Teaching · Related Services

See repetitive behavior in its context, not alone.

Record each observation with the setting, what came just before and whether it got in the way. The log finds the patterns and keeps the question honest: does anything need to change?

Start a log What you get

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Buy · $19

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Related Services toolkit, $99 for 96 items.

The context log

One log per student and observation period. The example is made up.

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What you get

Teaching · Related Services$19 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with: Counts and minutes, the most common setting and lead-in, the moments that stopped participation, notes for the team and the student’s own words; CSV of every observation.
Who it is for: School psychologists, special education teachers and evaluation or autism support teams.
Format: Browser log filled in during the observation period. Saved logs; printed with the summary or as a blank form; CSV of the observations; export and import a file.
Access: $19 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 Related Services toolkit ($99) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives: The Related Services space in Caveat Teaching.
Support: Questions about an order, access or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

Drawn for this page. The same movement can be calming in one moment and a sign of overload in another; context is what tells them apart.

How to use it

Start a log with the student’s code and the first day.
Add an observation each time, with the setting and what came just before.
Mark the effect honestly; most will be none or some.
Ask the student what it does for them, and write their words.
Print the summary for the evaluation or planning meeting.

Start a log

Reading the log

Why context

Repetitive movements, insistence on sameness and intense interests are part of how many autistic students experience the world. Logging the setting and what came just before shows when a behavior is regulating and when it signals overload.

A neutral question

The question is not how to stop the behavior but whether anything is getting in the way of learning, participation or safety, and if so what in the environment could change.

What this is not

A diagnostic instrument or a rating scale. It records what you see for the team to weigh with everything else.

Sources

American Psychiatric Association (2022). DSM-5-TR, autism spectrum disorder criterion B: restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests or activities (described, not scored, here).
Kapp, S. K., et al. (2019). “People should be allowed to do what they like”: autistic adults’ views and experiences of stimming. Autism, 23(7).
National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice (2020): antecedent-based interventions and visual supports.
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act regulations, 34 CFR 300.304(c)(4) and 300.310: assessment of every need related to the suspected disability, and observation.

The example student is made up. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.