When working with a school district on your child’s IEP, writing IEP goals in clear, concise, and meaningful ways is challenging. Your child’s school district should write IEP goals that address areas of needed growth and address the intended skill. While you do not have to write IEP goals yourself, here are a couple things to look for when you review draft IEP goals.
Each IEP goal should clearly state what skill is being accessed, the criteria for meeting the goal, how it will be monitored, who will be implementing it, and how it will be taught. The aim is
to be as clear and specific as possible with no room for interpretation. Ideally, there should be ten different people who could read the IEP goal and they would understand the goal exactly the same way. This promotes consistency in your child’s learning and helps their educators work towards the new target.
Writing IEP goals is very difficult if you do not have a baseline.
Another key aspect to writing IEP goals is ensuring an appropriate, documented baseline. A simple way to think of a baseline is that it should be a restatement of the IEP Goal, but it contains current achievement data. An IEP goal baseline tells us exactly how your child is doing on that goal or skill at this moment. It gives a starting point you can use to monitor the growth and progress of the skill throughout the year.
Writing and understanding IEP goals is a detailed, intricate process that can be difficult for both parents and school districts. At Aspire Advocacy, we have extensive experience writing comprehensive, actionable IEP goals that help your child make progress in their education.
For help at your child’s next IEP meeting, more information about our special education advocacy services, or for a FREE 20-minute consultation to see if we are a good fit for you, call or email today!
As parents, we understand. As advocates, we can help.