I have previously addressed how to know when your child needs an individualized educational plan (IEP), but focused on addressing how to identify the need for an IEP in younger children. Often, we begin to see signs of issues related to school when kids are younger. However, it can happen that you may not notice your child is having issues in school until they are in middle or high school. Some students do fine in elementary school, but then find the higher grades much more challenging. Sometimes this is due to the increased complexity of the academic work and/or the increased complexity in navigating social relationships. Here are some indicators that your older child may need to be evaluated for an IEP:
Learning Issues Surfacing
For some students, the increased work demands, expectation of working more independently along with the increased complexity in academics may bring to light what has been a hidden learning disability. Some students, up until this point, have been able to compensate for what has been a learning disability. Now, with the increased demands, it comes to the surface and it is now emerging with symptoms of a problem. Your child, you up until this time, has performed well, or at least well enough, is no longer coming home with As or Bs, but now you are seeing Cs and below. Your daughter, who once loved school, now hates her teachers. Your son, who once had little to no trouble with Math, cannot do word problems and now hates Math class. Perhaps there is a language processing disorder (word problems in Math are language based). Do your child a favor, investigate a possible learning disability, rather than ignoring it as growing pains. It is indeed a growing pain, but it may not go away until appropriately addressed with specialized services your child needs.
Behavioral Problems
- School avoidance is one of the behavioral indicators that something is going on socially/emotionally for your child. It could be that anxiety or depression is being revealed to you.
- Becoming aggressive. When students are becoming aggressive at school, for example getting into fights with other students, or repeatedly failing to meet a teacher’s expectations (failing to do homework assignments, cutting classes, receiving frequent detentions, etc), these could be red flags that something more serious is surfacing.
There are many reasons for a child/adolescent may be feeling anxious or depressed and it may just be a rite of passage. But when a student is regularly avoiding going to school it is critical that you pursue a psychological evaluation in order to put the right supports in place. Your child may feel overwhelmed by the increased academic work load, or it may be the changing social demands.
Lack of communication
If your child previously talked to you about school and what was going on and is increasingly shutting down, this too could be an indication that there is a deeper issue to explore. Try to communicate with your child more often and with candor to see what is going on. Check with the adults at school to see if this is something they are seeing to. Yes, it could just be adolescence rearing its head, but if your child is isolating herself, from you, friends and teachers, do not ignore this but seek an evaluation to determine if your child needs an IEP for social and emotional support.
