This text-based course is a transcript of the webinar, “How to Write SMARTER IEP Goals: Strategies for SLPs,” presented by Kelly Ott, MHS, CCC-SLP, and Lara Wakefield, PhD, CCC-SLP.
>> Dr. Lara Wakefield: I will be speaking first to give you an overview of a few concepts. Then my colleague, Kelly Ott, will delve into some research and examples of SMARTER IEP goals. First, we need to start with our disclaimer. Neither the presenters nor SpechPathology.com represent or endorse any products associated with the presentation.
Today, we will review some definitions as well as the federal laws and how those have been translated by the states. Next, we will discuss some research on IEP goals and why they can be such a struggle to write. We will review the evidence base on the concept of using mnemonics or memory devices and how that can be applied to writing IEP goals using the acronym, SMARTER. Then we will review some example goals with this mnemonic.
In the handout, you will notice that certain pages have a Q1 or a Q2 in the top right-hand corner. That means the answer to question 1 on the quiz will be found on the page marked Q1 and the answer to question 2 is on the page marked Q2.
Writing IEP Goals
In 2004, I interviewed 34 SLPs in a school district in Ohio on how they viewed the process of writing IEPs. About 80% of them described their process as tedious and frustrating because they struggled with writing goals and had a lot of avoidance issues with them. I think we can all identify with that avoidance. I know that Kelly and I have felt that in the past. The Ohio SLPs expressed that they were trying hard to individualize the goal and meet all the requirements of what a goal was supposed to have, but it was overwhelming. They expressed a lack of training on how to write a goal as one issue. Another issue that came up was that it was supposed to be collaborative, yet they often felt they were writing in isolation with minimal input from teachers or parents. The 20% that rated themselves as fairly competent and comfortable writing goals had an average of 10 years of experience working in the schools. My favorite quote from that research was “Writing IEP goals reminds me of flying monkeys. They make me want to crawl under my chair and hide.”
Hidden Definitions
What is an IEP? We have always joked that it stands for ‘incredibly enormous paperwork,’ but it is supposed to stand for Individualized Education Program.
Individualized
We want to specifically address the definition of individualized as it relates to goal development with three ideas in mind. First, goals should be unique to each child and not a cookie-cutter approach. Second, goals should change from year to year because a child should be showing some kind of progress in a year. Hopefully it is progression, but sometimes there is regression. Regardless, that is a change. If you are writing the same exact IEP goals year after year for a student, something is wrong. That would be like a doctor giving medicine or a treatment repeatedly to someone and their condition never improves. That can be considered malpractice. Third, goals need to be data driven. They should be developed based on an individual child’s progress or lack of progress. You need to use the data to make informed decisions on how to develop the next goal for the child.
