Early intervention discharge and transition summary format
An early intervention discharge summary format written for the next teacher or therapist, with sample entries for each section.
✓Strategies a teacher can use day one
✓Outcomes against each family goal
✓Handover log with consent recorded
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What's inside
Reason for Discharge or Transition
Services Provided
Outcomes Against Family Goals
How the Child Participates Now
Strategies That Work
Remaining Needs and Priorities
Handover
Family Notes
+ 2 more sections
Preview · 10 sections
Early Intervention Discharge and Transition Summary
Child
Child ID
Date of birth
Discharge or transition date
Team members
Period of service
Moving to
Coordinator
Reason for Discharge or Transition
ReasonFor example: starting preschool or school, moving to school-based support, relocating, goals met, or family choice.
Services Provided
Discipline
Period
Frequency
Setting
Outcomes Against Family Goals
Family Goal
At Start
At Transition
Outcome
How the Child Participates Now
Setting or Routine
What the Child Does
Support That Helps
Home routines
Play with other children
Group or classroom routines
Communication with familiar and new adults
Strategies That Work
Supports, strategies, and adaptations to continueWrite each one so a new teacher or therapist can use it on the first day.
Remaining Needs and Priorities
Remaining needs
Family priorities for the next stage
Handover
Receiving Person or Service
What Was Shared
Date
Family Consent Recorded
Recommendations for the receiving team
Family Notes
What the family wants the next team to know
When to Contact Us Again
Re-referral guidance and contact details
Therapist Sign-off
Therapist
Designation
Registration
Date
How to fill it in
1
Reason for Discharge or Transition
Why services are ending or changing, whose decision it was, and the last session date.
More guidance
State plainly why services are ending or changing and whose decision it was: goals met, starting school, the family relocating, the family's choice, or a move to another service. If the family chose to stop, record it without judgement. Give the date of the last session and any follow-up the centre has agreed to provide.
2
Services Provided
Each discipline's period, frequency, and setting, plus group or parent sessions.
More guidance
List each discipline with the period, frequency, and setting: centre, home, video, or preschool. Add group programmes and parent training sessions. This gives the receiving team a quick picture of what the child has already had, which helps them avoid repeating an approach that has been tried.
3
Outcomes Against Family Goals
Each family goal with where the child started, where they are now, and the outcome.
More guidance
List the family's goals from the latest plan, where the child started, where the child is now, and the outcome. Describe the start and the current point in the same terms so the change is clear to a reader who has never met the child. Record goals that were changed or dropped, and why.
4
How the Child Participates Now
How the child takes part in home, play, and group routines, and what helps.
More guidance
Describe the child in the settings the next team cares about: home routines, play with other children, group or classroom routines, and communication with familiar and unfamiliar adults. Add the support that helps in each. This section is mainly for teachers, so keep clinical terms out of it.
5
Strategies That Work
Supports that work, each written as one sentence a new teacher could act on.
More guidance
List the supports, strategies, and adaptations that have helped most, each as a sentence a new teacher could act on. Include anything that prevents distress, such as a warning before transitions or a quiet corner to retreat to. Name the language the child responds to best.
6
Remaining Needs and Priorities
What the child still needs help with, and the family's priorities for the next stage.
More guidance
Record what the child still needs support with, and the family's priorities for the next stage. Be honest and specific without predicting the future. Describe each need alongside what helps, so the receiving team can start planning from it.
7
Handover
Each recipient, what was shared, the date, and the family's recorded consent.
More guidance
Record each person or service you are handing over to, what was shared (this summary, the latest plan, reports), the date, and that the family's consent was recorded. Add specific recommendations for the receiving team. Share nothing with a school or another provider without the family's written consent.
8
Family Notes
What the family wants the next team to know, in their own words.
More guidance
Give the family room to tell the next team what they want them to know, in their own words. Families often want to share what their child loves, what upsets them, and what they hope for. Write it down as they say it and read it back to them.
9
When to Contact Us Again
When and how the family or new setting should get in touch again.
More guidance
Explain when the family or the new setting should get in touch: new concerns, loss of a skill the child had, difficulty settling, or a request for review. Give the centre's contact details and say whether follow-up consultation is offered and how to arrange it.
Early intervention discharge and transition summary format: filled sample
Fictional entries, initials only, showing the level of detail to aim for. Impression and summary sections are left for the treating clinician.
Reason for Discharge or Transition
K. starts upper kindergarten at a mainstream school in June. The family and team agreed to end centre sessions on 30 May and offer the school a monthly consultation for one term.
Services Provided
Speech therapy, August 2024 to May 2026, weekly at the centre. Occupational therapy, August 2024 to December 2025, fortnightly home visits. Parent group, six sessions in 2025.
Outcomes Against Family Goals
Goal: tells adults what she wants during snack. Start: cried and reached. Now: asks with two-word phrases in Bengali and English, such as 'more biscuit', with familiar adults. Outcome: achieved.
How the Child Participates Now
Group routines: joins circle time for about five minutes when seated beside an adult. Leaves when the group sings loudly and comes back when shown a picture of the next activity.
Strategies That Work
Show a picture of the next activity before asking him to stop the current one. Give instructions one step at a time, in Hindi first. Seat him at the end of a row with room to move.
Remaining Needs and Priorities
Still finds it hard to wait for a turn in group games and does best with a 'my turn, your turn' card. Family priority: making one friend at school.
Handover
Class teacher Ms H., Little Steps School: this summary and the latest goal plan, shared on 2 June; family consent signed on 28 May. Recommendation: a short meeting with the family in the first month of term.
Family Notes
From mother: 'She is shy for the first week. If she cries in the morning, give her the blue water bottle. It is her comfort.'
Discharge summary vs transition summary
Discharge (services end)
Transition (moving to a new setting)
Main readers
The family and the referring doctor
The receiving teacher, school, or provider, with the family
Focus
Outcomes and why services ended
How the child takes part now and what works
Strategies
Brief ideas to keep going at home
Detailed, classroom-ready strategies
Consent
Mostly kept between the centre and family
Family consent recorded for each recipient
Follow-up
Guidance on when to return
A handover meeting or consultation where offered
Tips and mistakes to avoid
Do
Start planning months before the move, and ask which school the family is considering.
Write strategies for a busy teacher: one sentence each, starting with a verb.
Record what the school has agreed to, and avoid statements about what it must provide.
Offer a short handover call with the class teacher, with the family's agreement.
Where WhatsApp is set up and the family has opted in, a healhab centre can send them the published summary.
Avoid
Writing only for clinicians, in terms a teacher cannot use.
Sending reports to a school without the family's written consent.
Leaving out what did not work, so the next team tries it again.
Predicting how the child will manage at school instead of describing the present.
About this discharge summary
An early intervention discharge and transition summary closes a child's time with the team and hands over what the next setting needs to know. This free template records why services are ending or changing, outcomes on each family goal, how the child takes part in routines now, the strategies that work, remaining needs, and what was shared with whom.
A child is starting preschool or school
The family is moving or changing centres
Goals are met and services can end
Moving from team-based care to one therapy or school support
Read more
In early intervention, discharge is rarely a full stop. A child moves on to school, another centre, or a single therapy, and this summary is often the only document the next teacher or therapist reads first.
The coordinator writes it with a few lines from each discipline and the family's own notes. Share the draft with the family first, and record consent for every recipient.
Questions
What is an early intervention transition summary?+
The document a child development team writes when a child moves on, usually to preschool, school, or another provider. It records outcomes, how the child takes part now, what works, remaining needs, and what was shared.
Is there a filled sample of this discharge summary?+
Yes. Each section on this page shows a fictional sample entry, using initials only, from the reason for transition to the family's notes. Outcome judgements stay with your team, and the contact section holds your centre's own details.
Is a transition to school summary the same as an IEP?+
No. An IEP is a school's own plan for a child. The transition summary is one document a school can use when it plans. Schools in India use different formats, and this template makes no claim to meet any particular one.
Who should receive a copy?+
The family always gets the first copy. Other copies go only to people the family agrees to, such as the class teacher, the paediatrician, or a new centre. Record each recipient and date in the handover table.
What if the family ends services before goals are met?+
Write the summary anyway. Record the reason as the family gave it, progress so far, the strategies that help, and how to come back. A clear summary makes it easier to restart later, at your centre or elsewhere.
Should each discipline write its own discharge report?+
One shared summary is easier for a school to read. Each discipline adds a few lines to the outcomes and strategies sections, and detailed discipline reports can be attached for a new therapist who needs them.
Can I edit and download this template free?+
Yes. It opens in your browser without sign-up. Add your centre's details, fill it in, and download a clean PDF to share with the family.
