GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS:

• Frequency: We recommend that the form be filled out at least twice a month by each facilitator, and more frequently if the facilitator works with the FC user several times a week or more. How often the form is filled out should be agreed upon between the facilitator and his/her mentors or supervisors.
• Participation of the FC user in filling out the form: The FC user's input is an integral part of the information gathered in Section II of the form. It may be possible to structure sessions so the last 10-15 minutes are devoted to filling out the form together. If the FC user prefers, the facilitator can fill out the form at the end of the session, and the FC user can give his/her input at the beginning of subsequent sessions.
• Completeness: Don't worry about filling out every section each time the form is used; this for was developed to cover a variety of factors which may not arise in every session. However, if a particular section is left blank over many times the form is used, consider the possibility that more attention may need to be paid to that area in future sessions.
• "Third-person" observers: It is useful to periodically have other people watch the FC session and fill out this form as they watch. This provides the facilitator and FC user with insight into details that may have been hard to attend to during their sessions, and which they may then choose to watch for in future sessions.
• Immediate completion and subsequent review: In order to get the most useful information possible, the form should be completed immediately after the session ends. During the actual session, asterisks or one-word "memory-joggers" can be used to help remember things that you want to include in the form. After the form is filled out, it should be periodically re-examined. Each FC user and his or her facilitator(s) should set a routine for revisiting this information, discussing what they have learned, and sharing information among facilitators.
• Using exact words: whenever possible, the FC user's exact words, including typos, unusual spacing or punctuation, etc. should be recorded. To avoid confusion, FC user's typing can be written in ALL CAPITALS, FC users' spoken words can be written "in quotation marks," and facilitator's words can be written (in parentheses.)

There are instruction included in the form for how each section is to be completed. The notes below offer greater detail on the following sections:

• Message-passing: This section will be partially filled out immediately following the session; however, it probably cannot be completed immediately. At the end of the session, specific statements which convey information that the facilitator didn't previously know should be recorded. The accuracy of this information will usually need to be verified at a later time, through observation in other settings, conversations with other people in the FC user's life, etc. When the verification has taken place, the rest of the boxes on the right side of this section can be completed.
• Independence: This section gathers information on a person's decreasing need for physical support. Use the first line under each example if the person types with no support; use the second line to detail support which is reduced from that which is typical. In either case, note the type of conversational task involved.