Happy Veteran’s Day: Tips on Preparing for Deployment

Tips on Preparing Your Child for an a Potential Deployment

With Veteran’s Day being celebrated tomorrow, BHW wanted to honor all of our military families with a special post on helping families prepare for potential upcoming deployments when the entire family makes the move.

Change may be a challenging task for many individuals on the autism spectrum and deployment may be an overwhelmingly difficult task for them. BHW is here to help with (5) tips in preparation for an upcoming move/deployment.

Hit the Ground Running

Every educator knows that a child’s academic progress is connected to the consistency at home and school. The longer a child is at the same school, with the same teachers and under the watch of the same special education professionals, the higher the likelihood that he or she will have at progressing positively. It can be challenging to establish consistency in the military arena but it can become more doable when you hit the ground running as soon as you arrive at your next location. Here are a few factors to take into consideration:

Life

Life gets busy and we all know it. Moving to a new area, maybe even to a new country where you may not know how to speak the language, makes it extremely challenging. But amidst the transition, prioritize obtaining services for your child’s special education needs. Connect with the local school in this new area as one of your big todo’s in your first week. That way, you get the IEP process rolling.

A New Start

It is quite normal for parents to associate moving to a new school with their child no longer needing services. This hope is very common but please don’t make this decision on your own without clinical/medical professional assistance. It is extremely important to have licensed professionals make this decision, purely on medical and behavioral standards, to determine what is best for your loved one. We highly recommend that you connect with the new school’s special education team and your insurance provider to identify how to maintain your previous therapy or special education service schedules while you’re having medical professionals assess this new life stage.

Full Disclosure

We recommend full disclosure to your new team of teachers, doctors, and any other treatment partners that will come alongside your loved one in this new journey. By providing a comprehensive history and background to your treatment professionals, your child will not only have an easier transition into this new world but they will also have a more effective and consistent level of therapy that closely matches to what they experienced before the move.

Connect With Your Support Network

Get to know other families who have special needs children and learn the local landscape of ASD treatment organizations, ABA therapy providers and support groups.