Three Steps Toward Meeting Annual Goals

Last week we discussed IEP objectives as building blocks or “stepping stones” to reach an annual goal. It would be helpful to review last week’s blog (12-4-21) for details on how important the objectives are toward meeting annual goals.

We selected a dressing goal as our example in last week. You may have very different goals for your child but this step-by-step process is the same, no matter what the annual goal is. This week we will take it a step further by breaking down the objectives into basic skill sets your child may need to reach their goals and objectives.

Breaking Everything Down Is Critical:

Annual goals should be broken down into smaller steps called objectives. Each marking period or quarter should have objectives that your child is expected to meet. These objectives act as benchmarks to ensure that your child is on track towards meeting the annual goal. Once the annual goal is broken down into quarterly objectives, the next step is to determine what shills are needed to in order to achieve each objective. We will cover the first objective from last week’s blog as an example.

Three Steps to the Process

Step 1:   Develop a Specific Annual Goal:  The child will independently put on a shirt by June 23, 20XX (end of school year).

Step 2:  Identify the First Step - Objective 1:  The child needs to independently retrieve the shirt from the closet and lay it in front of them (tag or marking on the upper inside of the collar).

Step 3:  Make a Checklist of Skills: Below are a few skills required to meet Objective 1

• First, the child needs to get the shirt. Do they know where it is? If you tell them to go get a shirt, do they have the attention span to remember to get a shirt by the time they get to their closet or drawer? Observe your child and determine what your child can and cannot do for this first step. These will tell you what barriers exist and need to be worked on.
• Once your child gets a shirt, can they find the tag on the back of the shirt? Are they able to determine inside-out and/or backwards?
• Once the shirt is placed correctly, picking up the shirt at the bottom is next. Does the child have spatial concepts (top/bottom)? 

These are just a few skills, but you get the idea. Watch your child and break things down into small steps. Observe where in the process your child is having difficulty. Many times, a child cannot meet an objective because of one small barrier. Identify the barrier and creatively work to resolve it. If the child cannot get the skill what accommodations or modifications can be made?

Creative Problem Solving towards Success

Be creative when watching and problem solving for your child. Does your child get too frustrated trying to do all of the steps? Your child may do better working on one aspect of the objective such as just identifying the tag on the shirt.  If your child has a short attention span and cannot remember they were on the way to get their shirt from the closet, have them carry a picture of a shirt.  You could also put a picture of a shirt half way down the hall or a simple checklist. If they forget, remind them to get a cue from the picture or list.

Breaking things down into steps makes it easier to determine how your child skills, strengths, and weaknesses impact their ability to meet each objective. There are many ways to do this and all are dependent on your child and their abilities and challenges. 

You will learn a lot about your child by observing and working through these small steps.  Keep one eye on the objective you are working on today and one eye on the annual goal.

Tracking the progress through each of these objectives (stepping stones) will help to keep everyone on track.  Teachers, therapists and you as the parent will appreciate the ease of tracking these small steps towards progress.   They also get everyone on the same page toward obtaining the skills that will lead to the mastery of the annual goal. 

Each person has a job to do to help the child master the individual steps leading to the skill. When there is a snag, collaborating with the other participants can be very helpful.  Next week we will look at an academic goal and go through the process of breaking it down into small and measurable building blocks.