Didn’t qualify for Extended School Year? Here are real options to prevent summer regression in the Bay Area.
What Is ESY?
For many families of children with disabilities, the end of the school year brings a mix of excitement and anxiety. While summer can provide a welcome and often much-needed break from the demands of school, it can also raise concerns about lost routines, reduced support, and the possibility of skill regression in the academic and social realms of development.
One of the most common frustrations we hear from parents is: “My child was denied Extended School Year (ESY) services. Now what?” If your child did not qualify for ESY, you are not alone. While ESY can be an important support for some students, many children with disabilities do not meet the school district’s eligibility criteria. The good news is that there are a variety of ways that families can support their child’s growth over the summer, even without school-provided services.
The Summer Regression Risk
Without structure…
- skills decline
- behavior increases
- transitions worsen
Even when a child does not meet the legal criteria for ESY, summer can still present significant challenges. Without structure and routine, many children experience increased anxiety, difficulty with transitions, reduced social opportunities, challenges with emotional regulation, increased screen time, and reduced academic engagement. Obviously, this is a concern for many parents and guardians and can raise parental levels of anxiety as well.
How to Build a Summer Routine
Create Predictable Routines
Children thrive when they know what to expect. Routines, Routines, Routines! Consider consistent wake-up and bedtime routines, daily movement, independent play, social opportunities, reading, learning activities, and quiet downtime.
Some examples may look like going to a park one day, the library the next, and an indoor play space the following day!
Prioritize Social Experiences
Look for opportunities such as social skills groups, summer camps that are neuroaffirming with appropriate supports, community recreation programs, library activities, art classes, playdates, and volunteer opportunities for older students. Also consider virtual socialization; if you can’t see friends or family, can you call or video chat with them?
Increase Family Community Involvement
Community-based experiences help build communication skills, flexibility, problem-solving, self-advocacy, executive functioning, and emotional regulation. Grocery shopping, farmers’ markets, libraries, parks, and public transportation can all provide meaningful learning opportunities for children of all ages.
Support Academic Skills Without Creating Summer School at Home
Focus on reading to your child and supporting independent reading, meeting your child where they are at. Many libraries do a summer reading challenge with a prize at the end! Engage in authentic writing opportunities, such as drawing, writing stories, and having your child dictate a story to you while you act as a scribe. Experiment with speech-to-text for older children who are developmentally ready to do so. Take part in real-world math experiences such as cooking, shopping, board games, and budgeting activities for older children. Work on visual-motor skills and working memory by doing activities like I-Spy at home or outside, walking your neighborhood and creating a map after the walk!
Consider Targeted Remediation
Depending on your child’s needs, consider educational therapy, structured literacy programs, reading intervention, occupational therapy, speech-language therapy, executive functioning coaching, or specialized tutoring. Yet remember that it is summer, so find that balance between targeted remediation and play/experiential learning!
Focus on Regulation Before Academics
A regulated child is a learning child. Prioritize sleep, movement, nutrition, emotional connection, sensory needs, and opportunities for success.
What’s Next?!
Many children experience stress, dysregulation, skill regression, or loss of connection during long breaks in routine. ESY is intended to help prevent regression and support continued access to FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education). So if your child doesn’t qualify, we recommend joining us!
Many neurodivergent children require consistency, co-regulation, sensory support, and relationship-based experiences to remain emotionally available for learning and participation. When schools cannot or will not provide enough summer support, community-centered spaces like Spirited Play Labs and Swings and Wings can help families feel held instead of abandoned.
Spirited Play Labs can…
- Offer consistent groups with familiar adults and peers through Summer Hangouts
- Maintain predictable routines and sensory supports
- Continue opportunities for co-regulation, communication, play and social engagement for children as well as for parents
- Support emerging skills that may be fragile or newly developing
- Help children maintain confidence, identity, and belonging over the summer
- Offer a safe place where families can join one another to connect, celebrate and share the season
BIOS:
Bios:
Dr. Rebecca Hawley is an accomplished leader in Education, Early Intervention, Special Education, and Family Support Services with 25 years of experience across the Bay Area, nationally, and internationally. Her career centers on advancing equitable, developmentally informed, and individualized access to education and related services for children and adolescents ages 2–21.
As an expert in child development, Dr. Hawley integrates research-based developmental frameworks with practical, school-based applications, ensuring that instructional decisions, intervention plans, and service delivery models are grounded in evidence and tailored to the whole child.
In addition to her leadership roles, Dr. Hawley maintains a private practice specializing in special education law advocacy. She represents and advises parents of students with disabilities and mental health needs, guiding them through the complexities of IDEA, IEP processes, ADR, and equitable access to educational supports.
Dr. Hawley holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership with a focus on Child Development and Special Education, as well as a Special Education Law Certificate from Drexel University, where she also serves as an adjunct faculty member. Across all roles, she is recognized for her commitment to inclusive education, her nuanced understanding of child development, and her unwavering dedication to creating learning environments where every student and family can thrive.
Sadiya Kazi-Koya is an Occupational Therapist and Entrepreneur with 20+ years of experience in child development, sensory processing and emotional regulation. She is the founder and owner of Swings and Wings in Alameda, CA. Swings and Wings is an inclusive ecosystem of services that includes sensory-rich play, early education and therapy services. Rooted in a neuro-affirming, sensory play-based philosophy, her work supports both neurodivergent and neurotypical children and families.
Sadiya is passionate about the magic of ‘play’. She believes strongly that play is the occupation of childhood and that intentional play experiences are the key to joyful development of children. She believes that therapy is best practiced outside the clinic and she brings together the worlds of clinical expertise, early childhood education, and community advocacy under one roof — and one mission.