Early intervention progress report template and example
An early intervention progress report template that shows families what changed, goal by goal, with example entries for each section.
✓Family's own words come first
✓Starting point and now, goal by goal
✓Plain language parents can follow
Free · No sign-up · Saves in your browser
What's inside
Who Contributed to This Report
Family Update in Their Words
Progress on Family-Centred Goals
Progress by Discipline
Participation in Daily Routines
What Is Helping
Barriers and Changes
Family Coaching Update
+ 2 more sections
Preview · 10 sections
Early Intervention Progress Report
Child
Child ID
Date of birth
Report date
Team members
Reporting period
Family members involved
Sessions and home visits
Who Contributed to This Report
ContributorsName the family members, therapists, and teachers whose observations are included, and how each contributed.
Family Update in Their Words
What the family has noticed since the last planRecord the family's own words, including worries as well as good news.
Progress on Family-Centred Goals
Area and Goal (as written in the plan)
Routine Where Practised
Starting Point
What We See Now
Status
Evidence
Communication:
Motor:
Play and learning:
Social-emotional:
Self-help:
Progress by Discipline
Discipline
Focus This Period
What Changed
Therapist
Speech therapy
Occupational therapy
Physiotherapy
Special education / developmental therapy
Participation in Daily Routines
Routine
What the Child Does Now
Support Still Needed
Mealtime
Bath and dressing
Play
Going out
Sleep and bedtime
What Is Helping
Strategies and supports that are workingName the strategy and the routine where it works.
Barriers and Changes
Attendance, health, family, or setting changes
Family Coaching Update
What the family is practising and how it is going
Next Steps
Goals to continue, change, close, or add
Changes to services or frequency
Next review date and meeting
Therapist Sign-off
Therapist
Designation
Registration
Date
How to fill it in
1
Who Contributed to This Report
Every source of information, and how each person contributed.
More guidance
Name every source: parents, grandparents, a helper, each therapist, and the preschool teacher. Say how each contributed, whether through sessions, home visits, a family log, videos, or a phone call. The reader then knows where each statement comes from, and the family can see that their observations count as evidence.
2
Family Update in Their Words
What the family has noticed since the last plan, quoted with little editing.
More guidance
Before the team's view, record what the family has noticed. Ask an open question such as 'What is different at home since the last plan?' and write the answers with as little editing as possible. Include worries alongside good news. Families often turn to this section first, because it is the one that sounds like them.
3
Progress on Family-Centred Goals
Each plan goal word for word, with starting point, current performance, status, and evidence.
More guidance
Copy each goal exactly as written in the plan. Record the routine where it was practised, the starting point from the plan, and what the child does now, described in the same terms so the change is visible. Give a status and name the evidence. If a goal was not worked on, say why. Replace words like 'improving' with the behaviour you saw.
4
Progress by Discipline
A few sentences per discipline: its focus, what changed, and who wrote it.
More guidance
Give each discipline a short entry: what it focused on, what changed, and who wrote it. Keep it to a few sentences, with technical detail left in that discipline's own notes. Where two disciplines worked on the same goal, they can share one entry so the family does not read the same news twice.
5
Participation in Daily Routines
What the child does now in each daily routine, and the support still needed.
More guidance
For each routine, describe what the child does now and the support still needed. This shows change in daily life even when a goal is not yet met. Add or remove routines to fit the family, such as prayer time, travelling in an auto-rickshaw, or visits to relatives on Sundays.
6
What Is Helping
The strategies that seem to work, each with the routine where it works.
More guidance
Name the strategies and supports that appear to be making the difference, each with the routine where it works. Credit the family's practice where the evidence shows it. Anyone new to the child, such as a substitute therapist or a new teacher, will find this the most useful part of the report.
7
Barriers and Changes
Missed sessions, illness, or changes at home or in setting, recorded factually.
More guidance
Record what affected progress: missed sessions, illness, a new sibling, a house move, a change of carer, or weeks away in the family's hometown. Keep the tone factual and free of blame. Note any change in the child's health or setting that the team now needs to plan around.
8
Family Coaching Update
What the family has practised, who practised it, and how confident they feel.
More guidance
Describe which strategies the family has been coached on, who has been practising them, and how confident the family says they feel. If the coaching plan changed during the period, say why. Include the family's own view of what has been easy and hard to do at home.
9
Next Steps
Goals to continue, change, close, or add, service changes, and the next review date.
More guidance
List the goals to continue, change, close, or add, with a reason for each, and any change to services or frequency the team suggests. Give the date of the next review. Write it so the family knows what will be different from next week.
Early intervention progress report template and example: filled sample
Fictional entries, initials only, showing the level of detail to aim for. Impression and summary sections are left for the treating clinician.
Who Contributed to This Report
Mother (weekly log and four snack-time videos), grandmother (phone conversation in Kannada), speech therapist (11 sessions), occupational therapist (3 home visits), preschool teacher Ms F. (written note).
Family Update in Their Words
Father: 'She brings her shoes to me now when she wants to go out.' Grandmother: 'Bath time is still a fight, but she lets me pour the water.'
Progress on Family-Centred Goals
Goal: at snack time, N. will ask for more by sign or word without a physical prompt. Start: reached and cried. Now: signs 'more' at most snack times at home and in all three observed sessions; said 'mo' twice this week. Status: progressing. Evidence: family log and session notes.
Progress by Discipline
Physiotherapy: focus on getting up from and down to the floor during play at home. During the last home visit, G. pulled up at the sofa on her own and lowered herself to sit without falling.
Participation in Daily Routines
Mealtime: sits on a booster seat at the family table for most of dinner and feeds himself rice with his fingers. Needs an adult to load the spoon for curd.
What Is Helping
Waiting with an expectant look before handing over a toy. A first-then picture card before bath, used by grandmother. The same short song every time during dressing.
Barriers and Changes
Six sessions missed in October while the family travelled to their hometown; grandmother continued the snack-time practice. Started a new preschool in November, and mornings have been harder since.
Family Coaching Update
Mother uses 'wait and watch' at snack time every day and says it now feels natural. Father has taken over the bath routine at weekends and has asked for help with tooth brushing.
Next Steps
Continue the snack-time goal and extend it to bubble play. Close the standing goal as achieved. Add a tooth-brushing goal chosen by father. OT moves from fortnightly to monthly home visits. Review meeting on 10 June.
Progress report vs session note
Progress report
Session note
Covers
A whole review period
One visit or session
Main readers
Family, team, doctor, preschool
The treating team
Level of detail
Goal status with the evidence behind it
Activities, counts, support given, coaching
Written by
Coordinator, with input from each discipline
The therapist who ran the session
Language
Plain, written for families
Team shorthand is acceptable
Tips and mistakes to avoid
Do
Write from session notes and the family's log, so every status traces back to a record.
Go through the report aloud in the family's language, since a grandparent carer may not read English.
Show photos or videos in the meeting with consent, and keep identifiable photos out of the report.
Report a goal that has not moved honestly, and say what the team will change.
With healhab's Family Portal, family members the centre has given access can view a published report.
Avoid
Using words like 'better' or 'good' without saying what the child now does.
Comparing the child with siblings, classmates, or other children at the centre.
Rewording a goal so it no longer matches the plan the family agreed.
Leaving out the family's observations, as if their practice at home did not count.
About this progress report
An early intervention progress report tells the family what has changed since the last plan, goal by goal, in the routines where the child practises. This free template records the starting point, what the team and family see now, the evidence behind each status, and a short note from each discipline, then sets out next steps for the coming period.
Before a scheduled review meeting with the family
When a family, doctor, or preschool asks for an update
At term end, before goals or frequency change
Handing a child over to a colleague
Read more
Families read progress reports closely and often share them with relatives and the child's doctor. A useful report says honestly, goal by goal, what the team and the family have actually seen.
The coordinator writes it before each review, with a short entry from every discipline. Status words such as achieved, progressing, or emerging are the team's judgement, backed by session notes, the family's log, and videos.
Questions
What should an early intervention progress report include?+
The family's update, each plan goal with its starting point, current performance, status, and evidence, a note per discipline, daily routines, what is helping, barriers, and next steps with a review date.
Is there a filled sample of this progress report?+
Yes. Each section on this page shows a fictional example entry, using initials only, showing how to describe change inside a routine. Goal status and other clinical judgements stay with your team. The template itself is blank and downloads as a PDF.
How often should we write a progress report?+
Write one before each plan review and whenever a family, doctor, or preschool asks for an update. Put the review dates in the goal plan so the family knows when to expect each report.
How do I write a developmental progress report for parents in simple language?+
Use short sentences, the family's own words for routines, and explain any term you need to keep. A parent should be able to read the report without phoning the centre to ask what it means.
How do I show progress without test results?+
Describe what the child does now in the same terms as the starting point: the routine, the behaviour, how often, and with what help. If your team uses a standardised tool, report it only as its manual allows.
Should each therapist write a separate progress report?+
One report with a short entry per discipline is easier for the family to follow. Therapists can keep detailed notes in the clinical record and attach them when a referrer needs them.
