Service times documentation for IEPs is important.
And with being a special education teacher… or any teacher at this point in time… we know how important it is to document every. single. thing. that happens for each of our students. While it is super time consuming, it saves us in the long run (dare I say the dreaded words due process).
So let’s talk about documenting inclusion services today 🙂
My students are fortunate enough to be in a school that is an inclusion school. My students receive anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes of inclusion time each school day, not including inclusion specials (like art, gym, music).
And that means us teachers and paraprofessionals need to document their inclusion service time. Every time. Every day.
{ Grab the Service Documentation Form here. }
It wasn’t until recently, though, that we were required to have an official documentation folder for each student. So of course I took the time to dress mine up and make “official clipboards” for each of my friends.
Student clipboards are color coded, that way if I need to ask a student to grab their clipboard, they have the visual color aspect as well as their name on the front.
You can see more of my color coded classroom in this blog post.
Each student’s clipboard also has a cover on it – for confidentiality.
Behind each student’s cover sheet (for confidentiality), is a weekly documentation form for inclusion services. Each student has a specific paper that directly mimics their IEP accommodations. The paper is double sided, leaving room for us to write the date, specific service times, the teacher’s name, what the lesson was about, an adult’s signature, and more… depending on your district.
One big thing about NOT collecting this data is, how do you know the accommodations are working, or being used? Is the student getting their full service time and receiving their accommodations? Is this setting appropriate for the child? Is the child being pulled from this class 2x a week for something else and missing instruction?
The documentation form helps myself, my paras, and the general ed teachers daily to remember what accommodations each student has, if we are utilizing them, and a lot of other important data we can share with the team.
That way, if we notice a trend that a student has not been utilizing or no longer needs a certain accommodation, or the setting is inappropriate, we can make appropriate recommendations at their next IEP meeting with data to back it up.
At the end of each week, we take the documentation forms and place them in their student IEP binders for safe keeping.
It’s a super simple system that is a quick, effective way to document inclusion service times.
{ Grab the Service Documentation Form here. }
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What are some examples of inclusion time that is not special classes?
Hey Paula, Inclusion times will be student specific. I've had students attend English inclusion for 15 minutes, so that would be an example of inclusion time. I've had students who only attend special classes with their general ed peers. It all depends on the needs of the student how much inclusion time they would benefit from and/or need. 🙂
Great idea! My district does not require us to document inclusion time, however I am always trying to build the portfolio of documentation just in case I ever need to (knock on wood). We start a new grading quarter next week-I plan on putting this into practice then!
In your video on facebook regarding the iep caseload binder, it looked as if these inclusion documentation sheets were laminated. Do you laminate them? or do you print new ones off for each kiddo, each week so that you have a hard copy on record?
I laminate the cover sheet, but not the actual documentation sheets. I print one for each week, typically enough on a clipboard at one time to span the length of an entire marking period. 🙂
Great, Thank you!
Yes!! This is what I’m looking for! What do you put under “service”? What do you do with the copies at end of school year (that’s a lot of pages!) and especially all the data sheets we save. I just never knew what to do with all of them at the end of school year. Any suggestions will help!
I put the exact time the student was in inclusion, who was there, and what the child learned in the class during that time. I keep all of the data sheets in a file folder.
Hello, I’m interested in obtaining this. I tried to buy and check out, but it is not allowing me to do so. Please help
Please use a web browser to purchase and not the TPT app.
Would you ever give this or a copy of this inclusion time to a parent?
I am a parent and am trying to find ways to better understand what happens during my son’s school day since he is non verbal.
Yes, if it were requested by the parent I would make a copy of my original and send it home or share it with the parent.