Organization: Data Logs and the Eisenhower Matrix

 Data Logs: 

"Keep good data." "Where's your data to support that?" "You need to organize your data." "Look at your data." 

I HATED the word 'data' in grad school. I'd think, leave me alone; the data is in the client's progress. Listen to them. Talk to them. Yet, in the real world, that doesn't fly. Don't use any of those statements in a due process hearing! The data needs to be documented in order to make changes to therapy, adjust goals, show progress, write new goals, or think about dismissal. 

In my career, I've taken over caseloads from 5 different therapists and received data on transferred students from dozens more. And every single one of them used a different data sheet or tracking method, which is both infuriating and invigorating. I say 'infuriating' because it's not the way *I* take data so it doesn't make sense to me. And 'invigorating' because it's not the way *I* take data and it makes me look at the goals or progress in a different way and evolve how I think. (I'm a Gemini, duality is my jam). I've mentored CFs and grad students who always ask, "How do I take data?" The answer always is, 'in a way that makes sense to you and helps you to see what a student needs and how they're progressing. 

Back to grad school, they made us complete these grids on extra long sheets of paper for goal and progress tracking. The clinical staff called them 'O Grids'. We called them 'O Gods.' The 'O' stood for 'objective', and they were a nightmare to set up for every single client. We'd write SOAP notes for every session and bring our O grids to each clinical supervision meeting. Did they match? Did they make sense? What did the data tell us? Our favorite part of O Grids was shredding them at the end of a semester once our semester report using the data was written. 

After graduating, I got a job in outpatient rehab, and documentation was just writing a brief note on a daily log sheet, then using those to write a 3-month, 6-month, or reevaluation for insurance documentation report. I never thought about data again for 3.5 years until I got my first school job with a caseload of 85. I cried during the 2 weeks I was writing progress reports. I had so many pieces of paper, so many goals, so many objectives, so many numbers...it drove me nuts. Following that year, I decided I was going to create my own way to track data, and played around with formats until I found one I liked. I started the school year with it, and it worked pretty well. I was impressed. 

And then I realized.... I had created an O grid. 

Mother of God, they got me. 

The dreaded O Grid

Fine, you win, grad school clinical staff. It works. It works even better now that I have a laptop file with a log for every kid on my roster, complete with a blank version on the first page. When I get a new student, I copy the grid and paste it in the Word document where the student should be alphabetically. When we do an IEP review, I copy/paste the new goals on the existing data log for the student, print it out, and get ready to go. 

A few reasons I like this format: 

• My due dates are included on the top. This way, I'm reminded every time I see that student of their IEP or triennial review dates. 
• I have space on the page for other notes as needed. Some things I'll write in include: parent name/number, teacher name, days I see the student, frequency, behavioral notes.
• I can keep track of their rewards in the rewards system I use by stapling their rewards sheet to this data log. Fewer papers to shuffle through = happier SLP.
• I can easily glance back at a previous session for progress monitoring and adjust our levels. This way, I can see that we've worked on /s/ in words for 3 weeks at 90% and maybe we should move to phrases. I can also draw an arrow after a number to remind myself to bump up a level next time. This comes in handy at progress report time, too. And it's amazing for keeping track with Medicaid billing! 
• I can keep track of attendance on one sheet for an entire IEP year or school year. I just mark 'absent' with the date at the top, draw a line through all of the objective spaces for that date, and move on. 
• I can bring this documentation to meetings and have one easy page to look at, rather than a pile of pages. 
• I can save these and pass them on to another SLP when the student moves to a different building, so they have a quick and easy (hopefully) record. 

As I mentioned above, I created a Word Document with this blank grid template as the first page, and copy/paste onto subsequent pages for every student on my roster. Then, I'll copy their objectives/goals into the spaces going down the left column. I leave a blank row, then copy/paste the objectives again, until I have filled the sheet's first column with objectives. I do that for every student, then print out the file (minus the first page). Yes, it's a lot of work to start, but once it's set up, it's easy to change goals or add/delete students as needed! 

When I track my data, the top row is for the date. I'll write the date in, and then, for each objective I target, I keep track of the data in the space for that objective under the date. I'll usually write the percentage or fraction, maybe a quick note about compliance or level of prompting, and that's it. I track my data separately, on an app or pen/paper, and then write it on here. It'll be interesting for this upcoming year, when we'll be required to use a program the district has purchased for logs....but I plan on still being an analog girl in a digital world. :) 

Just don't tell my grad school supervisors that these are actually helpful. I was not a fan of these in the early 2000s. :) 

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The Eisenhower Matrix 

So, we've talked data and grids, and it makes my brain think of an organizational strategy that a director introduced to me awhile back that has honestly helped with a lot of time management (home and work, thank you). This was something that President Eisenhower used to organize himself, and if it was good enough for the leader of the country in the 1950s, it's good enough for me. 

The matrix (not the Keanu one) helps you to decide how to prioritize your work. I got in the habit of making a matrix for myself during the school year when it was a particularly busy time of the year (first weeks, around progress report time, during IEP season). It honestly helped, and I've suggested that colleagues use it as well. I have one colleague who takes on a lot of 'extracurricular' planning tasks that really interfere with her ability to stay on top of her own work without stressing, but she is NOT a delegator. Someday, she will be, and I encourage her to delegate more to her para's, but everyone has their own needs, right? 

Dwight David Eisenhower had 4 D's in his organizational strategy: Do, Decide, Delegate, Delete. Some versions of the matrix include this, others use an Important-Urgent, Important-Not Urgent, Not Important-Urgent, Not Important-Not Urgent framework. I prefer the 4 D's, because how do you differentiate (another D!) between 'Important-Not Urgent' and 'Not Important-Urgent'? 

Here's a link to a great article that explains this better, and here's an example of a matrix I've used: 

Time Management Template - This Week

Do Now Write IEPs due this week Baselines for AB IEP Medicaid weekly billing	Decide When To Do Screenings Finish eval report for BN due end of month ESY data by end of May
Delegate Follow up on meeting time for IO; ask teacher to send Dojo message Schedule DS IEP; ask learning support to schedule as case manager	Delete Consults this week; reschedule for next week\ Prize box refill; not needed til next year

I'll be honest; I rarely use the 'delete' box, because when do we ever delete things? I'll usually put those in the 'decide' box, bur in this week, I was apparently just over some things for the week. :) 'Delegation' is my favorite box. If I can't get a response about a meeting, I put it on the teacher after the 3rd attempt. If we have a meeting that needs to be scheduled and I'm not the case manager, I delegate that to them. The best part about this form is crossing things off as you go, and, rather than just having my page-long to-do list that eventually overwhelms me, I've got a list of things to do THIS WEEK that feels way more manageable!