Use a Communication Book with each child every day. This is a huge effort, but well worth it for parents, kids and you. As language emerges and conversation begins, if you know when went on last night at home, you can ask questions about it and know the answers to expect. Mom can do the same about school. If writing a note about each child is too much (it can be), create a form that check things off. This can be very useful when it comes to IEP time, too. Bless your for actually asking this question.
Thank you for your responses! I would love to hear more!We had a conversation book at the last school. She didn't utilize as well as she could have though it wasn't bad. New school, different teacher, she has a checklist she sends home everyday. Its not very informative. I ate none/most/all and I did not sleep/rested/slept. My behavior was great/I had some problems/I had a bad day. She ALWAYS marks great even when it wasn't great. That's it. I get no other type of info. I pick them up everyday so I ask a lot of questions. I liked the book better. The other teacher had less kids, so she did better on individual attention. And I got a monthly newsletter telling me what they were working on that month so I could follow it through at home. I SO miss that. I have no idea what they are working on and its a little frustrating cause I see them trying to do things (sign language comes to mind) and I don't know if someone is teaching that or where they are getting it or what exactly they are doing. Also the old teacher sent home homework. It helped me reinforce what was going on at school (we're learning the color red this month) and it was nice to have the thinking already done for me as to what therapeutic activity to do at home. There was no pressure to it. It took 10 minutes and we did it when we had time. THis teacher never sends homework. But this teacher has 15 kids too, all with varying handicaps. The other one had 6 and 2 aides. Everything else about that school was bad but that was good. In an ideal world I would also like to know what they are working on in the therapies they are getting. I don't know if that would come from the teacher though. Oh one other thing that teacher always did was take lots of photos and sent them home on a burned disk everyonce in a while (I think it was around report card time). She put no work into it, didn't pull out pics of my kids, it was the whole class but it gave me a great idea of what they were doing and to some degree how they were acting. Nikolas never liked play dough and there was a whole bunch of pictures of him on there with playdough! I would have never known. That was nice to have.
Oh that chart sounds like a great idea! I wouldn't mind having something like that done with the boys.
Your projrct sounds fascinating!
I am not in much of a position to make suggestions as my daughter is still undergoing diagnosis, but since she is in public, all-day Kindergarten, after private preschool, I can comment more generally on her personal situation:
ANY communication from her teacher would have welcome, this year. The teacehrs do have email addys through the school, but I felt they could be used SO much more. alas with this lack of communication, there is not muc hmore for me to comment on!
My son is in first grade, with an IEP,,
Origionally, we had a simply check list of "listened" or was "safe",,,this came home everyday,,,
Now, Luke has a "school plan" folder that comes home each day, Inside it has a pretty detailed list. It breaks down his daily schedule,by time..and subject. It has columns where the teachers simply put a check or an x if he completes a goal. it has a place for parent and teacher signatures too, as well as a "comment" box..We also have been fortunate that his teachers also write alot of comments on his sheet, often using the back of the page if he get's an "x" they will say what happened to warrent this. Just to give you an idea of how detailed it is,,there is space for up to 50 checks!!! and about 6 spaces for comments from teachers!
Luke also uses a "chip" system. He has a laminated card with 5 velcro spaces. He attaches a chip (with velcro on it) to each space as he earns the chips,,,5 chips=a trip to the prize box...also, they write down , "luke had a 4 chip day" or "luke had a 2 chip day",,so that we can sort of judge how his day was overall,,
He also has sensory breaks--with food snacks to help with deep jaw pressure--hard snacks like pretzels, fruit chews, granola bars,etc seem to work best w/luke),,and he has sensory breaks like theraputy, squeeze and vibration manipulatives,etc..all of these breaks get written down,,,time/duration,what he used....
This is a very time consuming job!! But so far everyone has been keeping close track of all that happens. My guess is that as time goes on the details won't be as many, unless we really keep on them about it. However, we have it specifically written into his IEP as a goal,,,so they are held accountable to it.
this thread has been fun to read about..
kelly
Hi everyone! I am a first grade general education teacher and am currently
What helped me figure things out was when the elementary school for 2 years kept asking what's wrong with him and seeing doctors and not getting anywhere fast. But then I went back and in those 2 years the school had each teacher type their perceptions of my child out and the problems (many behavior problems) and strengths. When I went back and carefully looked at notes from everyone (INCLUDE EVERYONE) the lunchroom monitors, the playground aids, the music teacher, the art teacher, the homeroom teacher -- that's when I was able to highlight concurrent themes "I never see him smile", "aggressive with other children", "does not respect his own body space", "can't stop twirling", "keeps blurting out the answers", etc. It was staring at me right in the face on paper. It was truly amazing to connect the dots.