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The Village System: Collaborative Behavior Tracking for Teams

The Village System is the heart of VillageMetrics' collaborative approach to supporting children with behavioral challenges. It enables parents, caregivers, and professionals to work together as a coordinated team.

Understanding the Village Concept

Why "Village"?

The saying "it takes a village to raise a child" is especially true for children with behavioral challenges. These children typically have extensive support networks including:

  • Both parents in two-parent households
  • Extended family (grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles)
  • Educational team (teachers, aides, special education coordinators)
  • Therapeutic team (ABA therapists, RBTs, BCBAs, speech therapists)
  • Medical team (pediatricians, psychiatrists, specialists)
  • Daily support (babysitters, respite care providers)

The Collaboration Challenge

Without VillageMetrics, these team members often work in isolation:

  • ABA therapists keep notes in their own system (that parents can't access)
  • Teachers maintain separate classroom records
  • Parents rely on memory when consulting with doctors
  • Babysitters have no context about recent patterns or strategies

The Village Solution

VillageMetrics creates a shared space where everyone contributes to a unified understanding of your child's progress, challenges, and effective strategies.

Caregiver Types & Roles

Parents/Guardians

  • Maximum: 2 parents per child
  • Role: Full administrative access

  • Responsibilities:

  • Own all child data

  • Pay for subscription (covers entire village)
  • Set caregiver permissions
  • Manage village membership
  • Configure child profiles and medications

Caregiver Categories

Family Members:

  • Grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings
  • Typically given broad access to support daily care

Educational Team:

  • Teachers, classroom aides, special education coordinators
  • Often given behavior data access for consistency across environments

Therapeutic Professionals:

  • ABA therapists and RBTs
  • BCBAs (Board Certified Behavior Analysts)
  • Speech, occupational, and physical therapists
  • Usually given comprehensive access to support treatment planning

Medical Professionals:

  • Pediatricians, psychiatrists, neurologists
  • Often given analysis access for appointment preparation
  • May not need to contribute daily data

Daily Care Providers:

  • Babysitters, nannies, after-school care providers
  • Typically given contribution access with viewing permissions for context

Permission System

Each caregiver is assigned specific permissions that determine their access level. Parents can mix and match permissions based on the caregiver's role.

Available Permissions

1. Can Contribute Data About Your Child

What it enables:

  • Submit voice journal entries
  • Record behavioral observations
  • Document activities and incidents

What it doesn't include:

  • Cannot view other caregivers' entries
  • Cannot access analysis or behavior data
  • Cannot view child's medication information

Best for: Babysitters or occasional caregivers who need to report but don't need full context

2. Can View Behavior Data About Your Child

What it enables:

  • Access behavior scores and trends
  • View hashtag analysis (activities, outcomes, etc.)
  • See caregiver effectiveness comparisons
  • Access overview analysis and behavioral insights

Combined with Contribute: Allows full participation in behavioral tracking

Best for: Educational team members, therapeutic professionals

3. Can View Medical Data About Your Child

What it enables:

  • Access medication analysis and effectiveness data
  • View medication changes and their impact on behavior
  • See medical-related hashtags and patterns

Note: This is sensitive PHI data - grant carefully

Best for: Medical professionals, primary therapeutic team

4. Can View Journal Notes About Your Child

What it enables:

  • Read other caregivers' journal entries
  • View detailed transcripts and insights
  • Access journal search functionality
  • See all behavioral context and strategies discussed

Best for: Team members who need full context for effective care

Permission Combinations

Most Common Setups:

Full Team Member: All 4 permissions

  • Best for: Primary therapeutic team, both parents, close family providing regular care

Behavior Tracking Partner: Contribute + View Behavior + View Journal

  • Best for: Teachers, frequent babysitters, extended family

Medical Consultant: View Behavior + View Medical + View Journal

  • Best for: Doctors, psychiatrists (may not need to contribute daily data)

Reporter Only: Contribute Data only

  • Best for: Occasional babysitters, substitute teachers

Invitation Process

Access Village Management

  • Tap child's photo/name at top of screen
  • Select "Invite someone to [child's] village"
  • OR: Go to Settings > Child's Profile > Invite new caregiver

Caregiver Information

  • Enter caregiver's name
  • Provide their email address
  • Select caregiver type from dropdown menu

Set Permissions

  • Choose which of the 4 permissions to grant
  • At least one permission must be selected
  • Consider the caregiver's role and need-to-know basis

Send Invitation

  • Email invitation sent automatically
  • Invitation code displayed for immediate sharing
  • Invitation expires after 30 days

What Caregivers Receive

Email Contents:

  • Instructions for downloading the app
  • Invitation code for joining the village
  • Basic information about VillageMetrics

Caregiver Signup Process:

  1. Download VillageMetrics app
  2. Go through email verification (OTP process)
  3. Select "Caregiver" during role selection
  4. Enter village invitation code
  5. Gain access based on permissions set by parent

When a child has two parents in the system, certain sensitive features require both parents to consent before caregivers can access them.

Caregiver Clipboard Access:

  • Allows caregivers to copy journal entries and analysis to device clipboard
  • Useful for therapists who want to copy notes to their practice management systems
  • Both parents must enable "Caregiver Clipboard Access" in Settings

Why Both Parents Must Agree:

  • Clipboard data may sync to cloud services or other apps
  • Data leaves HIPAA-protected environment
  • Prevents disagreements between parents about data sharing
  1. First Parent Enables Feature: Setting saved but feature remains blocked for caregivers
  2. Second Parent Must Also Enable: Feature only becomes available when both parents consent
  3. Either Parent Can Revoke: If one parent disables the setting, feature is immediately blocked for all caregivers

Managing Your Village

Viewing Village Members

Location: Settings > Child's Profile > View caregivers

Information Displayed:

  • Caregiver name and email
  • Caregiver type
  • Current permissions
  • Status (Active, Pending, Expired)
  • Number of journal entries contributed

Invitation Status

Pending: Invitation sent but not yet accepted

  • Shows paper airplane icon to resend invitation
  • Can delete pending invitations

Expired: Invitation not accepted within 30 days

  • Can resend (generates new code) or delete
  • Original invitation code no longer valid

Active: Caregiver has joined and is participating

  • Shows pencil icon to edit permissions
  • Displays contribution statistics

Modifying Caregiver Access

Editing Permissions:

  1. Tap pencil icon next to active caregiver
  2. Modify any of the 4 permission types
  3. Changes take effect immediately
  4. Caregiver sees updated access on next app launch

Removing Caregivers:

  • Tap caregiver name → Delete
  • Caregiver loses all access immediately
  • Their contributed data remains (owned by parents)
  • Can be re-invited later if needed

Subscription & Access Control

How Subscription Affects Villages

Parent Subscription Expires:

  • All village members lose access to that child's data
  • Data is preserved but not accessible
  • Caregivers see notification about expired parent subscription

Parent Subscription Restored:

  • All village members immediately regain access
  • No data lost during subscription lapse

Multiple Children: Each child requires their parent to have active subscription

Caregiver Account Independence

Free for Caregivers: Caregivers never pay subscription fees

Multi-Village Access: One caregiver can be invited to multiple children's villages

  • Each child appears in child picker at top of app
  • Caregiver switches between children as needed
  • Different permissions for each child possible

Best Practices for Village Management

Starting Your Village

  1. Add Second Parent First: Ensure both parents are participating before adding others
  2. Start with Core Team: Begin with daily caregivers (teachers, primary therapists)
  3. Gradual Expansion: Add extended team members as comfort and trust develop

Permission Guidelines

  • Start Conservative: Begin with minimal permissions and expand as needed
  • Role-Based Access: Match permissions to caregiver's actual responsibilities
  • Regular Review: Periodically audit who has access and why

Communication with Village

  • Set Expectations: Explain how often you'd like journal entries
  • Provide Context: Share with new caregivers what kinds of details are most helpful
  • Express Appreciation: Acknowledge caregivers who contribute regularly

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Caregiver Says They Can't Access Something:

  • Check if both parents have consented (for clipboard/export features)
  • Verify caregiver has the required permission enabled
  • Ensure parent subscription is active

Invitation Problems:

  • Check spam folders for invitation emails
  • Verify email address was entered correctly
  • Resend if invitation has expired (>30 days)

Too Many Notifications:

  • Caregivers can disable activity notifications per child
  • Parents can't disable notifications for caregivers, but can educate about settings

Your village is most effective when everyone understands their role and contributes regularly. The collaborative insights from multiple perspectives create a comprehensive picture that no single observer could provide alone.