Re: school to home communication sheets

November 18, 2004

In a message dated 11/18/2004 1:48:38 PM Eastern Standard Time, dspn@...

writes:

Hi there,

I was wondering if anyone had anything they could share to help me get a

better idea of how my son's day goes. I'm looking for some sort of school

to home communication sheet that the teacher can fill in and tell ALL about

his day. They have an agenda that comes home but most of the time it is so

vague I don't know what happened. Like yesterday it said he was disruptive

during library and that he hit someone. Well, tell me more - what happened

before he hit? If I could initiate some sort of fill in the blank sheet

maybe that would bring me more info. I did write back the other day asking

for more info since can't tell me about his day so I got a little

more info but I'm still wanting a little more detail.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Thanks,

Jayne

Jayne,

I see that Liz was already kind enough to send you one. They use them

at Maddie's school. It is a two sided sheet and it has things like,

" Today I worked hard on__________________, I voided on the toilet________, pull

up___________, For lunch I had _______________________, We had OT____, PT

_____, Group OT____, Speech____, Sensory______, Swimming_____, GYM____, We need

more clothes_____, pull ups_____, And then there's a comment section where the

teacher or aide tells me how her mood was, if she did something unique or

unusual, and almost always something cute about her. On the back is the

parent response. Starts out saying Last night at home, I________________,

This

morning, I voided on the toilet_____, pull up______, I had a normal, unusual

night's sleep, I ate a normal/not normal/didn't eat breakfast (you just check

off)

You get the idea,

Donna

November 18, 2004

nahanhas an assignment book that goes back and forth that we right in and it

allready has the dates so easier to keep track, but we were running into a

little of the same i mean whe would write what he did that day and any behaviors

but recently we started something new i really like. It has 3rows of squares,

and on the very right side is a pic symbol and word of the subeject eg: math,

reading, typing, writing etc and in the box on the left the teacher wirtes

exactly what he did inthat subject that day, eg: adding with manipulative up to

number 5, time counted by 5's, doing great up to 35 then starting to have

difficulty ----worked on two nickles for a dime---and in the middle box nathan

has to sign off with his name to show he completed this subject, one it helps

him learn to use his schedule more indepentdently, two hleps him practice

wriitng his name which he can barely do as of yet think of it as the next step

after

mastering putting his pics inthe done envelope. Nafhtan loves to show me his

shett daily. she still writies in his communication notebook daily things like

behaviors good and bad, or upcoming events nathan doesnt know or talk of like

early outs and no school or concert or special olympics. hope this helps.

shawna

November 18, 2004

Libby Kumin's book, " Classroom Language Skills for Children with

Down Syndrome, " has sample School-to-Home and Home-to-School logs

much like this. I have used photocopies and my own modified

versions. My son 's aide likes them better than a communication

book, because she can make notes on the fly, rather than trying to

find a few quiet minutes at the end of the day to write a formal

note.

Shanon

-- In , sewshawna@a... wrote:

> nahanhas an assignment book that goes back and forth that we right

in and it

> allready has the dates so easier to keep track, but we were

running into a

> little of the same i mean whe would write what he did that day and

any behaviors

> but recently we started something new i really like. It has 3rows

of squares,

> and on the very right side is a pic symbol and word of the

subeject eg: math,

> reading, typing, writing etc and in the box on the left the

teacher wirtes

> exactly what he did inthat subject that day, eg: adding with

manipulative up to

> number 5, time counted by 5's, doing great up to 35 then starting

to have

> difficulty ----worked on two nickles for a dime---and in the

middle box nathan

> has to sign off with his name to show he completed this subject,

one it helps

> him learn to use his schedule more indepentdently, two hleps him

practice

> wriitng his name which he can barely do as of yet think of it as

the next step after

> mastering putting his pics inthe done envelope. Nafhtan loves to

show me his

> shett daily. she still writies in his communication notebook daily

things like

> behaviors good and bad, or upcoming events nathan doesnt know or

talk of like

> early outs and no school or concert or special olympics. hope this

helps.

> shawna

>

November 19, 2004

In a message dated 11/19/2004 1:38:43 PM Eastern Standard Time,

spinningdyke@... writes:

Layne's teacher used a sheet like that, but sometimes she'd forget stuff.

So, we started a notebook (cheapy spiral) and each night, we write in it what

Layne did at home but as if he was writing it. The next day, the teacher does

the same (if she has time), otherwise we get a quick note. We brought up the

need for a communication book at his IEP, and it was well received, and even

tho' writing what we do each night takes a bit longer, the teachers and the

aides enjoy reading it.

It has helped open up communication, especially on 'simple' things...i.e. at

home, Layne can pull up and down his own pants and pull ups, but until we

told them at school, they were doing it for him, and he was letting them.

(mom w/ Amy, to Layne 6, DS/Austism/ADHD and Greg 11, ADHD)

,

This communication sheet that Maddie's school has started wasn't my idea.

We actually used to communicate through a spiral notebook too, and I liked

that better. But the behaviorist changed the routine because what was

happening is that they were never hearing from parents (I was one of the few

who

actually wrote in the book every morning). Hard to believe but true.

I had an interesting experience last night. Duff and I gave a

presentation to a classroom of doctorate students at Arcadia University.

They're

all professionals during the day. One of the moms presenting with us said

that IEP's are SO stressful and it often feels like a you against us meeting.

Surprisingly, all the students said they go into IEP's feeling stressed too.

And that unfortunately, a lot of times, they are meeting the parents for

the first time. It was good for everyone in the room to see the other side.

Donna

November 19, 2004

Hi,

Layne's teacher used a sheet like that, but sometimes she'd forget stuff. So, we

started a notebook (cheapy spiral) and each night, we write in it what Layne did

at home but as if he was writing it. The next day, the teacher does the same (if

she has time), otherwise we get a quick note. We brought up the need for a

communication book at his IEP, and it was well received, and even tho' writing

what we do each night takes a bit longer, the teachers and the aides enjoy

reading it.

It has helped open up communication, especially on 'simple' things...i.e. at

home, Layne can pull up and down his own pants and pull ups, but until we told

them at school, they were doing it for him, and he was letting them.

(mom w/ Amy, to Layne 6, DS/Austism/ADHD and Greg 11, ADHD)

duffey48@... wrote: