I use a communication book ... it works well.
The following topic contains my list of links pertaining to good school-home communication:
http://www.autism-pdd.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=19561&am p;KW=communication
I've found that my son's various teachers have all been much more verbal than written type personalities, so I get much more information by chatting at drop-off/pick-up and at meetings, than I do in writing.
You can have a COMMUNICATION BOOK written into your child's IEP if necessary. The LAW says that parent of special ed student MUST be informed about their progress as often as the parents of general ed kids are. That usually means every 6 to 10 weeks, at report card time. It means that your child should be getting both a typical report card and a report that tells you about his progress toward his IEP goals. A COMMUNICATION BOOK is a book that you send in every day in his backpack. You can write things there you want teachers and staff to know about and they can write you back. I have dozens of these notebooks saved from 1993 when my son entered preschool. He's in HS now and we STILL do this (he's in a special ed vocational HS, so there is no embarassment involved). An alternative to a notebook is to send in daily (or weekly) checklists of what your child does or doesn't do. You can also ask the teachers and therapists for a phone number at which they can be contacted or an email address. You DEFINITELY need to be in close touch.Well, at least we know we're not the only ones, right? But it does make me feel like I"m beating my head against a brick wall sometimes. My daughter is supposed to get speech therapy, but I don't think she has had it yet (3rd week of school now). I am hating my school district more and more each day. Kane goes to a mainstream child care on mondays (theres only about 6 kids) my sister works there too so we get all the news but they have communication books to tell us what hes eating/ sleeping etc but i did find they wernt watching him eat and writing things in there i know he wont eat! I guess its hard for them to write he didnt eat anything at all all day! but i did question them about it and its been alot better since.[quote=]OK, I am going to play Devil's advocate here (and watch out for the flames coming my way). Your PT likely has several schools to cover and most certainly has several kids to see. This not to mention the dozens of other things that we school therapists are required to do. He or she is required to report progress at the frequency that reg ed students receive progress reports, not any more than that. If you want more, you could ask nicely and mabey it will happen but she isn't being neglegent by not sending extra notes home. [/quote]OK, I am going to play Devil's advocate here (and watch out for the flames coming my way). Your PT likely has several schools to cover and most certainly has several kids to see. This not to mention the dozens of other things that we school therapists are required to do. He or she is required to report progress at the frequency that reg ed students receive progress reports, not any more than that. If you want more, you could ask nicely and mabey it will happen but she isn't being neglegent by not sending extra notes home.
As far as the comment one poster made about therapy not starting until the third week of school, this is pretty common. If you haven't ever done it, then you can't realize what a challenge the scheduling can be - it is truly challenging, especially when you cover multiple buildings and have many things that must be scheduled around. There are also tons of indirect services that need to be set up before the full therapy schedule kicks in (like meeting with the teacher teams to educate them on the IEP kids coming into their classes etc). Original case lists seldom are accurate (kids move in and out so much at the beginning of the year).
[quote=Tzoya]You can have a COMMUNICATION BOOK written into your child's IEP if necessary. The LAW says that parent of special ed student MUST be informed about their progress as often as the parents of general ed kids are. That usually means every 6 to 10 weeks, at report card time. It means that your child should be getting both a typical report card and a report that tells you about his progress toward his IEP goals. A COMMUNICATION BOOK is a book that you send in every day in his backpack. You can write things there you want teachers and staff to know about and they can write you back. I have dozens of these notebooks saved from 1993 when my son entered preschool. He's in HS now and we STILL do this (he's in a special ed vocational HS, so there is no embarassment involved). An alternative to a notebook is to send in daily (or weekly) checklists of what your child does or doesn't do. You can also ask the teachers and therapists for a phone number at which they can be contacted or an email address. You DEFINITELY need to be in close touch.[/quote]