OT ExpertMessage to all educators....
If there's a student (child or adult) who is often late attending their classes, or getting to school...
Please don't tell them off and punish or ridicule them as a knee-jerk reaction.
Dig deeper
The fact that they've turned up at all will usually be a strong indication that they've tried very hard to get there.
They could have difficulties with:
- Some of their executive functions (organising, planning, time management, prioritisating, working memory)
- Anxiety about certain aspects of attending school/college/uni (bullying, social interaction with students/teachers who don't understand their communication differences, differences in learning styles)
- Difficulties at home
- Poor sleep
- Difficulties with home environment
- Poverty
Please be curious, gentle and explore their reasons why they're late and work with them.
We often don't see the immense effort the person, and their families go through, just to get them there 5 or 10 minutes late.
To sum up....
Be kind, aporoachable and non-judgemental....both to the student and their caregivers.
To paraphrase Dr Ross Greene,
A person does well if they can.
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