Starting School With Facial Palsy

June 25, 2025

Our daughter got her school place.

We found out about her transition days and who her teacher was.

We were invited to visit the teacher for a meeting.

I sat down to think about what I wanted to share with her. So many things that our daughter loves – dancing, singing, telling jokes, her sister! She enjoys building blocks, colouring and can recognise and write her own name.

But I realised that during the 10-15 minutes of the meeting slot that we had, I needed to pass on her medical information. Key information about what our daughter would need during a normal school day, how many specialists she sees, including the why and frequency. What accommodations need to be made in the classroom, in the dining room, and the playground. The wording of how we reply to questions about her facial palsy. I felt overwhelmed, and torn about how to spend the time we had.

So I decided to write down everything I wanted her teacher to know. I thought that a 15-minute barrage of information from me would not be helpful at all. Providing this summary sheet enabled our appointment to be full of chat about our daughter’s likes and dislikes, and to share her favourite books and toys. It was a positive experience.

In my (one-side of A4) letter I included:

Her diagnosis, and a brief description of what it is
Particular issues with speech sounds (as phonics is such a big part of the reception year in the UK)
Eyecare requirements and what can make it worse. (I currently send this eyecare tracker with her drops when her eyes are bad, with timings on – download eyecare tracker). I included information about who needs to administer the drops (she can’t do them independently yet) and also information about glasses and the need for her transition lenses/sunglasses to protect her eye.
The sentence we say when people ask about her facial palsy

“She has facial palsy which means that one side of her face doesn’t have enough electricity to move. It doesn’t hurt her. She loves to dance/sing/read etc, what do you like to do?”

You can find more guidance on preparing your response here: Facial Palsy: Coping with comments, questions and staring

A list of medical contacts (contact list template)
Upcoming appointments from September (mid-year calendar template)
Information about what she does when she’s anxious or worried
Her likes/dislikes
Links to relevant websites the teacher might find useful – Facial Palsy UK, Face Equality International, specific charity websites with resources relating to our daughter’s diagnosis.

If you have any questions about your child starting school – please get in touch at support@facialpalsy.org.uk

Consider filling in this form, or using it to form the basis of information that you want to pass on to the school and your child’s new teacher(s): Starting School

Reception is a great time for normalising visible differences, and our book, When Teddy Lost His Smile, can be read to the class or sent home with children to read with their parents.

We still have some School Awareness Packs available to send directly to schools – with a copy of our book When Teddy Lost His Smile, and lots of information to support teachers. You can find out more about these packs, and how to request one, here: School Awareness Packs 2026 – Facial Palsy UK