Moving from the slower-paced days of summer to the early alarm clock and looming deadlines of a new school year can make for a difficult transition. This can be particularly challenging for juniors and seniors, as most students who plan to attend college are well aware they need to do well in their classes and participate in some activities outside of class.

In my last newsletter, I suggested that you and your child set up a meeting to establish some goals for the school year. I hope you were able to do that.

Regardless, now that school has been in session for several weeks, it is time to revisit the goals and adjust them based on what is really happening. Many teachers and college staff have noticed that students have lost academic ground during the Covid years. They have also become less resilient. That’s understandable; with drastically fewer face-to-face interactions, they have not had as much practice using their coping skills.

If your child is working with a therapist, tutor, academic coach, or checks in with teachers / staff at school, that person(s) should be involved in developing their goals. This way, it is not just business as usual to get homework completed – there is a plan to work on the areas that need improvement, whether study skills, organization, time management, reading comprehension, or math/writing skills.

Your child may also have goals to be more independent in waking in the morning, making their own appointments, learning how to calm themselves when needed, or initiating more interaction with peers outside of school. These are all areas that will improve somewhat with maturity and time, but without direct intervention during the high school years, may not occur soon enough for success in college.

It is still early in the year and this is a perfect time for a meeting with your child and anyone working on their behalf to update goals based on where your student is at this point. College will be here before you know it and this is the time to build the skills needed to be successful!