You finish a session, find the therapist and suddenly your brain decides it has forgotten the entire last hour.

"It went well."

Then you walk away and remember six things you probably should have mentioned.

We've both had versions of this conversation in allied health. And we don't think the answer is giving a five minute play by play of everything that happened either.

The therapist usually doesn't need to know that you started with the blue ball, then found the green one, then moved the chair, then someone needed the toilet.

What they do need is the information that might change what happens next.

Think about what was different

This is probably the easiest place to start.

What happened today that was different from what you expected?

Maybe the client normally gets through the activity easily and today they couldn't. Maybe they needed much more support. Maybe they suddenly did something independently that they have needed help with for weeks.

Those changes are useful because they give the AHP another little piece of the picture.

And sometimes the small thing you nearly don't mention is the thing the therapist is most interested in.

Tell us what you noticed, not just whether it was good or bad

We hear phrases like "they were really good today" or "they were very dysregulated" all the time.

But what does that actually mean?

Instead of "they were dysregulated," you might say, "they covered their ears when we moved into the busy room, stopped responding to me and tried to leave twice."

Instead of "they did really well," you might say, "they completed the first three steps without me prompting them today."

That gives the therapist something they can actually use.

What happened just before it changed?

This is one of our favourite questions because sometimes we get so focused on the behaviour or the outcome that we miss what happened right before it.

Think about that car radio example we talk about with regulation. The volume usually doesn't jump from zero to one hundred for no reason. Something has been adding to the load.

Was the room suddenly noisy? Did the task become harder? Did a parent leave? Had the client just come from school? Were they hungry? Did you change the equipment?

You are not diagnosing why something happened. You are simply noticing the sequence.

That distinction matters.

Tell the therapist what you changed too

If you adapted something within the boundaries you had been given, that is worth mentioning.

Maybe you moved the activity from the table to the floor. Maybe you shortened it. Maybe you offered a movement break and then came back. Maybe you used fewer instructions because the client was getting overloaded.

The important part is what happened after you made the change.

"They stopped engaging, so I moved the activity to the floor and they joined back in for about eight minutes."

That is much more useful than saying, "I changed the activity because it wasn't working."

And please tell us when something did not work

This one can feel uncomfortable, especially when you're newer.

Sometimes an AHA can feel like they need to come back with a successful session because the therapist gave them the plan and now they need to prove they could do it.

But a session not working is information too.

We would much rather know that an approach completely fell flat than keep sending someone back into the same situation because everybody is trying to make the notes sound positive.

There is no gold star for pretending everything worked.

AHPs, this part is on us as well

If you're supervising or delegating to an AHA, have you actually told them what information you want back?

Because saying, "Let me know how it goes" can mean almost anything.

One therapist might want to know about repetitions and prompts. Another might be watching fatigue. Someone else might be particularly interested in whether the skill is carrying over into a different environment.

If the AHA knows what you're watching for, their feedback becomes much more useful.

Current Victorian allied health delegation guidance makes this pretty clear too. Delegation is not just handing over a task. Communication, supervision, feedback and clear escalation processes are part of doing it properly.

You do not need the perfect handover

If you're thinking this sounds like another thing you now have to remember after every session, don't turn it into that.

We'd keep it simple.

• What did I notice?
• What changed?
• What did I try?
• What happened after I tried it?
• Is there anything the AHP needs to know before the next session?

That gives you a much better starting point than trying to remember every detail.

A useful handover isn't a replay of the session. It's the information that helps the team decide what happens next.

We're curious about this one because every workplace seems to do it a little differently. If you're an AHA, what information does your therapist actually ask you for after a session? And if you're an AHP, what is the one thing you wish your AHAs told you more often? Add it below. We think the answers could help both sides of the team.