Let’s Talk About Goals: Part 3: Strength-Based Goals
IEP Goals are one of the driving forces of your child’s IEP. They are the main, most important concepts and skills your child will be working on with their special education teachers and/or related services providers like speech pathologists and social workers.
If you have ever read an IEP goal, you know that they can be long, wordy, and full of jargon. Check out blogs Part 1: SMART Goals, and Part 2: Real-World Goals for more information about how goals are written. But for your child to be really successful in reaching their goals, they should be written with your child’s strengths included.
As a reminder, IEP goals need to take into account a whole bunch of information including:
- Your parent input statement and priorities for your child
- Your child’s current level of performance- in other words, what can they do and what skills do they need to work on
- Your child’s strengths and interests
- Interventions and/or supports your child needs in order to achieve this goal
Strength-based goals focus on the third bullet point- Your child’s strengths and interests. Let’s look at a few examples.
Example 1: Dr. Jo will be able to use tools such as multiplication charts, number lines, and a calculator, to solve realistic word problems with multiplication.
Discussion: This is a real-world goal that includes supports and strategies that would allow me to reach the goal. However, this goal only works if I know how to use the tools, and like using the tools. If I want to run away and scream every time my teacher brings out a number line, it should not be included. The tools and strategies that each student uses, likes to use, and are interested in should be part of the goal.
A better goal might be something like:
Dr. Jo will use a Care Bear-themed multiplication chart, Bear manipulatives, or a calculator, to solve realistic word problems using multiplication.
Example 2: Dr. Jo will be able to read sight words with 90% accuracy.
Discussion: This goal does not include any strengths or interests, nor does it indicate how I am reading those sight words. By using what I like and an appropriate level, I will be more engaged in the learning activities and will reach my goal faster. For example, if I hate reading fiction stories, but I love reading non-fiction about astronomy and have strong background knowledge in astronomy, that should be part of the goal
A better goal might be something like:
When given a non-fiction text about astronomy at a 4th-grade decoding level, Dr. Jo will read the text aloud, reading the sight words within that text with 90% accuracy.
Remember that goals can also address social-emotional needs and independent functioning needs as well as OT, PT, speech, and any other related service your child needs. Every IEP has a ‘strengths’ section that should talk about your child’s strengths and interests. Teachers can use that section to help them write strength-based IEP goals. As parents, you are the best expert in your child. Please feel free to share your child’s strengths and interests that you notice outside of school. When parents and teachers work together as a team, great IEPs can be written for your child.
Take a look at your child’s IEP. Are their goals written as SMART goals? Are they preparing your child for the real world? Do they include your child’s strengths and interests? If you want some support making sure to have all 3 pieces in your child’s IEP, reach out and we can chat!
Let’s Talk About Goals- Part 2: Real-World Goals
IEP goals determine what specific skills and concepts special education teachers and related service providers will work on with your child. Part 1 of this blog series talked about SMART Goals. This post will talk about real-world goals.
Remember, IEPs are regulated under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which states that IEPs are designed to meet your child’s unique needs and to prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. Therefore each IEP goal is not simply to help your student pass their classes this school year. They should be preparing them for the future.
IEP goals need to take into account a whole bunch of information including:
- Your parent input statement and priorities for your child
- Your child’s current level of performance- in other words, what can they do and what skills do they need to work on
- Your child’s strengths and interests
- Interventions and/or supports your child needs in order to achieve this goal
As a parent, you are an expert on your child and IEP goals should not be written alone. The entire IEP is a team effort and you are an equal member of that team. You can collaborate with the school-based team on goals before the meeting, or you can be ready to discuss them during the meeting. Your input helps the IEP determine if the goals are relevant to your child, most important for what they need to succeed in the future, and will help your child learn and grow right now.
Let’s look at a couple of examples:
Example 1: Dr. Jo will be able to solve 100 1-digit by 1-digit multiplication problems in one minute.
Discussion: Is this a reasonable goal? I’ll be honest. I’ve never been fast with my math facts. A teacher could easily say I need this goal. Even today, I don’t think I would be able to meet this goal. There are too many problems in too little time, and it only measures my ability to memorize facts quickly. Sure, it’s handy to know multiplication facts fluently, but it is not necessary in my everyday life. I don’t solve random multiplication problems out of context, I don’t have a time limit, and I do have tools I can use to help me solve math problems very quickly.
A better goal might be something like:
Dr. Jo will be able to use tools such as multiplication charts, number lines, and a calculator to solve realistic word problems using multiplication.
This goal now allows me to actually problem solve in real-life settings. That is a much more important skill that I do use in my real, everyday life, and it still works on multiplication in the school setting.
Example 2: Dr. Jo will read 50 sight words on flashcards.
Discussion: How often are you reading individual words completely out of context? Probably never. Also, how boring would it be to read 50 random words? That’s not something I would want to do, especially if I struggle with reading.
A better goal might be something like:
When given a book on a topic of interest and at Dr. Jo’s reading level, Dr. Jo will be able to read the sight words in a 100-word passage with 90% accuracy.
This goal still assesses my ability to read sight words, but now it’s presented in a way that I will actually use in my real life. It also takes into account my interests and provides me with a more interesting and engaging way to read sight words.
Both examples here address academic needs, but remember that goals can also address social-emotional needs and independent functioning needs as well as OT, PT, speech, and any other related service your child needs.
Want to make sure your child has real-world goals in their IEP? Set up a free 15-minute phone call and we can talk all about goals!
Let’s Talk About Goals- Part 1: SMART Goals
Goals are the driving force of the IEP. They are the most important concepts and skills your child needs to learn in order to prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. Goals are taught by the special education teacher or other related service providers, and they must be tracked throughout the year to determine if your child is making progress. But how do goals actually work? How are they worded? How do teachers determine what goals your child should have?
Every IEP has a ‘goals’ page. Goals are the driving force of the IEP. They are the most important concepts and skills your child needs to learn in order to prepare them for further education, employment, and independent living. Goals are taught by the special education teacher or other related service providers, and they must be tracked throughout the year to determine if your child is making progress. But how do goals actually work? How are they worded? How do teachers determine what goals your child should have?
First, let’s talk about the basic structure of how a goal is written in an IEP. IEP goals must be ‘SMART’ goals. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely.
Specific: The goal must be clearly worded and specific to a skill or concept your child needs to improve.
Measurable: Goals must be measurable with quantitative data. This means the goal can be objectively tracked to determine if your child is making progress without any subjectivity or bias.
Achievable: The goal should be within reach for your child. We want to set them up for success, so the goal should not be too lofty.
Relevant: The goal should be a skill or concept based on your child’s unique needs that will prepare them for further education, employment, or independent living.
Timely: IEP goals are written for the calendar year. The goal should be achievable by the end of the IEP year. The goal and benchmarks/objectives may also have specific end-dates written within the goal.
Your child may have multiple goals in their IEP, but each goal should have all of these components.
When looking at your child’s IEP goal page, you may have noticed that each goal seems to repeat itself multiple times. That’s because the goal page of the IEP shows the annual goal, and three benchmarks or objectives. The benchmarks/objectives help your child build the skills they need in order to reach their annual goal. They are the smaller steps along the way that makes the big annual goal achievable. This is the same concept adults use in their own lives. For example, if I have a goal of running a 9-minute mile, I am more likely to succeed if I start with a 12-minute mile, then work towards an 11-minute mile, then a 10-minute mile, and eventually, I will be able to run a 9-minute mile. If I go straight for the 9-minute mile, I’ll probably fail and want to give up. Benchmarks and objectives help us break up big goals into achievable steps.
In order to know where to start the benchmarks/objectives and what the goal should be, we need to know some baseline data. This information – your child’s current levels of performance- will be explained in the IEP. You may see it right there on the goal page, or it may be in a different section. Sometimes it’s both. This information and data help teachers and related service providers know what your child should work on and where to start. Using my running goal as an example, a 9-minute mile might be a perfect goal if I can currently run a 13-minute mile. But what if my current mile time is 18 minutes? Is a 9-minute mile reasonable? Maybe eventually, but a 14-minute mile might be a better goal to start with. On the other hand, if my current mile time is 10 minutes, I might hit a 9-minute mile pretty easily. That goal might not be challenging enough, or it’s an indication that it is not the most important goal I should be working on. Knowing your child’s current levels of performance helps teachers determine what their goals and benchmarks should be.
Using my running example, here is what my SMART goal and benchmarks would look like. Let’s say I can run a 13-minute mile right now.
Annual Goal: By September 2022, Dr. Jo will run 1 mile in 9 minutes.
Benchmark 1: By December 2021, Dr. Jo will run 1 mile in 12 minutes.
Benchmark 2: By March 2022, Dr. Jo will run 1 mile in 11 minutes.
Benchmark 3: By June 2022, Dr. Jo will run 1 mile in 10 minutes.
My goal is specific (run 1 mile), measurable (time in minutes), achievable (if I can run a 13-minute mile now, I should be able to run a 9-minute mile in a year with training), relevant (this is a personal goal for a future 5K race), timely (there are benchmarks with dates and an end date for the overall goal).
The same structure and concepts apply to your child’s IEP goals.
What are some goals your child has? Are they SMART goals? Are they the most important concepts and skills your child needs?
If you’re not sure if your child’s goals are best for them, let me know! I can review your child’s IEP and goals and provide suggestions for improvement.
Send me a message or set up a free consultation to talk about your child’s IEP goals!