Oh, come on. You know you should. You know this stuff is important. You scrawl it down on bits of paper and then lose the bits of paper and say, "I really should find some way to organize this." But just in case you need extra reasons for keeping a contact log whenever you speak to school personnel, here are five more:
1. It makes requests more convincing.
"I spoke to you about this on September 3 and you said you would have it for me by September 10. Where is it?" will get you what you want faster than "Um, I think you and I spoke about this a while ago, and you said something about maybe getting it for me sometime around now?"2. It makes letters more incriminating.
If you have to bump requests up to the county or state level, you want to be able to make your local administrators and Child Study Team personnel look as bumbling as possible. Painting a trail of exact names, dates, conversations and statements will do that. Vague recollections? Not so much.3. It puts people on notice.
Once school personnel know that you're taking notes, they're much more likely to make responsible statements and back them up. A reputation for enforcing accountability is one you shouldn't mind getting.4. It prevents IEP meeting flip-flops.
"What's that? You say my child is making no progress? Let me pull out my contact log -- why yes, here are 57 times during the school year you told me personally that my child was doing great! Were you lying then, or now?"5. It encourages you to make contact.
Once you're working that log, use it proactively. Make contact with your child's teacher and therapists on a regular basis, and record what you learn. Look for problems you can solve, or problems no one seems interested in touching, and use your log info to address what you see. If you meet resistance, you've got back-up.Convinced? Learn how to keep a contact log.
