Paperwork, paperwork, paperwork....the challenge of keeping data.

I think a common concern of many school-based SLPs is having an efficient data system. We ask each other at conferences, small workshops, district meetings, and online. How do you keep data? Do you like the way you keep data? More importantly, will you please share the forms that you use? That's why I wanted to join up with Crazy Speech World's data linky this week. 

My district started the process of creating uniform data sheets during my CFY. I think that this is really beneficial to the district and to our therapists. We have different writing styles, but we know where to find the things that we need should students switch from school to school. The district has a set form for our service notes, evaluation reports (which we give out in addition to what's on the IEP paperwork for evals. & re-evals.), and plan of cares. 

The form I love the most is our service note. It includes all the information I need to bill Medicaid electronically. I print double-sided sheets out for every student that last for 6 week periods. I like to arrange my notes into two binders. I have a binder for Monday/Wednesday and Tuesday/Thursday. The binders contain tabs of 30 minute time slots. I stick the service notes into their time slot so it's easy to find the group/student that I need at the drop of a hat. 

My coworkers did an awesome job on the creation of these forms.

Here is a copy of our form with a blank for the name of your district. I've also created a new sheet similar to this one for my inclusion groups. One page has space for 3 students with abbreviated goals. I can print out these sheets and transfer the data to their normal service note after each session. It's a much needed solution after I discovered how hard it was to keep 6 sticky notes from falling off of my clipboard. The copy of that file can be found here.