Communicating with Families: Including Daily Communication for Students Who are Nonverbal
Communication is Crucial
Strong communication with families begins even before the school year starts. Proving multiple pathways for connection—phone calls, emails, newsletters, texting apps, and daily handwritten notes— ensure families feel informed and engaged. For students with limited verbal output, I make a point to send daily updates so their families remain closely connected to their child’s experiences at school. I also prioritize sharing positive moments and progress, recognizing the power of celebration in building trust and collaboration. Checkout the links before for tips to make communication in your classroom easier and more organized.
Newsletters
A consistent monthly newsletter is a great way to let you student’s families know what you are learning about, reminders and important dates coming up, and a place they always know they can find your contact information.
Tip: My principal requires a weekly newsletter to be sent home. I use the same template for the whole month by simply copying my ‘August Newsletter’ four times and updating any information needed for that week.
Contact Information Ideas: You can provide as much or as little in this template as needed. My contact information includes my school email, my classroom phone number, my Remind (teacher texting application) information, and my classroom Seesaw (classroom tool used to upload activities) link.
Editable Newsletters
Tailor it to fit your needs. This can be monthly or weekly, more details or less. The newsletter is yours to edit!
Individualized Communication
Being an Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) teacher involves wearing many hats, one of the most important being the support of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) and their families. Many young children who qualify for early intervention services experience speech and language delays. An inclusive pre-kindergarten classroom provides a rich environment where students with speech delays benefit from frequent exposure to language modeled by both teachers and peers.
While many children are able to go home and share details about their day, students with speech and language delays may not yet have the expressive language skills to do so. This can create a gap in communication between home and school. As educators, it is our responsibility to bridge that gap by supporting and facilitating meaningful communication between students and their families. Whether through visual supports, communication devices, daily written updates, or intentional modeling, we play a key role in helping families stay connected to their child’s experiences and progress.
Daily Communication Logs
(Tip: Keep a hard copy that your assistant teachers are in-charge of so they can keep your basket filled with blank logs.)
Daily Logs
Daily communication logs can take many forms, and the best format is often the one that’s most sustainable and effective for the classroom setting. Personally, I prefer a pen-and-paper approach. That said, these logs can easily be adapted into a digital format to share with families via email or a secure messaging platform. I recommend using a communication app like Remind, which protects both the educator’s and families’ personal phone numbers and ensures privacy.
While I don’t like texting or emailing individualized updates for every student each day, I’ve found that using simple, pre-designed daily slips allows me to quickly jot down highlights while my students are having their snack at the end of the day. This small routine helps me maintain consistent, meaningful communication with families—especially those whose children may not yet be able to share details about their day on their own.
Take Home Folder- Each of my students has a dedicated folder that travels to and from school every day. This folder serves as a consistent, predictable place for families to receive important information. I tuck the daily communication log inside, ensuring it's easy to locate and remains private. This system not only supports regular communication, but also helps build a routine that families can rely on—especially for those whose children may not yet be able to verbally share details about their school day.
If a take-home-folder is just ‘another thing’ to add to your list and stresses you out, DO NOT DO IT. Maybe find a ‘special’ pocket on your student’s backpack and communicate with families that is where their note is always going to be.
Utilize Team Members- Writing daily logs can feel overwhelming—especially when supporting multiple students with IEPs. That’s why collaboration with paraprofessionals and multidisciplinary teams (OTs, PTs, SLPs) is essential. I encourage my assistant teachers to contribute to the logs and fill out as much of the routine information as they feel comfortable with. While I typically complete the notes section and provide a summary of each student’s overall day, my paraprofessionals are more than capable of documenting key details about activities, meals, and general participation. I also encourage service providers to make note of what they worked on that day. Sharing this responsibility not only makes daily communication more manageable, but also reflects the shared knowledge and care our entire team brings to each student’s experience.
Organize Effectively- Use bins or wall file to keep your empty logs and pens. I have a hard copy, and my assistant teachers make sure the bin is full of empty logs. My logs are kept on top of our student’s cubbies/lockers so I can easily fill them out each day.
Detailed Daily Log
Simple Daily Log
Final Thoughts: Communication is Key
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to communicating with students’ families. The most important thing is to establish a consistent system that works for both you and the families you serve—one that effectively shares what’s happening in the classroom and provides meaningful updates about each student’s day. By actively involving families in the learning process, you not only ensure that every student’s voice is represented, but also build trust and strengthen relationships. When families feel informed, included, and connected, it lays the foundation for deeper collaboration and student success.
