Middle School Transition for a Child with Autism – Part 1
Middle School Transition for a Child with Autism – Part One
Elementary school to middle school
In the spring, I asked my child how he felt about his transition from elementary school to middle school.
He said he felt good about it, and he said his mom is “overly worried.”
Why was I worried?
My son had been at the same school for seven years–K through sixth grade. Both my son and his parents were comfortable at this school.
Most importantly, many of kids knew my son. They “got” him and accepted his “uniqueness.”
He could run and flap his arms and most of the kids would say, “Oh, that’s just ______. No big deal.”
I’m a planner
My son’s transition to middle school had been on my mind for two years before it even happened. I talked to parents with older kids as well as a few middle schoolers.
I wanted as much information as possible before it actually happened.
Which allowed my son to call me, “overly worried.”
Being a mom
That’s what I called it. Prepared. Responsible. Ahead.
What was I really worried about?
Bullying.
The bully issue
My son was going now going to attend a school where most of the kids DIDN’T know him.
That thought made me worried and nervous.
How did we prepare for this big transition?
Besides other things, we talked with him about bullying.
How to deal with a bully.
We discussed options on how to handle a bully.
1. Ignore the bully and walk away
2. Let the bully have his or her say. Typically, the bully will walk away.
3. Tell an adult.
Tell an adult
We have always stressed to our son that he can tell us anything.
When it comes to school, we want to know if he’d been bullied.
If a peer said something negative, mean, or hurtful, he needs to tell us or tell someone. If it’s not me or his dad, then an adult at school.
Counselors
I told my son about the school counselors at middle school. They are there to help students and they provide a safe place to report bullying.
Were we worried about anything else?
The new location. The campus was big and unfamiliar.
Seven years in one location meant my son was comfortable. At the elementary school, he knew where the auditorium was, where the library was, etc.
The middle school is not only a new location, but the campus is very large.
We did three things to help him get used to the new location.
Before he began middle school
1. Four or five times during the previous year, after taking our dog to the park on a Sunday, my son and I would stopped at the middle school and walked around.
The front gate was unlocked because various sports teams used the practice fields on Sundays.
We couldn’t get into any buildings, of course.
However, just walking around from building to building, was helpful to my son.
2. Orientation night.
Try not to miss your child’s orientation night. This is not the day where they get their schedules and lockers. Orientation night is a meeting for parents to get them familiar with the middle school system.
However, we cheated a bit and brought our son with us.
Why did we bring him to parent orientation night?
So after the meeting, we could walk around the campus with him.
The hallways were open so we could walk through the buildings.
3. Drop in on the previous year’s Open House night. The middle school administration welcomes incoming seventh graders to peek at their new campus on the Open House night.
4. Summer classes. Our son is very good academically, with the exception of English.
He has had trouble with abstract concepts of reading material. In fact, any concept that’s not concrete.
We coordinated with the elementary school RSP person to get our child into a summer English class.
The summer BEFORE he officially went to middle school.
A class on campus
The class served a dual purpose.
It allowed our child to review sixth grade English and get a peek at seventh grade English.
More importantly, he would be on the new campus for four weeks during the summer before he attended middle school.
This allowed him to get comfortable at his new school.
A bonus
Our child really liked his summer school teacher. He seemed to get along with her well and felt comfortable.
I took it a step further and requested this teacher be my son’s seventh grade English teacher.
He got her!
Here is an article with suggestions about middle school and autism:
In my next blog, I’ll continue to dissect my son’s transition from elementary school to middle school. Middle School Transition for a Child with Autism – Part 1
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