Documenting Communication With Parents

Keep a Log for Your Whole Caseload

Use the two forms listed here (print in multiples, three-hole-punch it and place it in a binder near your phone) to record each time you contact a parent, or parent contacts you. If a parent contacts you by email, print the email and place it in the same three-ring binder, most recent in the front. Write the students name on the top of the printout to make it easier to find.

It’s not a bad idea to check your book and add an entry with a positive message to parents: a call to tell them something their child has done that was remarkable, a note to tell them about the progress their child has made, or just a thank you for sending the forms in. Record it. If there is ever a question about your part in creating a conflicted situation, you will have evidence that you made an effort to create a positive collaborative relationship with the parents.

Documenting Communication for Challenging Students

Some children present more challenges than others, and you may be on the phone with their parents more often. That has certainly been my experience. In some situations, your district may have forms that they expect you to fill out each time you contact a parent, especially if the child’s behaviors will be part of reconvening the IEP team in order to write FBA (Functional Behavioral Analysis) and a BIP (Behavior Improvement Plan).

Before you write your Behavior Improvement Plan, you need to document the strategies you have used before you call the meeting. Having specific records of your communications with the parents will help you understand the arc of the challenges you are facing. Parents don’t want to be blindsided, but you don’t want to go into a meeting and be accused of failing to communicate with parents. So, communicate. And document.

This form gives you plenty of space to make notes after each contact. When the communication is by note or record form (such as a daily report), be sure you keep a copy. You may keep a notebook for each child’s data sheets: place the communication sheet behind the data sheets and a divider, since you will want to get right at the data sheets when collecting data with a student. You will find that it not only protects you in case of conflict with parents, it also provides you a lot of information that will help you shape strategies, communicate your needs with your administrator, and prepare for IEP team meetings as well as the possibility of having to chair a Manifestation Determination meeting.