Teaching · Special Education

The family’s side of the story, in the order they remember it.

Take the history once, well: milestones, early help, health, every school and every kind of help so far. The summary turns the answers into the follow-ups that matter before testing, like an old hearing check or records still to request.

Start a historyWhat 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 family history

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

Loading the form. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

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

What you finish with
A complete family history for one student: early development, health and sensory checks, schooling and earlier help, current concerns and strengths, with a list of follow-ups for the team.
Who it is for
Evaluation teams: school psychologists, special education teachers and case managers, school social workers. Families can fill in the printed blank form on their own.
Format
Browser form, used with the family or keyed in from the paper version. Several saved records; printed with the summary or as a blank form to send home; CSV with one row per record; 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.
babyhealthschoolsnow
Drawn for this page. The questionnaire walks from the first years to today, the way families usually tell it.

How to use it

  1. Start a record with the student’s initials or a code and the date.
  2. Ask the questions in order, or print the blank form for the family and key in their answers later.
  3. Record “do not remember” rather than guessing; it is a real answer.
  4. List every school and every kind of earlier help, even short ones.
  5. Read the follow-up list and act on it before testing begins.

Start a history

What the history is for

Why a history comes first

Federal rules ask an evaluation to use a variety of tools, including information from the parent, and to assess every skill and need related to the suspected disability. A history shows where to look and what else could explain a difficulty: a hearing loss, a long absence, a change of language or school. Low scores after months of missed instruction mean something different from the same scores after steady teaching.

Asking well

Offer the form in the family’s language and an interpreter for the conversation. Explain that every question is optional and that the answers become part of the student’s education record. Ask about strengths as carefully as concerns.

What this form is not

It is not a screening, a rating scale or a diagnosis, and it gives no scores. Medical conditions are written as the family reports them. Your state and district may have their own forms; follow them.

Sources

  1. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.304 (evaluation procedures: a variety of assessment tools, information provided by the parent, assessment in the child’s native language or other mode of communication, and every suspected disability assessed).
  2. 34 CFR 300.305 (review of existing evaluation data, including information provided by the parents) and 300.306(b) (lack of appropriate instruction and limited English proficiency as factors).
  3. IDEA Part C, 34 CFR Part 303 (early intervention for infants and toddlers) and Section 619 of Part B (preschool special education, ages 3 to 5).
  4. Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 34 CFR Part 99 (education records).
  5. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Learn the Signs. Act Early: developmental milestones (general reference for what families are asked to recall).

The example student and family are made up. The questionnaire records what a family reports; it does not screen, diagnose or decide eligibility. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.