Hi and good luck with the evaluation.
...I took out my version of the letter, because AnamCara's is so much better! I agree, the simpler the better.
Personally, I would keep it as simple as possible. The less personal and more professional, the better. Perhaps something like the following?
Dear XXXX,
Enclosed please find forms required for an upcoming medical evaluation of my son, XXXX. His physician, Dr. XXXXX, has requested these forms to be completed by the teachers who have the most contact with him, and returned to her prior to the evaluation.
Please forward these forms to the appropriate teacher(s) for completion by [put a date that allows you to get them back about 10 days prior to the exam - wiggle room]. I will be happy to pick them up from your office on that date. As always, I am sure your staff will adhere to the appropriate procedures in maintaining confidentiality regarding any and all medical and educational concerns.
Your assistance in this evaluation process is invaluable, and greatly appreciated. If anyone has any questions regarding the forms, please feel free to contact me at ______________.
Sincerely,
XXXXX
The less information they are given regarding why the evaluations are being done, etc., the less speculation can occur. The more professional you appear, and the more professional you treat them, the more they will (hopefully) live up to the same.
Also, at the bottom of the letter, make a list of the forms by title, so that you can be sure they receive all the forms necessary, and you know which ones are missing as you get them back. I always list any enclosures included so that there's never a doubt as to what was sent out/received (just covers the bases).
Just my .02
Hi everyone. I need to have my son's preschool fill out some evaluations based on my son's behaviors at schools. I had this whole letter typed out to expain the situation. Now, I am wondering if I should just be more vague. Would you send the letter below with the forms or would you just keep it simple and explain that I need the forms filled out for a development evaluation?
Dear ________________,
Enclosed are some documents that I need filled out concerning ____. They should be filled out by whichever teacher(s) are working with him most frequently.
As I mentioned to you on the phone, I have some recent concerns about him and have pursued going through Kaiser for an evaluation. He had an hour and a half long appointment this past Friday with a developmental pediatrician who wants to do a more thorough evaluation both due to his sister’s PDD-NOS diagnosis and a couple things she is seeing in ____. She said she generally has an idea by the end of the appointment if a child is eventually going to wind up on the spectrum, but that she wasn’t clear by the end of her appointment with _____.
Since I need the paperwork back within the next 2-3 weeks I decided it would be best to give you the forms now in order for your staff to review them and use them as a guide in looking at ______ behaviors over the next couple of weeks.
I really appreciate you and your staff taking the time to do this. It is a big stressor on me having a second child being evaluated for an autism spectrum disorder, so the information gained from these teacher evaluations will be both beneficial to myself and the doctors who will be evaluating him.
Also, as I’m sure you understand, confidentiality regarding this issue if extremely important to me. I appreciate if due care could be taken to make sure both talk and forms regarding Kyle are kept within the staff.
I appreciate your time with this matter. Please feel free to call me if you have any questions. The forms do need to be returned to me when completed. I am supposed to send them to Kaiser along with the forms I had to fill out.
Much appreciated,
On a related note, there's a collection of sample letter links under this topic on our forum. Good luck with everything.
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=18727&am p;KW=sample+letters