A routines-based parent coaching plan template with a session log, a parent training checklist, and example entries for each step.
✓Starts from the family's priorities
✓Coaching log for every session
✓Parent training checklist to tick
Free · No sign-up · Saves in your browser
What's inside
Family Priorities
Routines Chosen for Coaching
Coaching Plan by Routine
Coaching Log
Parent Reflection
Parent Training Checklist
Review
Preview · 7 sections
Routines-Based Parent Coaching Plan
Child
Plan start date
Parent or carer being coached
Coach (therapist)
Languages used at home
Review date
Family Priorities
What the family wants to be different in daily lifeWrite each carer's priority in their own words.
Routines Chosen for Coaching
Routine
Why the Family Chose It
Who Is Usually There
Time of Day
Coaching Plan by Routine
Routine
Child's Goal in This Routine
Strategy to Coach
What the Parent Will Try
What Success Looks Like
Coaching Log
Date
Routine
Strategy Coached
How It Was Coached
What the Parent Tried
What Happened
Next Step
Parent Reflection
What feels easier now
What still feels hard
Parent Training Checklist
☐ The parent chose the routine to practise
☐ The strategy was explained in the family's language
☐ The coach showed the strategy with the child
☐ The parent practised while the coach watched
☐ The parent described what they noticed first
☐ Feedback named what went well and one thing to try
☐ A plan was agreed for practice before the next visit
☐ Other carers in the routine were included or told about the strategy
Review
Changes to the coaching plan at review
How to fill it in
1
Family Priorities
What each carer wants to be different in daily life, in their own words.
More guidance
Write what the family wants to be different in daily life, in their own words. Coaching takes hold when it starts from a routine that matters to the parent, such as a calmer bedtime or the child eating with the family. If priorities differ between carers, record each one with who said it.
2
Routines Chosen for Coaching
One to three daily routines the family chose, why, who is there, and when.
More guidance
Choose one to three routines with the family. Record why they chose each one, who is usually present, and when it happens. Pick routines that happen every day and that the parent being coached is actually there for.
3
Coaching Plan by Routine
For each routine: the child's goal, one strategy, what the parent will try, and success.
More guidance
For each routine, write the child's goal as it applies there, one strategy to coach, what the parent will try, and what success looks like for both parent and child. Start with one strategy per routine. Add another only when the parent is using the first with confidence.
4
Coaching Log
One row per coaching session, recording what the parent did as well as the child.
More guidance
Add one row per coaching session: the date, routine, strategy, how you coached it (explained, modelled, practised with feedback, or reflected on together), what the parent tried, what happened, and the next step. Write what the parent did and said as well as what the child did. Over time the log shows the parent needing less support from you.
5
Parent Reflection
What feels easier and what still feels hard, asked before you give feedback.
More guidance
Ask the parent what feels easier now and what still feels hard, and write their answers in their words. Ask before you give feedback. A parent who names their own progress is more likely to keep going, and the hard parts tell you what to change in the plan.
6
Parent Training Checklist
Tick the main coaching steps at each session as a quality and training record.
More guidance
Use the checklist at each coaching session to confirm that the main steps of coaching happened. It works as a quality prompt for the therapist and as a record that the parent took an active part. Edit the items to match your centre's approach, and keep the wording short enough to tick during a session.
7
Review
Which strategies the parent uses alone, what needs more coaching, and the next routine.
More guidance
At review, read the log and the parent's reflections together. Decide which strategies the parent now uses on their own, which need more coaching, and which routine to move to next. Record the changes and set the next review date.
Parent coaching plan template with examples: filled sample
Fictional entries, initials only, showing the level of detail to aim for. Impression and summary sections are left for the treating clinician.
Family Priorities
Mother: 'I want to take him to the vegetable shop without him lying down on the road.' Father: 'I want him to sit for dinner with us.'
Routines Chosen for Coaching
Dinner: chosen by father because it is the only meal he is home for. Father, grandmother, and older sister present. Around 8 pm.
Coaching Plan by Routine
Routine: dinner. Child's goal: stays seated until his portion is finished. Strategy: give him a job, such as passing the rotis, and praise him for sitting. Parent will try: give the job at the start of every dinner. Success: father does this most nights without reminders, and R. stays seated longer.
Coaching Log
12 February, dinner, video call. Strategy: give a job. Modelled once with his sister; father practised twice. R. stayed seated while passing rotis and left when the job ended. Next: add a second job, handing out spoons.
Parent Reflection
'Giving him a job works. Waiting for him to ask is still hard when I am tired after work.'
Review
Father uses the job strategy at dinner without prompts. Move coaching to the morning routine with mother. Next review in six weeks.
Parent coaching plan vs home programme
Parent coaching plan
Home programme
Main purpose
Help the parent learn and adapt strategies
Remind the family what to practise this week
Written by
Therapist with the parent, updated every session
Therapist, handed to the family
Records
What was coached, what the parent tried, what happened
Activities and a weekly practice log
Main reader
Therapist and parent together
Parents and other carers at home
How long it is used
Weeks to months, across a goal
One to a few weeks at a time
Tips and mistakes to avoid
Do
Coach during the real routine, at a home visit or on a video call while the family has a snack.
Coach mealtime strategies where and how the family actually eats, even sitting on the floor.
In joint families, include every relative in the routine so nobody undoes the strategy unknowingly.
Ask for one short video of the coached routine, then ask what the parent noticed first.
Name what the parent did well, such as 'You waited until she looked at you'.
Avoid
Working with the child for most of the session while the parent watches.
Coaching several strategies at once, so the parent is unsure which to use.
Choosing routines the coached parent is rarely present for.
Giving feedback before asking the parent what they noticed.
About this home programme
A parent coaching plan records how a therapist will help a parent or carer use strategies with their child during daily routines, and how that coaching is going. This free template covers the family's priorities, the routines chosen, the strategy for each, a session-by-session coaching log, the parent's reflections, and a parent training checklist you can tick at each visit.
When the goal plan includes family coaching
When a parent is unsure what to do between sessions
When a grandparent or helper becomes a main carer
Recording each parent's progress in parent training programmes
Read more
In early intervention, much of the change happens between sessions, in routines a parent shares with the child every day. Coaching helps the parent notice, try, and adjust strategies in those moments.
This plan sits beside the goal plan and the home programme. It follows a cycle of planning, showing, practising, and reflecting, and its checklist doubles as a parent training record.
Questions
What is a parent coaching plan in early intervention?+
A written plan for how a therapist will coach a parent to use strategies in daily routines, with a log of each coaching session: the routine, the strategy, how it was coached, what the parent tried, what happened, and the next step.
Is there a filled example of a parent coaching plan?+
Yes. Each section on this page shows a fictional example entry, using initials only, from a family priority to a coaching log row. The checklist has no example, and judging the parent's progress stays with the coach.
Is parent coaching the same as parent training?+
The terms overlap. Parent training often means a set programme of skills, sometimes in groups. Parent coaching usually means working with one family inside their own routines. This template supports both and includes a parent training checklist.
How many strategies should I coach at once?+
Start with one strategy in one or two routines. Add another when the parent tells you, and you can see, that the first one has become part of the routine.
Can I use this plan for ABA parent training?+
Yes, as a structure. Write the procedures from the child's behaviour plan in the strategy column and record the parent's use of each in the log. The template contains no proprietary curriculum.
Can parent coaching happen over video?+
Yes. Video lets you coach during the real routine at home. Ask the family to place the phone where you can see both parent and child, and note any limits of the view in the log.
Can we track parent coaching in healhab?+
A centre can build this plan as its own template in healhab's Template Studio and keep it with the child's session feedback and other documents.
