Data Drives ASTra Programming

By Janel Frost, Michigan H&V

Every year, as a Chapter ASTra Coordinator, I am required to deliver to the Executive Board a report on how we were able to support families through the ASTra (Advocacy, Support and Training) Program. It takes a good amount of time to collect the data and then plug them into charts for the report, but the work is all worth it. The numbers tell a tale and show all the hard work and support that was delivered. Having several years of data to make comparisons really helps to see if we need to make changes in the upcoming year. Numbers tell stories and this past couple years’ numbers shared that with us. 

When looking at the cumulative chart showing Family Services (1 on 1 support), you can see that from the start till this last year we have continued to grow. We had a small dip in numbers in 2020 due to COVID and because of that we changed up our support to add specific advocacy topic videos for parents to watch when they had the time. We had 326 views spread across 9 pre-recorded videos and had lots of positive feedback. This is one way that the data helped us in changing up some supports. 

When looking at our numbers each year, we find it important to include how many contacts we have with parents versus how many IEPs we attend. One contact consists of a phone call, email thread and text messages within one conversation. We work diligently to prepare our families as much as possible so that they are prepared when going into the IEP. We attend the IEP if the need arises, but our main goal is to help prepare the parent/guardian to be capable of doing that themselves. The data collected shows that we are working mostly with families behind the scenes with 155 contacts of support over 27 IEPs attended. We had one 504 attended and that is why the very last graph shows 28 total IFSPs, IEPs & 504s for 2021. 

The last chart puts it all together and shares all the work we did throughout the year with regards to training, events, 1 on 1 support and videos produced and shared. The information collected is useful in many ways, but most of all it is a picture of how we are supporting our families and if we need to adjust and change that support to meet their needs. Without having the data collected, we would be relying on feedback alone. Even though our client’s feedback is the best way of knowing specifics about our services, having a good overview from the numbers is equally important as you can see.   ~

H&V Communicator – Spring 2022