How to help anxious son adjust to kindergarten?

Question

My son whom just turned six is going to start kindergarten in just a couple weeks. He is so nervous that he has had panic attacks. We could have sent him last year, but knew that socially and emotionally he was not ready. This year he needs to go. He has a 504 plan in place because he is diagnosed with a mood disorder. How can we help him with the major adjustment of starting school? How can we make him feel not so anxious? How can we make his days go by better while there? He has attended the same home based preschool for about three years, but it will still be a big adjustment for him. Preschool only had ten kids and three teachers. Now he will be in a class with sixteen kids...

Answer 1

I went through similar problems with my son.  I tried to explain to him that having other children around would give him new friends to play with.  We also talked a lot about what the teachers might expect of him and what he probably wouldn't be required to do at first.  I told him that he would get to color and learn about numbers and letters. I just kept stressing the fun things that happen at school and how he could be a big boy and get his own tray for lunch.  He liked big trucks so we used the fact that he could ride on the school bus.  That was exciting for him.  Something else that helped was that I always put him on the bus and was always there to get him off.