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Tips to improve your families Back-to-School grove

How the Arts can create a whole new world for your special child’s.

How do you teach your kids how to make healthy choices? This article provides you with quick and easy steps that will help your children grow into adults who make conscious healthy choices.

It's August! Back-to-School is right around corner. This is the time that most of us parents start to prepare for the new school year. I start to think about how I can make my boys school year better beyond getting school supplies and  clothes. For a parent of boys who have IEP's I start to prepare for the upcoming school year by doing the following:

• Review the current IEP and the progress reports- this will allow me to know which IEP goals have been successful and which ones they are still working on. This is a key time to review the goals that your child has not made any progress with and ask the question "Why?" and if it should be revised. If they have completed the goal then think about new one's, find ideas in the IEP Bank . 
• Organization - its time to reflect on the schedule your children will have during the school year. It's the time think about bedtimes, therapy schedule, extracurricular activities, screen time and homework. 
• Academic Support- draft a letter to your child's teacher to introduce your child to them and outline your child's diagnoses to open the door of communication. Also, because you will not meet to discuss your child's IEP until a month later after school starts. Opening the dialogue will also smooth your child's transition with new teachers.
• Lunch!! It's easy to say I'll just have my kids eat school inch. But my youngest son has food sensitivities and will literally not eat. I have to start meal planning !! It's the only way to ensure your child is getting the nutrients they need, and will eat.

Since I'm starting to prepare for  back-to-school  I'm going to post this month about preparation ideas and resources. To stay in the loop sign up for the email list.

What is your family dinner type like? Is everyone either watching TV or on their cellphones? Does this sound familiar? My mom turns on the TV and the boys watch TV while their eating and my brother will sit down and try to engage them in conversation to see how their days went. They don't […]

Homework is an important aspect of cultivating your child's Executive Function, which is the set cognitive processes that deal with managing yourself and resources to manage a goal. You may ask WHY? Homework actively activates your child's executive function since they have to plan, initiate, manage their frustration, utilize their working memory, and be flexible to achieve the assignment. Just to be clear children who are in school need homework, the length of the assignment may vary based on age. However, completing homework also gives you as the parent the challenge of letting them access their executive function skills.