Parent Teacher Communication Folder
If you are like me, you are getting a start on or wrapping your brain around the beginning of the year prep. For some reason, having a functional parent communication folder was low on my priority list because of the million and one things we need to do before thinking about this!
This past year was tough. I had parent emails regularly with parents wanting updates on their children. This is no the norm for us, but I think something happened during the pandemic and parents were just extra worried that their kids were falling behind (side note: this was not the case in my context at all!).
I soon realized that a solid parent/communication system for home to school communication was needed. I really needed to find a way to get away from the late night email exchanges. I needed to save my sanity and my time!
Having a solid parent and teacher communication binder allows a certain level of trust to form between home and school. Often in special education, students either have trouble expressing their needs and wants, so having this line of communication is especially necessary. It’s beneficial for all, but NECESSARY for some. For my context, it’s 100% necessary.
I have a few key elements that I include in my parent/school communication binder. This may change depending on the needs and wants of the particular family but most families that I work with want this information.
1- What I did at school today page? I always include a picture symbol supported daily recap. I use board maker for personalization, however there are other kinds of apps and websites on the market that does this as well.
2- ABC Tracking Page. Often times, in my behavior class, we are working on targeting specific behaviours to work to change and we want the families to know how that particular behavior is faring and what we can do to best support the students goals moving forward. It’s a great way to have accountability at school to keep track of certain target behaviours, as well as its a great open communication tool for families to look at when they get home. We can see collectively what is working, and what needs to be tweaked with either our programming at school, or something that is occurring at home.
3- Schedule changes. I always include our every day schedules with a space to note if our schedule has changed for the day, or if it will be changing for the next day. Students with Autism often times need a very rigid and predictable schedule, so establishing open lines of communication will help to ease any anxieties that a student might have and prepare them for any upcoming schedule changes. Schedule changes are a part of life and are very important to prepare for!
4- Integration notes. Almost all of my students engage in some form of integration classes throughout their school day. This means they are integrated in a General Ed (or mainstream) classroom at a certain point of the day. These notes from these periods will help families be aware of things we are working on in integration, and particular discussion notes from integration class that will support their child. This is a great way for conversations to start at home between parent/guardians and their child.
Ultimately, it has taken me a bit of time to get this ‘right’ with this area in the classroom. Now that I have established routines and a system for parent/teacher communication, I don’t look back! It has been a game changer in my practice and I know it will help you too.
If you need help with this and want an easy print+ go version of a parent communication system click HERE
As always, if you every need anything I’m just a message or DM away. I always hang out on the insta+tik tok DM’s too!
Have a brilliant Tuesday!
