ABA Care Meeting Decision and Action Follow-Up Template for Families

Complete the identity and access sections before the meeting. Fill the discussion and action sections during or soon after it. Send a short confirmation through an authorized channel when the family needs the team to correct or confirm its understanding.

Use a new ABA care meeting notes template for each meeting or formal follow-up.

Families and Caregivers / Progress, Quality, Rights and Ethical Care.

The AHRQ care-coordination overview describes organized information exchange, accountability, monitoring, and follow-up. Those concepts support clear assignments and review points, but they do not create authority, approval, or an individualized ABA plan.

Important boundary: This is a family-owned meeting follow-up record. It is not official minutes, informed consent, a clinical plan or order, a payer authorization, a school record, a legal or safety decision, credentialing evidence, or proof that an attendee had authority to decide or approve an item. Use the provider, payer, school, medical, legal, safety, and emergency processes that apply to the actual question.

Define the meeting and the family's purpose

Give the record a date, meeting type, and limited purpose. A broad label such as “care team meeting” may hide whether the group was gathering information, coordinating, reviewing a plan, or making a decision.

Meeting fieldFamily entryPerson's name and preferred nameYour entry: __________.Meeting date, time, and formatYour entry: __________.Meeting requested byYour entry: __________.Stated meeting typeYour entry: __________.Limited purposeYour entry: __________.Family recorderYour entry: __________.Authorized record or agenda referencedYour entry: __________.Next review date, if already knownYour entry: __________.

Describe the purpose in one sentence, such as “review transition concerns and identify who will answer the family's questions.” Do not convert a coordination meeting into a treatment-plan review, consent conference, authorization decision, or complaint process unless the responsible organization confirms that status.

The CMS person-centered care overview describes care that responds to a person's goals, values, preferences, and needs through communication and collaboration. It is general health-care framing, not an ABA meeting rule or grant of decision-making authority.

List attendees, roles, and stated authority

Record each attendee's name and stated role. If someone says they can recommend but not approve an item, preserve that limit.

AttendeeOrganization or relationshipStated role in this meetingStated decision or approval authorityFollow-up contactYour entry: __________.Your entry: __________.Your entry: __________.Your entry: __________.

Attendance does not prove licensure, certification, employment scope, authorization, legal authority, or access to every record. Verify those facts through the responsible source when they matter.

The BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts applies to certificants and applicants. Its documentation and professional-responsibility provisions do not make a family's notes the certificant's clinical record, credentialing proof, consent, or ethics determination.

Prepare communication and participation access

Ask how the person wants to receive information, communicate, take breaks, and review the meeting afterward. Record what was requested and what was confirmed.

Access fieldPreference or requestSourcePerson responsibleConfirmed statusCommunication methodYour entry: __________.Language, interpretation, captioning, or reading supportYour entry: __________.Plain-language, visual, written, or advance materialsYour entry: __________.Processing time, pacing, or breaksYour entry: __________.Environmental or sensory accessYour entry: __________.How the person can disagree, stop, or revisit a questionYour entry: __________.

The ADA effective-communication resource discusses auxiliary aids and services for communication with people who have communication disabilities. Whether a law applies and which aid, service, process, exception, or remedy is appropriate requires current case-specific review. This template records a request and response only.

The ASHA communication-access resource emphasizes asking about communication preferences, addressing the person directly, allowing processing time, reducing distractions, and confirming understanding. That resource cannot authorize this family record to assess communication or substitute for individualized professional support.

Preserve priorities before discussion starts

Put the person's direct priorities first when they are available. Keep family priorities and other participants' goals in separate rows.

Priority sourceExact priority or questionCommunication method or sourceRequested meeting useOpen uncertaintyPersonYour entry: __________.FamilyYour entry: __________.ABA providerYour entry: __________.Other provider, school, payer, or supportYour entry: __________.

Do not rewrite disagreement as consensus. A person may have a different priority from the family or provider. A meeting can preserve those differences and identify the responsible next step without forcing a single summary.

Separate discussion, request, recommendation, and decision

Use one row per topic. Select the exact status rather than treating everything mentioned as a decision.

TopicDiscussion or information sharedRequest madeRecommendation madeDecision statedSource and dateYour entry: __________.Your entry: __________.Your entry: __________.

The AHRQ shared decision-making overview describes collaboration among patients, caregivers, and clinicians using evidence, clinical knowledge, and the person's values and circumstances. Shared-decision framing does not mean every meeting participant has formal authority or that discussion creates approval.

A request asks another party to consider something. A recommendation expresses a proposed course from an identified source. A decision states what the authorized decision-maker chose. Keep “no decision made” visible when that is the accurate result.

Confirm approval and authorization status separately

Some decisions still require clinical approval, a signed plan, payer authorization, school action, consent, scheduling, or another formal step.

ItemMeeting decision, if anyAdditional approval or authorization neededResponsible sourceEvidence receivedCurrent statusYour entry: __________.Your entry: __________.Your entry: __________.

Do not use the family template as the evidence column. Cite the actual source, such as an approved plan, written payer notice, school document, signed consent, schedule, or provider confirmation. Mark unknown when the family does not know what approval is required.

Assign each action to one owner and date

Turn confirmed next steps into discrete actions. Avoid group owners such as “the team” unless a named coordinator accepts responsibility.

ActionOwner who accepted itDue dateDependencyCompletion evidenceStatusYour entry: __________.Your entry: __________.Your entry: __________.Your entry: __________.

Use status labels such as proposed, assigned, awaiting approval, scheduled, completed, declined, redirected, or unknown. A due date can be a promised response date when final completion depends on another process.

If the owner changes, preserve the earlier assignment and record when the new owner accepted it. Do not assume that copying someone on an email assigned the action.

Record the family's confirmation after the meeting

Summarize the family's understanding in a few sentences and invite corrections through the authorized channel.

Confirmation fieldEntryDate summary sentYour entry: __________.RecipientsYour entry: __________.Decisions the family understoodYour entry: __________.Items understood as pendingYour entry: __________.Assigned actions and due datesYour entry: __________.Corrections receivedYour entry: __________.Unanswered questionYour entry: __________.

A family summary is not official minutes unless the responsible organization adopts it through its record process. Silence after sending the summary is not confirmation. Record an explicit correction or confirmation with its source.

Verify implementation and preserve feedback

At the agreed review point, check what actually happened. Keep implementation, person feedback, family observation, and provider interpretation distinct.

Follow-up fieldEntryAction checkedYour entry: __________.Approval evidenceYour entry: __________.Implementation evidence, date, and settingYour entry: __________.Person's direct feedback and communication methodYour entry: __________.Family's direct observationYour entry: __________.Provider interpretation or recommendationYour entry: __________.Difference or next questionYour entry: __________.

Implementation does not prove effectiveness. Feedback after a change does not prove cause. Preserve mixed results and route clinical analysis to the qualified team.

Plan the next review without inventing closure

Some items can close while others remain pending or move to another process.

Review fieldEntryCompleted itemsYour entry: __________.Pending itemsYour entry: __________.Redirected items and routeYour entry: __________.Person's unresolved priorityYour entry: __________.Family's unresolved questionYour entry: __________.Next meeting or review ownerYour entry: __________.Next date and required materialsYour entry: __________.

Label the family record closed only when no further family follow-up is planned for that version. This does not establish that clinical, payer, school, safety, legal, or complaint matters are resolved.

Check the template before sharing it

• Confirm the meeting identity and purpose. Name the family recorder. Cite the agenda or official record when one exists.
• Verify attendee names and stated roles. Keep authority limits visible. Do not infer credentials or approval power from attendance.
• Preserve the person's direct priorities. Keep family and provider priorities separate. Leave disagreement visible.
• Separate discussion from a request. Separate a recommendation from a decision. Mark no decision when none was made.
• Check whether another approval is required. Cite the actual approval source. Do not treat this template as authorization.
• Give every accepted action one owner. Record its due date. Keep dependencies and unknowns visible.
• Send the family summary securely. Invite specific corrections. Do not treat silence as confirmation.
• Verify implementation at the review point. Preserve person feedback. List unresolved items and the next authorized route.

Quick read-back cues

• Read the meeting purpose first. Keep it narrow. Confirm the date. Name the recorder.
• Read the attendee list. Check each role. Keep authority limits. Mark unknowns.
• Read the access requests. Confirm the source. Name the owner. Record the status.
• Read the person's priorities. Preserve exact communication. Keep family priorities separate. Leave disagreement visible.
• Read each discussion item. Identify any request. Identify any recommendation. Identify any decision.
• Read the approval column. Cite the responsible source. Keep pending items pending. Avoid assumptions.
• Read the action list. Confirm one owner. Confirm the due date. Name the evidence expected.
• Read the follow-up entry. Check implementation. Preserve person feedback. List the next question.

Fictional example: Mateo's team reviews a transition question

This example is fictional and demonstrates wording only.

FieldFictional entryPurposeReview Mateo's communication during the arrival transition and identify follow-up ownersPerson's priorityMateo selected “more time” on his device when the arrival steps were reviewedFamily requestFamily asked the team to review whether the visual schedule could be shown before arrivalRecommendationBCBA recommended testing an advance preview after confirming the current plan and access methodDecision and approvalNo treatment change approved in the meeting; clinical-plan review remains pendingAssigned actionBCBA will send the plan-review outcome by Thursday; coordinator will confirm the next meeting dateFollow-upFamily will ask Mateo for feedback using his device after any approved and implemented change

The example cannot create official minutes, consent, a treatment order, payer authorization, a safety decision, or proof of an attendee's authority. It cannot establish why Mateo asked for more time or whether a future change is effective.