Summer SPED Blog Hop Weeks 3 & 4!

Hey Everyone!  I was so sad that I missed last week's post, but I was stuck at the airport in Orlando after we missed our flight home :(.  I tried to write it at the airport and finish my freebie, but I just couldn't concentrate enough to get it done!  But, I did finish it this week, so I am posting about both topics today!  Week three's post was all about forms!

Every August, I mail out a back to school packet to all of the parents in my class.  The packet includes a welcome back letter with a list of needed supplies and any updates to staffing in the classroom.  It also includes about a gazillion consent forms!  Because we are a treatment classroom, under Ministry of Education regulations in Ontario, we must partner with a community organization that provides the clinical supervision for the program.  The agency we partner with is funded under the Ministry of Child and Youth Services and has it's own policies to follow.  As such, parents have to sign duplicate forms for each agency.  It is a lot of paperwork!  I am not going to share those forms with you today, as each school board and community agency has their own versions of these.  

What I am going to share with you are the other forms that I use to organize my year.  Included in the packet that I send home with parents is an Emergency Contact Form, which I ensure I have back in my hands before students start school.  This sheet contains all pertinent contact info for parents/guardians in case I need to get a hold of them.  It's pretty straight forward, but the one thing that I ensure I have encapsulated on this form is separate info for both parents.  I have many students whose parents are not together, but are involved in their child's education, so I make sure that I have both sets of information.

The other critical form that I send home is the Student Profile.  On this form, parents provide me with information on their child's current abilities in regards to communication and self-help skills, as well as providing me with a picture of their child's current behaviours, likes and interests.  Like the emergency contact form, I ensure that I have this form completed and sent back to me before the students start.  I consider this a critical form to have as children are constantly growing and changing.  Having this information allows me to effectively plan my students' instructional days and formulate their IEPs from day one.  This information allows for a successful start to the school year.

I have all of these forms and more in my SPED Teacher's Binder packet in my TPT store.  Click here to get your free copy!  What forms do you use in your classroom?  I'd love to hear from you?

And don't forget to click here to read about my tips for working with educational assistants (or paraprofessionals/ aides as my American friends call them) and to hop over to the next blog!

Until next time,