ABAI Presentation Resources · Tool 03

Compassionate Communication Checklist

Type your notes below each prompt, or print the worksheet to write by hand. Fields expand as you type. Use Print / save as PDF to keep your completed notes. Notes are not saved when you leave or reload this page; nothing you type is submitted.

Observable actions to practice before, during, and after a conversation.

Presentation companion • Newly written educational practice aid informed by the sources identified below. This is not a validated assessment or a diagnostic instrument. Adapt collaboratively within your training, role, and consented services.

1. Ask permission to discuss the topic and confirm language or interpreter preferences.
   Your notes
2. Give the caregiver time to finish; pause before responding.
   Your notes
3. Reflect what you heard and ask whether you understood correctly.
   Your notes
4. Use everyday language and ask what questions remain.
   Your notes
5. Offer choices, check feasibility, and summarize the shared next step.
   Your notes
6. Ask: “Did you feel heard? What should I do differently next time?”
   Your notes

Conceptual sources: (Taylor et al., 2019). The specific prompts and examples are newly written teaching suggestions, rather than tested protocols from these sources.

Reflection & next step

What did the caregiver identify as most important?

What will we change, who will do it, and when will we review it?

How will we ask whether the change was helpful?

Material credit: Newly written instructional synthesis prepared for PBHC’s presentation resource hub. The wording, prompts, illustrative dialogue, and worksheet layout are presentation materials, not reproduced author or publisher instruments. The cited authors are credited for the underlying concepts. These tools have not been validated; citation does not imply author endorsement.

Didiana (Didi) De La Osa, BCBA-D · ABAI presentation resource page