We talk About Autism.

Jeanne ran out of her school two days in a row. All I wanted was an accurate incident report to use in advocating for more safety and staff resources for my child. The administration didn’t want to look bad so they didn’t report her leaving.

School Districts make parents use apps to track student attendance, view IEPs, and see report cards, teachers and administrators may email or use apps to communicate with parents, sometimes we find handwritten notes in student planners or loose sheets of papers in folders from teachers or special education case managers.

Do not rely on the school or district to record important conversations. Keep a digital and/or physical folder of all communications you send and any communications you receive from school and staff.

As parents we can access our own notes and files whenever we want, but we cannot rely on school or district staff to find communications when conversations turn serious or when time is of the essence.

In one scenario, our daughter left the building two days in a row and her teachers were not communicating with the same tool. Neither had all the facts.

One communicated through email while the other communicated through an app.

I grabbed notes from an app, notes from an email, and pasted them all together for everyone to see clearly.

My child was unsafe and details about what happened were spread around different communication channels.

but it gets worse…

The administration chose not to formally record the incident despite two statements and school security cameras that would confirm the details.

They chose to look good in school district reports rather than to do what was in the best interest for my child and other students.

All I wanted was an accurate incident report to use in advocating for more safety and staff resources for my child.

I recorded this series of events in a thread of emails and screenshots from an app simply to make sure everyone had the communication they needed.

Now that email thread reminds me to continue recording celebrations, check-ins, and concerns with the wonderful grownups taking care of my babies.

It’s important to look back on celebration emails too. That is a very good thing that has come out of consistent communication with my children’s teams.