Parent Communication Log
One common method of parent-teacher communication is the use of a daily home to school communication log. My son has used one pretty much since day one, but they are not just for children who are non-verbal.
Home to school communication logs are great for any child because it prevents any miscommunication or forgotten communication by the child. Here are some tips I’ve gained from other parents and from working as an advocate, on how to maximize the value of your home-school communication log or sheet.
After all, if the information in the log is worthless, why waste everyone’s time?
Parent-Teacher Communication Sheets are also a great way to gather data. You can spot trends in behaviors, determine if there are patterns and much more.
Parent Teacher Communication Forms
- Get it written into the IEP under progress monitoring so that doing the log is not optional (this is for both parents and staff!).
- You can also set a self-advocacy goal so that the child does become the main communicator at some point, beginner steps would just be getting the notebook to and from school successfully.
- Both parents and staff should participate. It’s equally important for teachers/staff to know if your child did not sleep or had a particularly good or bad evening or morning or might not be feeling well.
- To increase efficiency at both ends, make it simple! Put as many yes/no checkboxes as you can or things like low/med/high for behaviors. If it’s just a check and a sentence or two rather than a whole dissertation you increase the likelihood of it being done regularly (most teachers and staff have caseloads that are too high!).
- Keep it limited to really what you need to know.
Parent Communication in IDEA
IDEA does not address this specific issue. Therefore, per IDEA, a school is not required to provide a daily communication sheet for parents. However, IDEA does not prohibit it either.
One of the main principles of special education is meaningful parent participation. Another is Individualization. So, if you need this information to be a meaningful, effective IEP team member, I would ask for it based on that. And, while I certainly recognize that it would be difficult for a school to provide a daily comm log for every student, the I for Individualization means that if a child needs it to access FAPE, they should get it.
As always, make your ask in writing. Have data, and ask for a PWN with the team’s final decision.
Daily Communication Book Templates
I’m really sorry that some of the sheets are missing! If you have any you’d like me to include, just email me. Unfortunately, while I have had a website for over 10 years…not everyone else stays in it for the long haul.
- Daily school schedule communication template by Indiana Resources Center for Autism
- Daily Report Template by Indiana Resources Center for Autism
- Weekly Report~2 by Zeekszoo
- Weekly Student Learning Log by Teachers Pay Teachers
- Home To School Communication by Disability Solutions (this is long, instructions on how to set up an entire notebook with PECS pictures for child to participate)
Child’s Communication Book by Connectability (this is a PECS book for kids)- Various parent-teacher communication by Superteachers
- Good Pinterest Board with 200+ ideas
- Assembly assistance and links to printable pages from the Considerate Classroom
- Nice list of resources from Sparklebox
- Parent Communication from Pre-K Pages
- Daily Communication Folder from the Clutter-Free Classroom
- Daily Schedule Printable by Scholastic
Behavior Report by Teachers Notebook- Home School Forms for Organization by 123 Homeschool 4 Me
My Day at School by SETBCCalendar Stickers by SETBC- Over 100 Printable Templates by Educational World
- 3 Month Calendar Template on YouTube. Teach the kids!
- Week Calendar Template Simple Blessings Design (for home use only)
As always, please leave a comment if a link is broken so that I can try to fix.
Or, leave your favorite link and I’ll add it to the list!