In the past several school years, I've always included a note with our final progress reports to contact me over the summer with any questions or concerns. And it's always a quiet summer - until this year. I got an email from the parent of a student I work with on fluency skills with a video attached. This student made a little video to show how she was practicing her fluency, and that even though she's been "way too bumpy" in the past few months, she's still working hard and misses me. It was the sweetest video and I've probably watched it 8 times already this morning/afternoon. What a wonderful surprise! I usually check my emails on Mondays during the summer, and Mondays only, so it was perfect timing, as they had sent the video on Saturday and I was able to respond fairly quickly.
Communicating with them reminded me of how important the school to home connection is in our jobs. When in a clinical, home-based, or private setting, parents often have the ability to watch a session so they know what to do at home. That doesn't happen in schools. It's something I've offered to parents at IEP meetings; if you want to set up an appointment to come in and either talk with me about what to do at home, or work with me and your child to see what we do, please let me know. I've never had a parent take me up on that, either, but it's something I may try to push for a little more this year.
Our district switched to a trimester schedule during the pandemic (our virtual year), and has remained with it. I absolutely love it because it's one fewer time per year that I'm writing progress reports, but many families aren't so keen on it - particularly with my non-public buildings who are still on a quarterly schedule. One way I've worked with them on that is with monthly update sheets. They get a quick note home in any month when we haven't had a service plan meeting or a progress report, as well as a 'show off skill' sheet (aka, homework). The kids don't like the H-word, so we usually pick a few skills they've gotten good at for the month that they want to show off at home. The parents have expressed that they appreciate knowing what to do without being bombarded on a weekly basis, and appreciate the update. It takes me about 30 minutes to complete the sheets every month (for about 20 kids), so it isn't TOO much out of a week!
Last year, during a departmental meeting, a colleague who worked primarily with walk-in students (usually preK kids) mentioned her frustration that the parents wanted to talk after sessions to understand what to do, and she didn't have the time in her schedule. I shared these sheets that I used, and my colleagues all asked if I'd mind sharing. The colleague with the walk-ins told me a few months later that it had significantly helped her keep on schedule when the families knew they'd get a monthly update, and they'd either call or email, rather than hound her at the end of a session. So I thought, maybe it would help others as well!
In the spirit of "try before you buy," there's a FREE version as well as the full-year paid version.
Here's how I use them:
- I figure out how many notes I need for the month and divide that into whether I need the articulation sheet or the open ended sheet to go with it. Then I'll make a copy of the parent note on one side and show-off sheet on the other (for less paper waste), and make enough copies for what I need.
- About a week before the month ends, I'll start to fill in the sheet with just a quick description of what we've worked on (/ar/ in words, /s/ blends in sentences, answering who/what questions from 3 sentences of a story). I'll also give them an idea of where I'd like to be in the next month (next month, we'll work on: same; increasing to phrases; fewer cues or more response choices for independence). Notes from the SLP are usually brief, such as a reminder about an upcoming meeting, 'I hear a lot more carryover in conversation', etc.
Example of a parent communication sheet for October. - Then I'll fill out the back of the sheet with words the student has done particularly well on, or language skills (name 3 in each category, describe each word using 3 attributes), so they can 'show off' how well they've done and get some well-deserved praise.
Example of an open-ended 'show off' sheet. 
Example of a show-off page used for articulation - During our last session of the month, it's 'show-off day'. Most of the students who receive these pages are at my non-public buildings or in self-contained classrooms, and don't participate in the rewards system that I use with my gen ed public school students, so this is also their 'prize box day'. We review what I've written on the note and practice what's on the back. After that, we'll usually do one additional activity before they get to pick from the prize box.
- The sheets I complete are for the entire month; so at the end of September, the September Summary gets sent home. Our trimesters end in November, March, and June, so no notes go home that month, since they're receiving official progress reports. Non-publics are usually done for the year in May, so they don't get a note home in May, since they get their progress report and summer practice pack. So, at the very most, I'm completing these forms seven times per year.
No comments:
Post a Comment