Teacher data collection for children and teens
Why is teacher data so important for Diagnostic Screening?
We strongly encourage you to provide the contact information for one teacher on the screening contract. Your child spends several hours every day at school, surrounded by peers and responding to a variety of task demands and unique situations not often encountered at home or in the community. Teachers provide valuable observations of your child’s daily behavior and functioning at school.
At RCBM, we highly value teacher input for many reasons. Most notably, the teacher’s school-based data plays an essential role in ensuring that your child is accurately diagnosed and that appropriate treatments are recommended. In fact, the diagnostic criteria for some conditions require symptoms to be present in multiple settings, such as both home and school.
*Note: For some conditions, RCBM providers may require that teacher data be obtained as part of the screening process for some conditions/cases. The results may be delayed if not completed in a timely manner, and/or some treatment options may be limited without teacher data.
Where do I provide the contact information for my child’s teacher?
On the Screening Contract, you will be asked to provide the name and email address of ONE teacher who knows your child well and ideally teaches a core/academic subject, such as math, language arts, or science.
By providing the teacher’s name and contact information on the Screening Contract, you consent to our contacting them via email and asking them to complete a couple of rating scales about your child.
Who is responsible for making sure my child’s teacher completes their screening materials?
We sent multiple reminders via email to your child’s teacher, prompting them to complete the rating scales. However, ultimately, it is your responsibility to inform your child’s teacher that:
1) They will be receiving these rating scales via email from RCBM
2) They will have about 2 weeks to complete the rating scales online.
Please notify your child’s teacher as soon as you complete the screening contract.
My child is in middle school or high school and has many teachers. Do all of their teachers need to complete a separate Teacher Report form?
No. Please choose only ONE teacher who knows your child well and ideally teaches a core/academic subject (i.e., math, language arts, science) to complete the assessments.
You will be asked to provide this information on the Screening Contract form so we can email the teacher directly. Please let your psychometrician know if you did not provide the name and email address of one of your child’s teachers, but would like us to do so now.
It is highly recommended that we obtain Teacher data for your child. This allows your clinician to look for patterns across reporters (your child, you, the child’s other parent, and a teacher) and across settings (home, school, community) in the screening data and aids in obtaining an accurate diagnosis.
