Students with disabilities spend much of their waking hours at school, not only learning academic content but also receiving therapies like speech, occupational, and physical therapy. Their education often includes modifications and accommodations to help them access the curriculum. However, when it comes to reporting progress through an IEP, the focus tends to be on numerical percentages—60% progress toward one goal, 80% toward another—leaving out the deeper picture of what a child is truly experiencing and learning.
For many children with disabilities, it’s difficult to articulate how their day went. That’s why it’s essential for parents and school teams to establish ongoing, meaningful communication to ensure that the child’s needs are met and progress continues smoothly.
Communication vs. Reporting: What’s the Difference?
So, what does meaningful communication look like for an IEP team?
Many teams rely on daily or weekly communication sheets, which typically include checkmarks or brief notes to indicate which therapies were received, a color-coded behavior report, or a quick activity update. These sheets often become a log of "problematic" behaviors—avoiding challenging tasks, being silly, not wanting to end a preferred activity, or struggling during transitions—without providing a full picture of the child’s day.
While these behaviors can and should be addressed with appropriate interventions, the tendency to focus only on what went “wrong” can skew the overall perspective of the child. If all that’s reported are challenges, it’s easy for adults to form a negative view of the child’s experience at school. Unfortunately, these reports are rarely balanced or comprehensive.
Checklists and color-coded marks aren’t real communication. They don’t offer insights into the child’s lived experience or how best to support them across different environments. There’s a significant difference between just reporting on activities and engaging in genuine communication that supports the child’s growth.
Effective communication follows the 7 C's, which help ensure that messages are clear, respectful, and actionable:
Clear: Focus on the goal—supporting the child’s well-being and success both at school and at home.
Concise: Keep messages brief and to the point; for complex issues, a meeting or phone call is better.
Concrete: Provide specific examples to make the information more actionable.
Correct: Ensure the information is accurate and directly from the source.
Coherent: Present information logically to avoid confusion.
Complete: Include all relevant details so the receiver can fully understand the situation.
Courteous: Be polite and mindful that the child’s well-being is the center of the conversation.
Meaningful communication goes beyond checklists—it’s about fostering a shared understanding that helps all involved better support the child’s growth and development.
What should go into an IEP communication plan?
An IEP communication plan is a tool designed to provide ongoing updates about a child’s progress in key areas like cognitive, functional, and behavioral development, focusing on details that aren’t typically included in formal reports. It helps ensure alignment between school teams and parents by sharing information about strategies, challenges, successes, and next steps.
While it plays a crucial role in supporting a child’s educational journey, it’s important to remember that the communication plan is not a replacement for data collection on specific goals or parent-teacher conferences. Instead, it fills in the gaps by capturing the day-to-day moments that matter, such as how a child is doing during general education, how they’re using accommodations, or if they had an “off” day. It can also highlight positive moments, like breakthroughs in learning or heartwarming experiences on the playground.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) underscores the importance of assessing a range of factors—cognitive, functional, developmental, and behavioral—when determining the needs of a child with a disability. However, this assessment should not be a one-time event; it needs to be an ongoing process. As children grow, they continue to evolve in these areas, making it important to regularly update communication about their progress. Keeping this information current helps ensure that everyone involved in the child's education—teachers, specialists, and parents—remains aligned and well-informed. Consistent tracking of these factors is key to planning effectively and ensuring that the child’s needs are being met.
Want to improve communication with your child’s IEP team? Get your FREE communication log here and follow the steps below to see how it can help you stay connected and support your child’s progress.
Step-by-Step Guide for Using the IEP Communication Log Template
Step 1: Get started by making a copy.
Click on the provided link to open the communication log template. You will see a “View Only” version. Follow the instructions to make a copy of the log to your own Google Drive or computer.
Step 2: Access the communication log.
Select a month tab from the bottom of the sheet to access a blank template.
Step 3: Be specific about who is communicating and when.
In the first column, note the name of the adult (teacher, paraprofessional, related service provider, etc.) who is sharing the information.
Underneath the name, enter the date the communication is being shared. This helps track when updates are made and how often.
Step 4: Select the educational domains being addressed in the communication.
Click on the relevant field (cognitive, functional, or behavioral) and a menu of pre-filled options will appear. You can select multiple options and customize the domains as needed using the provided instructions in the getting started tab.
Cognitive: Note any changes or observations related to academics or cognitive functions such as problem-solving abilities, attention and focus, working memory, and more.
Functional: Track updates from related service providers and other daily task skills, such as communication, toileting, feeding, and more.
Behavioral: Select behaviors that impact the child’s learning and social interactions, including interpersonal skills, self-regulation, attending to tasks, eloping, and more.
*Note: Developmental factors are often absorbed within these three domains and don’t need to be tracked separately.
Step 5: Provide clarity and context to the domains selected with staff comments.
Type-in information such as notes on academic content, classroom routines, accommodations being used, or any notable events (like a breakthrough or challenging moment).
Quick Tip:
Keep your notes clear, concise, and actionable to ensure understanding.
Step 6: Offer perspective by sharing both challenges and successes directly related to the information being conveyed.
Challenges: Record any struggles the child is facing—whether it's with certain tasks, behaviors, or social situations.
Successes: Celebrate victories, big or small, like improvements in behavior, learning, or social skills.
Quick Tip:
Be sure to balance both challenges and successes, offering a full picture of the child’s educational experience.
Step 7: Establish consistency by gathering input and alignment with parents.
Encourage parents to share:
Observations about the child’s behavior or progress at home.
Concerns or updates that may be helpful for the school team to know.
This ensures that everyone is aligned on the child’s needs and provides important context for classroom strategies.
Step 8: Follow through with clear next steps so everyone knows what actions to take moving forward.
What’s working? Decide whether any changes to the current strategies or accommodations are needed.
What’s new? If necessary, discuss new interventions, strategies, or adjustments to try.
Building Child-Centered Partnerships
Effective communication for children with disabilities is about more than just tracking goals and progress—it's about creating a shared understanding between parents and school teams to support a child's growth and development.
By using tools like a shared communication log, teams can build an ongoing dialogue that creates a more complete picture of the child’s needs and ensures everyone is aligned on the best ways to support their progress.
With consistent communication, we can make sure that children with disabilities receive the tailored support they need to thrive both in and out of the classroom.
