ORGANIZATION AND FUNDING

Developing a system that enables you to keep your child’s information organized is important. Not only will it support the success of day-to-day tasks, but also help reduce overall stress levels. No matter what your personal system, it should be easy to maintain and readily accessible.

Below are some resources that have been found to be beneficial for staying organized; as well as Financial Resources that may be available to you and your family. In all funding options, an application process is involved; if you require assistance in completing the application(s) please speak to your child’s therapist.

CARE ORGANIZER

http://cshcn.org/planning-record-keeping/care-organizer

The Care Organizer is an expandable plastic file folder with labeled pockets to help you organize paperwork. In addition to your own paperwork, you can add forms from our Care Organizer pages.

The Care Organizer is an expandable plastic file folder with labeled pockets to help you organize paperwork. In addition to your own paperwork, you can add forms from our Care Notebook pages. Folder sections include:

Contacts
Appointments
Clinic Visits
Medication
Therapy
Test Results
Resources
School

CANCHILD KIT

https://canchild.ca/en/research-in-practice/the-kit

The KIT: Keeping it Together is an organizational tool for parents caring for children with disabilities, developed by CanChild Centre for Childhood Disability Research, and the Hamilton Family Network. It is a way to organize information for your child, and to assist you when interacting with different service systems, for example health, education, and recreation. Included is a User’s Guide that will help you through the initial process of how to use the KIT. It is useful for parents of children with a wide variety of special needs and all developmental ages from birth to 21 years.

CARE NOTEBOOK

http://cshcn.org/planning-record-keeping/care-organizer-for-parents/

A Care Notebook is a tool that can help you organize important information about your child. Bring the notebook to appointments and meetings, so you can easily share information with doctors, therapists, and school or child care staff.

A Care Notebook can help you:

Keep track of medicines, therapy or treatments
Organize contact information for health care providers, therapists and community organizations
Prepare for appointments
File your child’s health history

To set up your Care Notebook:

Step 1 – Gather information:Organize important health information you already have on hand. This may include reports from recent doctors’ visits, immunization records, a summary of a hospital stay, test results, or this year’s school plan.

Step 2 – Select and download Care Notebook pages:Decide which pages will help you keep track of information about your child. Choose the pages you like. You can print copies and fill them out by hand, or download copies and save them to your computer so that you can easily update the page.

Step 3 – Choose what to keep in your Care Notebook:Decide on the information you need most often, and what information is needed by others caring for your child. Store other or older information in a file drawer or box where you can find it if needed.

Step 4 – Purchase a three ring binder to organize the pages and assemble your Care Notebook:The key is to make is easy for you to find the information you need. You may find it helpful to use dividers to create your own sections, pocket dividers to store reports, and/or plastic pages to store business cards and photographs.