Home Connect Resources for Families

Behavior support works best when it doesn't stop at the classroom door. Families are with a student far more than school is, and the strategies that help a child regulate, communicate, or follow through on a skill at school often need a version that works at home too. But families are also busy, and many are already navigating a lot. Bringing them in early, and in a way that feels like partnership rather than one more thing to manage, makes them far more likely to stay engaged when things get harder.

That's what Home Connect is built for. Each resource gives families a short, practical way to support a skill their child is already working on at school, using the same language and the same small steps staff are using. Done well, it turns home and school into one consistent system around the student instead of two separate efforts. Done poorly, even a great resource can feel like a scorecard, and the same content that could have built trust ends up sitting unopened.

That's where how a resource gets shared matters just as much as the resource itself. Framed as "here's what you need to fix," a Home Connect resource tends to sit unopened. Framed as "we see what's going well and want to build on it," it opens the door to real follow-through. This guide gives school-based teams a simple, repeatable approach for sharing Home Connect resources so families experience them as support, not an assignment.

Use this resource anytime a Home Connect piece is going home to a family, especially if the student has a behavior plan or is on Check-In/Check-Out. It works well as a quick team reference before an email goes out, or as a five-minute training for staff who are new to sharing family resources.

The guide moves through four parts:

Part 1: The Home Connect Approach A four-step sequence, Connect, Invite, Offer, Follow Up, with sample language for each step. It covers building warmth before a resource is ever sent, offering it as a choice rather than a directive, sharing just one or two matched resources instead of the full set, and closing the loop with a warm check-in.

Part 2: What to Say / What to Avoid A side-by-side table swapping common directive phrasing ("You need to work on this at home") for invitational alternatives ("I wanted to share something that's helped other families in similar moments"), plus guidance on timing the send for a calm stretch rather than right after a hard day.

Part 3: Sample Email / Cover Letter A ready-to-use cover letter template that frames the resource as optional, manageable, and supportive, so staff aren't starting from a blank page.

Part 4: Quick Checklist Before Sending A five-item check to run through before hitting send, including whether the resource aligns with a skill already being targeted at school and whether there's a plan to follow up regardless of outcome.

Download A Guide for School Teams on Sharing Family Resources

In Behavior Advantage: When a student has a behavior plan or is on CICO, choose a Home Connect resource that matches a skill already listed in their plan's Teaching or Prevention section, and use the same small step and language at home. Log the family follow-up in the student's Notes or Data & Graphs so the whole team can see when a Home Connect resource was shared and how it went.