Working with anxiety - a blog from our Education Manager

Posted Thu 30th Apr 2020 at 09:43
by Lucy Toghill

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How is everyone doing? I know that this has been a very difficult month for many with a lot of anxiety around the uncertainty of school and the Coronavirus. This home schooling isn’t as easy as it sounds is it? I know from my own experience of this with working from home and having two SEN children to home school, it’s been a very big learning curve and a test of all our personal tolerances!! Like many of you, we are slowly trying to find our feet and are trying very hard to adapt to the new routine of learning at home. I haven’t always got it right and the parent guilt of allowing far too much screen time at times has been playing on my mind but I just keep reassuring myself by knowing that I am doing my best and that’s all we can do.

I expect your children will have been sent work and resources home from their schools for you to keep them occupied with but please do remember this may not necessarily be differentiated for the needs of all children and may rely on you judging how much your child is capable of completing especially if your child has any SEN or an EHCP. All children will be different in the amount of work they can cope with in the unusual setting of learning at home and we must remember that it is not a normal situation to be in. Feel free to contact your child’s school for guidance, as I know they will be there willing to answer any of your questions. Here is a useful link to great home schooling advice and resources for both teachers and parents if you feel you may need it.

We must remember not to look at social media too much and not to compare ourselves to other families that may be doing things differently to ours. That’s ok as every family is different and will all be managing this situation in different ways. Only you will know your children and know about how they will best cope and get through this trying time. 

I am living in the hope that schools may get a chance to go back after May half term and if not, then I will be providing lots of advice, support and resources on transition in our next newsletter in May. We know that if the children aren’t allowed back to school until September, that they will be missing out on celebrating an end of an era, and some closure of completing their school year.  For many, it is an end to their primary school years where they have spent most of their childhoods; with the next stop being the big wide world of Secondary School. This may also be a difficult time for those finishing high school and not able to experience their last days celebrating with their peers and teachers with exams, parties and proms. I know schools will be doing their best to make sure children still get these experiences at some point before September if they can.

Here is a link to a video about managing anxiety by Specialist Teacher Katie Skinner.  

And you can visit our Coronavirus update page here for more resources on Anxiety. 

Here is a link to TA’s Anxiety factsheet you may find useful.

Last month I wrote a blog about some specific tips on home learning you can read it here

Do you know….we can contact your child’s feeder school if you feel that their current school may not have a chance to pass on any TS knowledge and awareness? We can provide advice, support, resources and teacher training for schools so that they can be ready and best prepared for when your children join them in September.

We also have a new presentation available for primary schools, that they can use to show year groups or individual classes in order to help peers understand TS better; and ways in which they can help their friends?

Please do get in touch with me or pass my details onto school if you feel any of these resources would be useful and please do get in touch if there is anything specific to your child in school that I may be able to help you with. lucy@tourettes-action.org.uk

Take care and stay safe,

Lucy

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