How Do I Maintain A Positive Relationship With The School/Teacher?

Oct. 23, 2008 -- Question: How do I maintain a positive relationship with the school/teacher, and what should I do if I feel my child's needs are not being served?

Answer: Maintaining a positive relationship with the school and the school personnel is important especially if you feel like your child's needs are not being met. It's best to have that sort of open discussion with the teacher first and really talk about, "These are the problems I'm seeing, this is what I really think needs to be done," and then getting his or her input into what those concerns are rather than just jumping in and saying, "We're going to have an attorney come in and help us do this."

When you have concerns, it's also good to really make sure you stress the positive things that have been happening with your child as well, not just focusing on the negative things. And really when you have concerns, don't bring it as sort of a personal attack on either the teacher or the school system. You want to make sure that everyone is working together because the goal is to provide the best services and the best educational treatment for your child, not this relationship between the parents and the school as well.

Some things that parents have found that helps build that relationship is recognizing the teacher during Teacher Appreciation Week or during the holiday, giving a little gift or something like that so they know that you're seeing them as a meaningful part of the team.