Setting Up My Autism Classroom- Step 5: Prepare data sheets

One area that I struggled with for a long time was collecting and analyzing my students' data. Although I took your typical assessment course as an undergrad, I don't think that I fully understood the importance of taking good data and allowing that data to inform my teaching.

One year, I sat down with my school's SLP and asked her to give me a little mini-lesson on how she took data. She was always so organized with her data forms and reviewed her data often- allowing it to drive her therapy sessions. She gave me some great advice and I even adopted her data sheets for a while. Since them, I have tried several different methods of data collection- one form for all students working on similar goals, one form for all students with goals that can be addressed during circle time (or play time, meal time, etc.), one form per student, checklists, yes/no forms, flashcards...you name it, I've tried it. I have finally decided that there is no right way to collect data. I have to do what fits each individual student at that time. One thing I do know is that preparing my forms and having them ready on day one can be extremely helpful. (I don't print off too many at first because, knowing me, I will decide to change them two weeks in.)

Last year I ended up using the flashcards- one per goal per student for all academic goals. I kept them in a little file organizer separated with dividers by student. These were great in that they allowed me to pull a few out and hand to my para during centers so she could work individually with a student. This was also super convenient when I needed to update progress notes.

For any behavior, social, physical, and toileting goals, those students had one data form with all of their goals listed. All of those sheets were kept on the same clipboard hanging by the door- in easy access to me and my para. I also used my school district's data probing forms for my students with autism.

This year, since I have moved to the autism program, I will use my district's cold probe forms with all of my students for the majority of their goals. Each student will have their own data probing form for all related goals. Their data will be analyzed often and used to update their programs. I will also use one data probing sheet for all students with similar behavior, social, and physical goals. I'm going to use my own toileting form for any students not toilet trained yet that will be kept on a clipboard in the bathroom. I also will have some forms that I use for all students. These will be kept blank so that I can write in a general goal- such as receptively identify colors by pointing. I can keep these forms at the circle time area and quickly jot down who knew the color and who didn't. Although all of my students may not have IEP goals aligned to these tasks, I think there are just some basic concepts that are important for my kids to work on daily and for me to know where they stand with them. Finally, I will use my county's maladaptive behavior checklist for any problem behaviors. You can head over to my TPT store to snatch up 5 of my whole-group data forms. They'll be {free} for the rest of the summer so snatch them up quickly!

{Whole Group Circle Time Data Collection Form}

{Whole Group Social/Behavioral Data Collection Form}

{Whole Group Toileting Data Collection Form}