New Routines, New Challenges: Supporting Communication & Cognitive Skills During Back-To-School Season
September represents a lot for many of my clients—and for my own family. It’s a season of new beginnings, and with new beginnings often comes change.
For many people of all ages, September means a new school, new teachers, new classrooms, new routines, and new expectations. Parents are navigating those changes right alongside them. And, long story short, we’re all human. Change can be hard for both kids and adults.
Research suggests that acute stress can temporarily affect the cognitive processes that support effective communication, including working memory and thought flexibility. These executive functions are foundational to attention, information processing, problem-solving, organization, and adapting to new situations.
So, how can we support ourselves and our children when change feels overwhelming?
In my house, we’ve been creating a “challenge.”
This week, I created small daily communication goals to give my daughter something concrete to focus on as she navigates her new routine. Rather than focusing on the uncertainty of a new environment, the challenge gives her something purposeful to observe, remember, ask, and share. These are all skills that support communication and cognitive development.
For elementary school-aged children, this could look like a simple daily scavenger hunt:
Tell me the name of one of your classmates.
Ask your teacher one question.
Find something in your classroom that is the color red.
Remember the name of one book in your classroom.
Figure out how to get to the cafeteria.
For young adults returning to high school or college, challenges can be a little more independent and focused on executive functioning:
Talk to one new peer in each class.
Review one course assignment and identify what needs to be completed.
Establish an organization system (e.g., planner, calendar, task list).
Explore or enroll in an extracurricular activity.
Introduce yourself to a teacher or professor.
These seemingly simple prompts can do more than provide a distraction from the stress of change. They create opportunities to practice attention, memory, language, problem-solving, executive functioning, and social communication in a meaningful, real-world setting.
And perhaps most importantly, they gave my daughter something specific to talk about when she got home.
Instead of the sometimes-dreaded “How was school?” we had specific experiences to talk about. She could recount her day, answer questions, and share her thoughts and experiences. All these support language development.
But this concept isn’t just for kids.
Parents, I encourage you to give yourself a daily challenge, too.
It might be as simple as:
Remembering one new parent’s name at drop-off.
Remembering to send in the permission slip.
Asking another parent a question.
Learning one new thing about your child’s classroom.
Taking five minutes to organize tomorrow’s schedule.
Communication goals and cognitive challenges will look different across the lifespan, but the underlying idea is the same:
Give your brain something purposeful to focus on when everything around you feels new.
We all need goals in our lives, both big and small. Sometimes, setting a small, achievable goal can help us redirect our attention, engage our cognitive skills, and feel a little more grounded when we’re navigating change.
So, as we head into this back-to-school season, remember: new beginnings can be exciting, but they can also be hard. Give yourself and your children some grace—and when things feel overwhelming, try giving your brain a small challenge which leaves a meaningful reward.
And if you or your child is having a harder time than expected navigating changes in communication, attention, memory, organization, or executive functioning, know that you don’t have to navigate it alone. At The Rose Speech Therapy Group, we can help build practical strategies and skills that support success across school, work, home, and everyday life.
Wishing all of the families out there—and my teacher and therapy colleagues—a wonderful start to the school year.
Jacquelyn E. Nardelli, M.S., CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologist
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