Return to School

Return to school? Ready to return to school?? I myself am nervous and troubled!!! I am concerned that my son’s education is not being treated as a priority, and I will not be enough in supporting him. At the onset of COVID-19 I, like so many, got a taste of what my child’s learning looked like. For him, his poor behavioral control (due to online context and being at home) kept us from getting work done. Tears, shouting, and frustration was my daily life, and we were both at a tipping point. Thankfully, we made it to summer and welcomed the break but now here we are with more uncertainty. I don’t know that I am looking forward to the fall. But I can say that I am grateful for my profession. Because of it, I have been able to make some changes for my son for the better.

What is Your Role?

I realized a few things through the meltdowns. My role in my child’s education is being his cheerleader; supporting his efforts and also being his “sounding board” by supporting his social-emotional skills. Therefore, I began drawing on my OT training. I started implementing “interventions” that I knew would support his behavior in order to support the education challenges. I am happy to see his emotions becoming more mature even when given
challenges. I encourage all of us parents to figure out what “role” we want to play in our children’s experiences.

How Can MOSAIC Help with Return to School?

In addition, I want parents to know that we are here for you. If you find you have questions or concerns about behaviors or learning challenges, or you recognized that your child needed more support during this time, we might be the help you are looking for. Your first thought might be how would physical, speech, and occupational therapy help in my child’s learning and with the current gaps in education provision? I am here to tell you that each of these therapies address learning and support education efforts; from help in PE participation to spelling/reading issues or simple management of time and organization. Additionally, we have specialized training in learning disabilities, learning challenges, dyslexia, ADHD, and emotional skill development (social skills and behaviors).

If you have found yourself following links on Facebook, looking up things on the internet, and trying to take on more by creating activities by yourself, please reach out to our clinic. We would love to answer any questions and be of more help to our community. As one member of our Mosaic community told me recently; having a weekly therapy session was the most helpful thing in creating reassurance that the child was continuing to make progress even when school wasn’t fully in session.

Here are some common issues that you might be concerned about:

• Firstly – Learning barriers may include inattention, lack of confidence, unable to self-initiate work
• Secondly – Executive function difficulties include attention, emotional control, working memory, planning, organization, self-monitoring, and time-management
• Thirdly – Emotional challenges may include increased reactivity, depressed behaviors, reduced social skills, reduced motivation

In addition, if you are looking for activities to work on with your kids, here are some great science experiments you can do at home.