ABA and School Coordination Meeting Agenda: A Family Template

This ABA school collaboration meeting template is designed to keep the conversation focused without blending school and clinical authority. It gives everyone a place to name the question, identify the source of information, decide who owns each next step, and set a date to follow up.

The worksheet may be used before an informal coordination call or alongside a formal school meeting. It does not create a right to a meeting or guarantee that an outside ABA provider can attend. For an IEP Team meeting, the school remains responsible for the formal notice, required participants, process, and education decisions. The treating clinician remains responsible for clinical recommendations within that clinician's role.

Important boundary: This is a planning worksheet. It is not an IEP, IEP amendment, behavior intervention plan, consent form, HIPAA authorization, prior written notice, medical order, clinical treatment plan, or legal advice. Families should confirm the meeting type, participant rules, privacy permissions, and state or district procedures with the school and provider.

What kind of meeting is this?

The word “meeting” can describe several different conversations. An informal ABA and school coordination call is not automatically an IEP Team meeting. A formal IEP meeting carries requirements that an informal call does not.

Under IDEA's parent-participation rule, parents must have an opportunity to participate in meetings about identification, evaluation, educational placement, or the provision of a free appropriate public education. The IEP meeting notice rule requires the notice to identify the purpose, time, location, and expected attendees. The IEP Team rule also permits a parent or public agency to invite another person who has knowledge or special expertise regarding the child. An outside ABA clinician may fit that description in a particular case, but the clinician is not a universally required IEP Team member.

Fill in this header before sending the agenda:

• Child or student's preferred name: ______________________________
• Meeting type: ☐ Informal coordination ☐ IEP Team ☐ Section 504 ☐ Other: __________
• Purpose of this conversation: ______________________________
• Date, time, and location or remote link: ______________________________

Record official notice and access details next.

• Who issued the official school notice, if applicable? ______________________________
• Student participation plan: ______________________________
• Interpreter, communication, sensory, or access needs: ______________________________
• Family's preferred way to participate: ☐ In person ☐ Video ☐ Phone ☐ Other: ______

Name the note-taker before the agenda goes out.

• Person who will send the final notes: ______________________________

If the meeting is formal, use the school's official notice and forms. This header helps the family prepare, but it does not replace them.

Who needs to be in the room?

Every participant should know what they are being asked to contribute. That is especially important when a private clinician joins a school meeting. The clinician may describe a clinical observation or explain how a skill is defined in treatment. The applicable IEP Team, Section 504 group, or public agency makes school decisions through its governing process.

ParticipantRole and organizationInvited byWhat this person will contributeAttendance confirmed?Parent or caregiver____________________________________Family priorities and observations☐Student, when participating____________________________________Preferences, experience, questions☐Public agency representative, for an IEP meeting____________________________________School authority, general curriculum, and available resources☐General education teacher____________________________________Classroom context and access☐Special education teacher or provider____________________________________Current educational supports and progress☐Person who can interpret evaluation results, when required____________________________________Instructional implications of evaluation results☐Outside ABA clinician____________________________________Source-labeled clinical information☐Other invited person______________________________________________________☐

A participant's presence does not authorize every record exchange. Attendance, access to information, and decision-making authority are separate questions.

Before records move between teams

School and provider records may sit in different privacy systems. The December 2019 joint FERPA and HIPAA guidance explains that records maintained by a school subject to FERPA, or by a contractor acting for that school, are generally education records under FERPA. A private healthcare provider's own copy may instead be governed by HIPAA if the provider is a covered entity.

Routine sharing should not rest on an assumption that “the team already knows.” The Department of Education's FERPA consent guidance says a consent for disclosure generally must be signed and dated. It must identify the records, state the purpose, and identify the recipient or class of recipients. Exceptions exist, so the school's privacy contact should confirm the applicable route. A provider should separately confirm its HIPAA authority and any state-law requirements.

Use this table as a question list, not as the authorization itself:

DirectionExact records or informationPurposeRecipientConsent or authority detailsExpiration or revocationSecure routeOwner and statusSchool to ABA provider______________________________________________________Signed/dated: __ Other authority: ________________________________________________________ABA provider to school______________________________________________________Signed/dated: __ Other authority: ________________________________________________________Family to both teams______________________________________________________Signed/dated: __ Other authority: ________________________________________________________

When the authority is uncertain, mark the transfer on hold and assign someone to resolve it. The meeting can still address other items that do not depend on that record.

What the family and student want the group to understand

IDEA's IEP development rule directs an IEP Team to consider the child's strengths, parent concerns, evaluation results, and academic, developmental, and functional needs. The family agenda can begin in the same practical spirit even when the conversation is informal.

• What is going well for the child at school, home, and in the community? ______________________________
• What does the child want others to understand? ______________________________
• What is the family's most important question today? ______________________________
• Which school activity or routine is affected? ______________________________
• What would a useful outcome from this meeting look like? ______________________________
• What can wait for a later conversation? ______________________________

A shorter agenda often produces a clearer result. One or two well-defined questions are usually more workable than trying to reconcile every school and clinical goal at once.

Why context stays attached to the data

Clinical and school data can use different definitions, prompts, tasks, or observation windows. A percentage from one setting should not be averaged with a percentage from another simply because the labels sound similar.

Question or skillSource and authorSetting and datesDefinition and measureSupports or prompts presentMissing information or limits________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The source column should distinguish direct observation, caregiver report, student report, school data, and clinical data. The limits column can note different definitions, small samples, missing opportunities, absences, or a setting that was not observed.

A 55-minute agenda families can copy

The following order keeps the child's experience at the center while preserving each team's role.

TimeAgenda itemQuestions to answerFacilitator5 minutesWelcome, meeting type, and purposeWhat decision or coordination outcome is possible today?__________5 minutesStudent and family prioritiesWhat is working? What feels hard? What matters most to the child?__________10 minutesSchool contextWhat does the school observe, and under which conditions?__________10 minutesABA or family informationWhat was observed elsewhere, and what are its limits?__________10 minutesCompare definitions and supportsAre the teams describing the same skill, behavior, prompt, and opportunity?__________10 minutesDecisions and open questionsWhich owner can decide each item? What must move to another process?__________5 minutesActions and follow-upWho will do what, by when, and where will the result be recorded?__________

If behavior is affecting learning, IDEA requires the IEP Team to consider positive behavioral interventions and supports and other strategies. The federal 2024 functional behavioral assessment guidance also emphasizes observable definitions, context, multiple data sources, hypothesized function, positive supports, and review. That guidance is nonbinding, and a private ABA assessment does not automatically become the school's FBA or behavior plan.

Who can decide each question?

Good coordination does not require one person to control every answer. A school team may decide whether an educational evaluation, IEP goal, service, accommodation, or support is appropriate. An ABA clinician may decide whether to reassess or revise a clinical recommendation. When consent or authorization is required, the record custodian should verify whether the parent, eligible student, or another authorized person holds that right. A payer separately decides coverage and authorization.

QuestionInformation consideredSchool decision ownerClinical decision ownerFamily or student decisionResult todayGoverning record__________________________________________________________________________________________☐ Decided ☐ Held ☐ Referred____________________________________________________________________________________________________________☐ Decided ☐ Held ☐ Referred__________________

If the public agency proposes or refuses to initiate or change the child's identification, evaluation, educational placement, or provision of FAPE, IDEA's prior written notice rule applies. A routine coordination task does not automatically trigger that notice.

Leave with named owners and dates

Meeting notes become more useful when each action has one accountable owner and a date. “School and ABA team will coordinate” is too broad to track.

Copy this action block once for each commitment:

• Action: __________________
• Accountable owner: __________________
• Contributors: __________________
• Evidence or permission needed: __________________
• Due date: __________
• Status: ☐ Open ☐ Held ☐ Done

Before closing, confirm:

• which decisions were made and which were not;
• where each decision will be documented;
• which records may be distributed and to whom;
• who will send notes and accept corrections;
• the next review date; and
• what the family should do if an expected action does not occur.

Fictional filled example: Maya's help-request goal

Maya is a fictional 9-year-old who uses speech and an AAC page to ask for help. Her family reports that she asks for help during cooking and homework when an adult pauses and points to her AAC device. Her private ABA clinician reports 16 independent help requests in 24 defined clinic opportunities across four sessions. At school, the teacher reports 4 help requests in 12 classroom opportunities, but the school count includes only spoken requests and the AAC page is not always available during transitions.

The family requests a 45-minute coordination meeting. The school confirms that it will be an informal planning call, not an IEP Team meeting. Maya joins for the first ten minutes and says, “My help page is in the wrong folder at school.” The family completes the provider's required authorization for a one-page clinical data summary to go to the special education teacher. The school has not yet confirmed whether it may send classroom data to the private provider, so that transfer remains on hold.

Filled evidence table

Question or skillSource and authorSetting and datesDefinition and measureSupports presentLimitsAsking for helpBCBA clinic summaryClinic, Sept. 3 to 14Unprompted speech or AAC selection within 10 seconds; 16/24AAC available; familiar adultsNo school observationsAsking for helpSpecial education teacherClassroom, Sept. 4 to 15Spoken request before teacher assistance; 4/12Visual schedule; AAC not consistently carriedDefinition excludes AAC; transition data incompleteAccess to help pageMaya's reportSchool transitionsMaya says page is hard to findDevice available in classroomExact transition routines not yet observed

The group does not average 16/24 and 4/12. The measures describe different definitions and conditions.

Filled decision and action record

ItemOwnerResult or actionDue dateRecordReview AAC access during transitionsSchool case managerObserve three transitions and ask Maya where the page should liveSept. 22School observation noteCompare help-request definitionsTeacher and BCBADraft a plain-language crosswalk without changing either planSept. 24Coordination notesConsider an educational changeIEP Team, if school determines a meeting is neededInformal call makes no IEP change; case manager will explain next school stepSept. 27School process recordReview clinic promptsBCBACheck whether the pause and point are fading as plannedSept. 25Clinical recordClassroom-data disclosureSchool privacy contactConfirm permitted route before any transferSept. 20Privacy tracking note

The meeting ends with one school observation, one clinical review, one privacy question, and a follow-up date. Maya's comment changes the next observation. The teams remain free to reach different conclusions because they serve different purposes.