One evening at the kitchen table: introduce your child in your own words, before the file introduces them in its words. Lead with verbs, not labels. The file will say what your child is (ADHD, below grade level, English learner); only you can say what your child does: builds elaborate worlds out of anything stackable, watches a new room from the edge and then enters it completely. Doings tell a teacher how to reach a child. There is a second reason this matters for our families: children of color are more likely to have their behavior described in harsher language for doing the same things other children do, and a page of verbs, in the file first, is quiet protection. Give the team your decoder ("when he puts his head down, he is overwhelmed, and two quiet minutes bring him back"), share what works at home, name your hopes and not just your worries, and keep it to one page written together, with a line from everyone who loves this child, in whatever language the line comes in. From the middle school doorway on, the child writes it with you; six teachers just means the same page, sent six times.