Teaching · Special Education

What you saw, how much help it took, what to ask.

Tap a counter for the least help each step needed, write short entries of what happened before, during and after, and jot your questions. The summary gives the teacher the pattern and the facts in one place.

Start a noteWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the New special education teacher kit, $39 for 31 items.

The observation note

One record per student and block. Use initials or a code, never a name. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Special Education$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
For each block, the prompt tally with the share done independently, factual before-during-after entries, what helped and questions, in a summary the teacher can act on.
Who it is for
Paraprofessionals and instructional assistants who support students with IEPs, and the special education teachers who supervise them.
Format
Browser form with tap counters, used during the block on a tablet or phone. Several saved notes per student; printed with the summary or as a blank note sheet; CSV with one row per note or the entries table; export and import a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the New special education teacher kit ($39) and the Special Education toolkit ($99), and 2 more bundles. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Special Education space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.
handshowsaypointaloneless help, step by step
Drawn for this page. Counting the least help each step needed shows whether the student is climbing toward doing it alone.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with the student’s initials or a code and the date.
  2. Choose the block and copy what the teacher asked you to watch for.
  3. Tap the counter for the least help each step took.
  4. Write short entries: what happened right before, what the student did, what happened right after.
  5. Add what helped and your questions, then share the summary with the teacher.

Start a note

What the note is for

Facts, not judgments

Notes help most when they describe: put head down, left the seat, held up the card. Words like lazy or defiant say what someone thought, not what happened, and they make a pattern harder to see. The summary flags a few of these words so you can rewrite them.

Counting help

Recording the least help each step needed, from on their own to physical help, shows whether support can be faded. A student who needs a spoken reminder less often each week is learning to start alone.

What this note is not

It does not set goals, prompts or a behavior plan; the supervising teacher does. Federal rules expect paraprofessionals to be trained and supervised, and the notes support that supervision.

Sources

  1. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.156(b) (paraprofessionals appropriately trained and supervised).
  2. Cooper, J. O., Heron, T. E., and Heward, W. L. Applied Behavior Analysis, 3rd edition (2020), on response prompts and antecedent-behavior-consequence recording.
  3. Giangreco, M. F. (2010). One-to-one paraprofessionals for students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms: is conventional wisdom wrong? Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 48(1), 1 to 13.
  4. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 34 CFR Part 99.

The example student is made up. The note records observations for the supervising teacher; it does not set the plan. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.