Over the last two weeks, I’ve been meeting with parents of the children I’ll be working with this year. A meeting at the beginning of the year is really beneficial to find out about the children who will be attending support. This gives parents an opportunity to meet you, ask questions and share important information about their child.
Some questions to ask;
- Tell me about ___________
- Does he/she have any brothers or sisters?
- How was the summer?
- How has ________ settled back into school?
- Who are ________ closest friends?
- What are the key areas that you would like me to work on? (You will use the recommendations in the psychological report but there might be other areas where the child also needs support and the parent might share these with you – some reports might be 2 or 3 years old and the child may have developed the skills mentioned already).
- How is the class homework working? Would you like me to send additional work of what we are covering home too? (While many children may need to do additional reading/maths work – homework can be a massive battle and parents can be extremely busy so its good to check rather than adding extra pressure!)
You will meet the parent again in October once you know the child and have made the IEP but this introductory meeting is great to touch base with the parents and let them know that their child will be looked after this year.
Remember that every parent is an expert on their child and no matter how many books you’ve read about an additional need – every child is different and a parent is usually the best person to speak to about an individual child so these meetings are really invaluable!
