Page 85 - Literacy Based Speech Language Therapy Activities Digital Version

Assessing What to Work on, Choosing Goals, and Taking Data

Writing Incredible Speech Therapy Goals

You have completed your evaluation and it's time to write your report. Or you are sitting in an
office/portable/corner of the library trying to decide what to work on. Either way, you have a child
who is impaired and you have to make an ethical decision about what will most effectively move her

in the direction of typical. In this section, we are going to talk about how to choose and write
effective goals, how to connect the goals to the people that care, and how to connect them to the
curriculum so they continue to make gains when they are not directly with you.

5 Tips to Write Speech Therapy Goals that Rock

1. Keep the timeline in mind
Remember, we write speech therapy goals to be mastered in a certain amount of time. For those in

home-health and clinics, goals typically need to be mastered in 3-6 months. Lack of mastery conveys
that efforts were not productive, and reauthorization of speech therapy is denied. For those working
in the schools, you need mastery by the end of the IEP-year. Continuing the same goals would show

that your efforts have not been successful. So, this is permission to not select goals for all weakness
demonstrated on the evaluation. Refine your
efforts.

2. Determine mutual goals
Family
Before choosing goals, find out what is
SLP Input
important to the family. Within a school Input
setting, find out what skills would be valuable
Teacher
for the classroom teacher. Then, look at your
Input
assessment results. With input from the child's
VIPs, you will be addressing the most
meaningful communication needs. For adult
clients, get their input and priorities, as well.
Functional Goals
3. Goals need to be
functional

Our goals need to be more functional so that they truly impact our client’s day-to-day life. Case in
point—I am currently working with a 24-year-old young man. After a few speech therapy sessions, I

understood that he is most excited about meal time, creating art, and watching his favorite television
shows. His goals involve those exact desires and needs.

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