At the beginning of a new school year, it is important to take some time to review IEP goals examples and ensure your child’s IEP goals are well-written for implementation and skill acquisition. Ideally, all IEP goals would be reviewed and written well at the time of the meeting but we know that can be a stressful and overwhelming time for your family. It may be harder to identify potential improvements to the goals in the moment. We are going to go over some key parts of a quality written goal and provide examples of each part. The examples are not going to be exhaustive but may help you to further improve your child’s IEP goals if necessary.
Be cautious of the IEP goals examples you find online. They can be filled with meaningless jargon that will not help your child get a better IEP.
All IEP goals should be highly specific and target only one single skill. IEP goals examples of being highly specific would be to name the exact list of words or letters being targeted for a reading goal. Instead of the IEP goal stating, “Johnny will be able to read 15 sight words,” it would be, “Johnny will be able to read 15 sight words from Dolch’s 1st grade list.” It is important to be as specific as possible to ensure that you know what is being worked on in school and to better understand what the expectations actually are. IEP goals examples of targeting only one skill would be to ensure the school isn’t lumping two or more related skills into one goal as these skills are used together. Instead of the IEP goal stating, “Emma will be able to read and answer comprehension questions,” we would want to target the comprehension questions only or the ability to read and decode only. While the two skills are intertwined, many kids need to focus on the two separate skills for appropriate growth.
When going through the IEP goals for your child and looking through IEP goals examples, one method to check for the necessary parts is to ensure the IEP goals are written as SMART IEP goals. SMART IEP goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. If you review your child’s IEP goals and feel they need to be updated right away, an emergency IEP meeting can be called and the meeting has to be held within 30 days of the request.
If you are uncertain how to decipher your child’s IEP goals, you need help NOW. Aspire Advocacy has a myriad of IEP goals examples that may help your child’s next IEP be their best yet.
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!
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