Communicating with your Child’s Teacher

24 Jan Communicating with your Child’s Teacher

Building a positive partnership with your child’s teacher: Suggestions for parents of neurodivergent children

Here are some key strategies to help foster a successful partnership with your child’s teacher.

Collaboration is Key

For neurodiverse children—whether they have autism, ADHD, dyslexia or another condition—working collaboratively with teachers is essential to ensure they feel supported, understood, and empowered to succeed. 

Ensure a successful start to the school year.

• Starting a new school year brings mixed emotions for neurodivergent kids and parents: often feelings of excitement, but also overwhelm.
• Parents play a key role in supporting their children and advocating for their needs.
• Reach out to the teacher early (even before school starts) to introduce yourself and your child.

Share a positive, neurodiverse-affirming summary of your child’s strengths and challenges. 

• Create a strengths-based profile page for your child to introduce them to teachers.
• Include:

• Strengths and Interests: Highlight what your child loves and excels at (e.g., “Jane has a great sense of humour and loves drawing animals”).
• Learning Preferences: Share what strategies work best for your child, such as visual aids, movement breaks, or quiet spaces.
• Sensory Needs: Mention sensory sensitivities or needs (e.g., “Jake may feel overwhelmed by loud noises and benefits from noise-canceling headphones”).
• Challenges and Support Strategies: Frame challenges positively and suggest practical solutions (e.g., “Ellie sometimes struggles with transitions, but giving her a 5-minute warning helps”).
• Preferred Communication Style: Indicate how your child best expresses themselves and how they prefer to receive instructions or feedback.

• Where appropriate, involve your child in creating the page.
• For very young children, it could be: one thing they enjoy at school, one thing they are good at, and one thing they would like help with at school.
• Share the page with your child’s teacher early on in the school year.
• Let relief teachers know about the child’s profile as a quick way to get to know them.

Communicating regularly with your child’s teacher is key to your child’s success.

• Regular check-ins to discuss their progress and any challenges.
• Find out the teacher’s preferred method of communication, be it email, phone, or in-person meetings before or after school.
• Be respectful of the teacher’s commitments to other students in class and other school requirements.
• Aim to have consistency in routines and strategies between home and school, e.g. similar schedules.
• Document important discussions by sending a follow-up email summarising key points to ensure all on the same page.
• Communicate big life changes, e.g., moving house, new baby, changes in home routines, and well as immediate concerns, e.g. health issues that could affect the child at school.
• Let the teacher know the importance of communicating any significant events or changes in routines so you have time to give your child a warning – may want to use a communication book or something similar.
• Remember to celebrate achievements with your child’s teacher

Be Open and Solution-focussed

• When challenges arise, approach them collaboratively.
• Instead of focusing solely on the problem, work together to identify strategies that can help.
• For example, if your child struggles with completing homework, brainstorm ways to modify tasks or adjust deadlines to reduce stress.
• Use non-blaming language that promotes team work, for example ”how can we work on this problem to get the best outcome for my child”
• Practice active listening where you show understanding of the teacher’s perspective  and let them know they are being heard.

Build Self-Advocacy Skills

• Help your child learn to communicate their needs effectively to their teacher.
• Child with dyslexia: could ask for more time on reading tasks
• Child with ADHD: request a movement break
• Child with autism: use a visual cue to indicate a need for quiet time
• Practice common scenarios at home through role-playing and liaise with the teacher about what you are doing to ensure it will be well received.
• Teaching your child to self-advocate builds confidence and strengthens their relationship with their teacher, and this is a skill for life.

Celebrate Neurodiversity

• Encourage a strengths-based approach by modelling this yourself as a parent.
• Find opportunities for your child’s unique talents and strengths to be recognised as a valuable part of the classroom community, e.g. in charge of certain classroom jobs, structured leadership roles, set up a club that involve your child’s special interest.  
• This will foster a more inclusive environment where your child feels understood and appreciated.

Final Point

• Remember that both parents and teachers are on the same team. 
• Show empathy for each other’s strengths and challenges.
• Parents have a deep understanding of their children and are their best advocates.
• Educators have experience working with a wide range of children with different needs in a classroom context.

If you would like further support in relation to any of these concerns, such as building self-advocacy and communication skills please contact us at Prosper Health Collective for further information on 6381 0071.