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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Data Logs & Daily Notes

I'm sure if you ask a hundred speech therapists what they do for data and taking notes, you would get a hundred different answers. Everyone takes their daily notes differently and everyone takes data differently. The most important thing, is that you DO! Your lessons and student goals/objectives are driven by the data you take (qualitative and/or quantitative). I wanted to share with you how I keep up with my daily notes and data.




Here's my clipboard with my schedule in a protective sleeve on top; under my schedule are the labels I use for my daily notes. I use these labels because it is easier to keep everything on the clipboard, rather than a binder (plus you don't have to flip back and forth when taking data on multiple students).  You can find a template with these labels here (the labels are 2"x4" shipping labels); Anna also posted about these and you can find her version here.

Each label has a place for the Student's Name (of course), Date, Time that you see the student (important for medicaid billing/auditing), Objective/s that you're working on for that session, and finally, room for your data.

At the end of the day, I simply place the labels on each student's "Lesson Plan/Progress Monitoring" page.



Each student has a page like this; it details the student identification at the top, as well as, how the student's will be monitored, what types of activities there will be and if the student has any accommodations/modifications. Prior to this page, I have the individual student instructional plan page (right off the IEP site - 'cause that's what's easiest and less time consuming). Student's are in alphabetical order and kept in a binder.



This is the easiest and most efficient way for me to collect data during my therapy sessions. In order for me to know what I'm targeting for that session, I use my Lesson Plan binder I spoke about in my post Let's Get Organized!

I hope this helps you in your practice; please feel free to share what you do!!

9 comments:

  1. Love the idea of using the labels for data collection!

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  2. It really has been so less stressful using them; I've been using the labels for about 6 years now. It's also helpful for when you go into the classroom.

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  3. Such a brilliant idea! So simple yet just perfect!!! I love it! Thanks for sharing!!!

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    1. It really is simple....and I'm all about simplicity!! I'm really glad you like! :)

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  4. Can you post a template for the Lesson Plan/Progress Monitoring Page? I would love to start using that format!

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    1. Emily,

      I am posting the template on our Free Download page right now! Here's a little secret I use for filling in all that redundant information (i.e. student name, dob, etc etc that you use on all those other forms)...I use my class list in excel to create a mail merge and it automatically inserts all of the information in the correct places for EACH student! what a time saver!!!

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    2. Thank you so much! That's such a great tip!

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  5. I would've never thought about packing labels in a million years. That is an absolutely amazing idea!

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  6. I really like the idea of labels! I usually take my data on post-its and then transfer the information to a summary sheet (one for each kid). I like having it all on the same page so I can track progress and use the information make treatment/goal development decisions, but it is time consuming. I might just try your label idea this year!

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