AI for Report Writing: Collateral Interviews

Summarizing Collateral Interviews

In the previous article, I described how we can use AI tools to summarize notes and record audio. 

Here’s how to use those same strategies to streamline your collateral interview process.  

Reminder: When working with client data, always use HIPAA or FERPA compliant AI tools such as BastionGPT, NoteZap, and SchoolPsychAI.  It is our responsibility to review any output for accuracy.

Option 1: Ask AI to Summarize Your Notes

Using a platform like BastionGPT (think: HIPAA-compliant ChatGPT), one strategy is to enter your notes from an interview with a teacher, therapist, physician, or other provider and ask the AI to:

"Summarize these notes into a paragraph using parent-friendly language."

Often, it can be helpful to give the AI a little context, such as who the interview is with.  For example, I told BastionGPT,

“The following notes are from an interview with Cyrus’ teacher. Please summarize these notes into a paragraph using parent-friendly language. Here are my notes:

Ms. Rosas, 2nd grade teacher

Cyrus’ strengths: kind hard working math likes to help others solve problems

Cyrus’ challenges: writing reading refuses to do work and will distract others to entertain himself if he does not like the assignment.”

Ms. Rosas, Cyrus' 2nd grade teacher, shared some wonderful insights about him. She highlighted that Cyrus is a kind and hardworking student who excels in math and enjoys helping others solve problems. However, he faces some challenges with writing and reading. Additionally, if Cyrus doesn't like an assignment, he may refuse to do the work and sometimes distract others to entertain himself.

From here, I can edit the text to make sure it accurately and effectively captures what the teacher shared and fits my report-writing style.

Pro Tip: Don’t be afraid to talk back to AI!  For example, after getting back the paragraph above, I might ask it to “Do it again without using contractions.”

Option 2: Record the Interview

With the interviewee's permission to record, you can use NoteZap to capture the conversation.  Then, NoteZap will summarize your conversation using the prompt you provide.

(Note: While BastionGPT has a transcription option, it can be very slow to process longer conversations at this time.  NoteZap was built for more extensive interviews.)

Here is the prompt I use for collateral interviews:

Summarize the following interview. Use positive, parent-friendly language. Speak in the first person and use the information in this conversation to write a summary of the interview including the child's "academic strengths," "academic challenges," "social and emotional strengths," "social and emotional challenges," "additional concerns," and end with a 1-sentence summary of the conversation beginning with "Overall".

Next, click Create Interview and record your conversation.  You can do this directly on NoteZap while you’re on a Zoom or phone call, or upload a recording after the fact.

After recording the interview, here’s an example of what the prompt creates:

In my interview with Mr. Thomas, he shared that Cyrus is incredibly bright and creative, with an impressive vocabulary and storytelling ability. He enjoys math, has a kind heart, and is very funny with innovative ideas.

Mr. Thomas shared that Cyrus struggles with routines and short-term memory, needing frequent prompts to start tasks. Writing is particularly challenging, and he has difficulty with focus and attention, often getting distracted.

Cyrus also finds connecting with peers challenging and often needs support to engage in play. He tends to prefer solitary activities but is open to playing once included by others.  At the same time, Cyrus is generally very happy and rarely gets frustrated.

Overall, Mr. Thomas is hopeful that Cyrus will receive the support he needs to overcome his challenges.

These tools have been extremely helpful to me to quickly summarize my collateral interviews into easy-to-read, parent-friendly language that truly tells the story of the young person I’m working with.

I hope these ideas are helpful to your practice as well!

For more on ways to use AI in your work, click here.