Easing back into the school schedule – Making sure you don’t lose all the amazing progress you made in the fall

By Stephanie Bates, M.A., BCBA, LBA – Director, Behavioral Health

Returning to the school schedule, setting, and demands can be hard on all of us after 2 weeks off; and these effects are especially pronounced in students receiving additional therapeutic supports. Through the fall semester, you probably worked through some of the ups and downs of getting students acclimated to the demands of the classroom and transitions to new teachers, new classrooms, etc. And after all that hard work, Winter Break comes and changes the whole schedule; and the very last thing anyone wants is to lose that momentum when returning.  

Planning in advance to use these strategies can help avoid “backsliding”: 

1. Take it slow the first few days 

Start “back a step” on work demands and slowly increase over the first week 

• Did you start the year at 5 minutes of work before taking a break and build up to 20 minutes? Step back to 10 or 12 minutes on the first day back to increase the likelihood of success then rebuild the same way you did in the fall 

• Was your student successful with only a start and end of day check in with the resource room teacher? Add a midday check in to help them succeed for the full school day 

2. Build in extra breaks throughout the day 

Going from no structure / schedule to a nonstop scheduled day is HARD – even 3 to 5 minutes between structured tasks can reinforce success and “reset” the focus 

• Movement breaks to get oxygen & blood pumping through the body are good at any age 

• Try movement songs, a walk around the building, follow the leader, 2-3 minutes of yoga poses and breathing, etc.  

• Reinforce requested breaks as much as feasible – remind them the value of self-advocacy 

3. Provide more preparation time and visual signals for transitions 

Recall what was helpful in the early fall and make sure to have those handy this week 

• Visual timers, picture schedules, verbal countdowns of when activities would be ending, etc.  

4. Increase reinforcement for routine tasks 

When getting back to routines, contacting the most “success” possible is invaluable, even if success doesn’t look exactly like the best you’ve ever done 

• Instead of focusing on only the “best” from before break, remember to remind them when they are successful at the “easy stuff”  

• May be praise, thumbs up, extra minute on break, etc. 

• Think of things like sitting in the chair, saying something nice to a peer, looking at you when you address the class, remembering where their folder goes, etc.  

5. Make the work extra engaging or simplified 

Reintroducing small changes for a few days can help reinforce participation in “the hard stuff” 

• Curricular revisions like using preferred characters or splitting one activity into 3 smaller pieces, etc. are always a great strategy for building momentum 

• Consider the schedule / order of activities to put easy ones at the start of the day so students can start off with a win 

You know your students are capable of great things – you saw it day in and day out leading up to the break. Giving them time to regain their confidence and stamina for the school day can do wonders for ensuring that rate of learning continues through the rest of the year!