Does your child have ADHD, a learning disability, or another special need that makes school especially challenging? Do you find it frustrating when teachers don’t understand your child’s behavior or inconsistent academic performance? Are you worried about how your child will fare during this school year?
These are common concerns that I hear from parents. One way to effectively address a child’s educational needs is by writing an informative letter to teachers. The optimal time to do this is at the beginning of the year before homework hits hard and projects pile up. The purpose of the letter is to give parents an opportunity to provide crucial knowledge and important strategies to help teachers accommodate their child most effectively. Parents know what has been tried, what has failed, and what works best. It’s much better to inform Johnny’s teacher in advance that he is prone to severe, debilitating anxiety when asked to read aloud, than have to leave work to deal with a terrified child and bewildered teacher. Giving teachers a “heads up” helps to prevent these misunderstandings, frustrations, and potential crises during the year.
Sometimes parents are reluctant to write a letter because they feel as though they might “make waves”. Remember, our goal in writing a beginning of the year letter is to provide important information that will be helpful to teachers. We shouldn’t give examples of past negative experiences with other teachers, make unrealistic demands, or berate the school district for shortcomings. In my experience, a clear, well-meaning, solution-oriented letter is not considered an imposition but one that is usually gratefully received because it takes out a lot of the guesswork for teachers.
When helping parents write the letter, I typically work with them to identify which areas (academic, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, etc.) need to be discussed based on current problems. We then go into more detail to identify specific symptoms that effect school performance. Lastly, we discuss which strategies work or don’t work. I organize this information and help parents write a strong, well-organized letter based on the outline I’ve developed below.
1) Introductory paragraph:
- Write a positive greeting
- Introduce yourself and your child
- State why you are writing the letter (“I am writing to you because…”)
- State the diagnoses that impact your child’s school performance
- Briefly describe academic strengths as well as challenges
2) Body of letter (there are two paragraph types, A and B):
A) List the problems and solutions (each paragraph should contain the following three elements)
- State the problem as it relates to the diagnosis. Be very specific so there is no confusion and explain terms if needed.
- Give specific examples of how the symptoms manifest so teachers know what to look out for.
- Is there a solution? If there is one, state the strategy that works to resolve the problem, restate the IEP accommodation, or propose another plan of action.
B) Describe the services that are currently in place that you think the teacher should know about (medication, speech pathologist, tutor). Explain how each method relates to the student’s disorder. Discuss how the intervention is expected to help (or is helping) your child, and what the teacher should look out for (“We hope that over the next several weeks Johnny will be able to focus a lot better.”)
3) Conclusion
- Restate your intention (“I hope that you find this information is helpful.”)
- Express your interest in keeping an open dialogue and that you will be following up on your child’s progress.
- Give your contact information.
- Close with a “Thank you!”
A SAMPLE LETTER TO HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS
Using the outline above, a parent and I collaborated on writing a letter for her son, one of my students. Here is a copy of the letter below. Please note: Jessica Smith, James Smith, and Wielkinborough High School are fictitious names. Other potentially identifying details of this letter have been changed to protect the confidentiality of both the parent and student.
Hello Wielkinborough High School teachers!
My name is Jessica Smith and I am the mother of James Smith, who is now entering the 11th grade. I’m writing to introduce you to James so that you can better understand him and his educational needs. James is diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder and ADHD, and has been granted IEP accommodations. However, James is atypical in that he is also considered “gifted”. Since James is often quiet in class, respectful to others, excels in math and the sciences, and has superior verbal ability, his disability is often misunderstood or overlooked. Here are some things that I’d like to bring to your attention:
1) James suffers from severe executive dysfunction which manifests as disorganization, problems with time management, memory, and planning ahead. Even when prompted, he often forgets to write assignments down. James also has trouble breaking down long-term projects into manageable pieces. We have found that when his teachers post homework assignments on the class website on a daily basis, or email a syllabus, this has helped him significantly. James has also been granted a due date extension accommodation for assignments that he sometimes needs to use.
2) James’s lateness with assignments is sometimes misinterpreted as laziness or as if he’s doing it on purpose. I can assure you that this is not the case. Even though James takes medication for his ADHD, he still has trouble focusing, especially later in the day. Some days he is more focused than others and this effects how productive he is on a given day.
3) Mental flexibility is a challenge for kids with Asperger’s. James sometimes gets mentally stuck on assignments and has problems elaborating on his ideas when he writes. He also takes things very literally. Having his tutor available after school helps him to organize his thoughts while writing, but James can get frustrated and shut down if he steps outside of his comfort zone. Therefore, he will often need extended time on essays and additional help on writing assignments.
4) Kids with Asperger’s have problems with social interaction. They have difficulty approaching people and initiating conversation with others. Therefore, James usually does not approach teachers. Last year he struggled with handing in assignments on time, even if they were completed. James is comfortable with emailing assignments and this worked last year. We want to continue this strategy but also encourage dialogue between him and his teachers so he can feel more comfortable approaching them.
5) Last year I hired a tutor/learning coach to help James stay organized and on track with his assignments. This year, James will be continuing with his tutor several days a week. Please email his tutor if any assignments are missing and if you’d like to collaborate on educational strategies that can help James. James’s tutor also reminds him to log onto the school website to check for homework assignments and to ensure they have been handed in, but sometimes things slip through the cracks.
I’m hoping that you find this information is helpful. I’d like to keep an open dialogue with you during the year so that we can resolve any issues that may arise. Please contact me whenever you feel the need via email at ??? or by phone ??? . Thanks so much!
Sincerely,
Jessica Smith
MODERN ACADEMICS 