the SLT might recommend to begin the process of assessing the best ways to mitigate and support a learner who is struggling.
Once the SLT has met, then the parents will be engaged in more formal conversations regarding the recommendations. Communication between school and home becomes more frequent and directed - this might include a 'day book' or frequent messaging communication between home and school, with the intention of tracking successes and misses related to strategy implementation.
An external recommendation for one of these types of assessment may also result in the creation of an IPP (Individual Program Plan) that clearly describes the goals and processes to support each student in achieving their best learning. Not every learning challenge requires an IPP; however, when one is required it is a way to formalize the support and the IPP will also ensure support for a learner through to high school and even college/university.
Whenever a learner is struggling, communication between school and home becomes of paramount importance. Keeping an open mind and honouring the very best interests of the child, the family and the school will be what ultimately supports the best learner success, no matter what the nature of the learning challenges might be.
There will need to be big conversations about the what, the why, next steps and ongoing adjustments. The most important thing to remember - no matter which side of the table one is sitting - is to hold the child at the centre of the discussion, the decisions and the adjustments.
We are a team, collaborating to best meet the child's learning needs at all times.
Next blog entry I will explore the nature and representations of the various challenges children most frequently demonstrate at school, to build understanding and clarity of the processes schools often suggest.
Lorraine Kinsman, Principal
Eric Harvie School
No comments:
Post a Comment