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I know what you are thinking-we are in SUMMER! I don’t want to be thinking about writing reports! And I don’t blame you. However…trust me, taking 3 days to streamline things for yourself this year and make report writing easier is going to be SO WORTH IT. I did it last summer, and I have been thanking my July 2018 summer self ever since. Here is what I’m proposing:
- Create a “monster” template. A huge file that has every single assessment written up that you have in it.
- Make sure the whole report is streamlined and looking good.
- Create a bank of reccomendations, and organize it by area of need.
You can do it!
- Create your monster template. I can’t tell you how many times a year I’ve thought “I know I have this written up for another student…but when was that? Who was it???”. Well, a way to solve this problem is to create a huge template of every assessment you’ve written and given out, and then delete what you don’t need every time you write a new report. Here was mine last year as I did this…and I’ve since added more, like Developmental History Questionnaire.
Take the time to go through and paste your template for every assessment (without any names, descriptors, etc). This includes supplemental subtests you rarely give-it will be worth it! Include every single assessment you have written. You want it ALL in there.
2. Make sure your whole report is streamlined and looking good. Is everything in the same tense? Do your score descriptors match the charts you have with them? Are all the parts of your report included? (See what I include here in this post). I like to highlight everything that needs to be changed on my monster template, so I can easily skim through later to make sure it’s all done.
3. Create a bank of recommendations by area of need. I always add to this area depending on individual student need, but I really love having a bank of recommendations to get my brain rolling.
I’m not going to lie, this takes a bit of time, and brain power, that’s why I split it into 3 sections, but your future School Psychologist self with thank you so much!
One last thing-I read this book last summer and thought it was a great reminder, and had great tips!
Good luck!!!!