Noteworthy

Happy Monday!! :) I have been so graciously complimented on my therapy notes in the past few months by a couple of my families. I just wanted to do a short post on how I typically format my speech notes and provide a brief explanation of why I feel these items are important to mention. I try my very best to capture a 60 minute session in 15 minutes or less, including as much as possible for the parents to use as a guide for the week, weekend, and/or month until we meet again, for any other provider working with the child, and for parents to share with their medical team, and/or preschool/daycare teachers if ever necessary. As always, feel free to share your speech note formats and explanations. Thank you in advance!

Family Update: All things new :) In this section, I write a short paragraph about any new news regarding the child and their family, life changes, transitions to preschool, new words, new phrases, new signs, new intervention services, etc. I believe it is imperative to capture the family's full dynamic, and factors that may impact the child's overall communication skills.

What Happened?: This section of the note includes the initial greeting (it's important to know how the child reacted and to track progress of them "coming out of their shell", regression, etc.) activities/routines practiced (this makes it easier to imitate throughout the week, especially if this routine is difficult for the child and/or parent) , therapeutic techniques used: modeling, hand over hand, instruction, verbal cues, etc. (this tells the parent how to do what is needed to assist their child in progressing), what the child enjoyed (it's important to follow the child's lead and continue with preferred activities, as this motivates them to communicate and communicate effectively), & explanations given to the parents about questions asked regarding language development, overall development, etc. (a plethora of information is shared throughout the session and this a good reminder for the parents to refer to, versus trying to remeber it all on top of all of the other things they need/have to remember).

Recommendations: This is where I share one specific recommendation and a few therapeutic techniques and strategies to assist with achieving the short term goal/s. Typically it's the same recommendation for a couple of weeks or until I feel and/or the family feels as though their child has grasped or is close to achieving this goal or concept. When parents/caregivers are actively involved, carrying over the recommendations is generally easy to practice, as the techniques have been previously introduced throughout the session. Also, depending on the family update, I may take a step back, and modify the goal if it appears too difficult or too taxing for the child and their family at that time.