If your child has an education assessment and it’s discovered that one of their areas of need is writing, how can effective goals for writing be added to their IEP?
According to IEP expert Dr. Toby Tomlinson Baker, most individualized education plans are structured to help students succeed in meeting the state standards. “When I write writing goals, I look at where are they right now? What can they actually do?” she says. “We don’t want to give them something that’s too high.… We want them to be successful. I want to feel successful. Everybody wants to feel like they can achieve their goal.”
Part of achieving that goal is using precise, specific language in the plan. “IEPs are really very simple,” she explains. “Where the student is right now and where you want them to be. That’s it.”
To learn more about effective writing goals in the IEP, we spoke to Occupational Therapist Kelsie Olds, MOT, OTR/L; Los Angeles Unified School District Special Education Specialist Toby Tomlinson Baker, PhD, author of The Traveling IEP and professor at California State University, Los Angeles; and Associate Professor of Special Education in the Graduate School of Education at Stanford University Christopher J. Lemons, PhD.
IEP goals should be regularly updated, focused on progress, and broken into small, achievable steps that lead to bigger ones. For example, an IEP goal might state:
[Student] will write three complete sentences using the 5W’s (who, what, where, when, why) in a small group setting as measured weekly with 80% accuracy in 4/5 trials.
Dr. Baker tells us that this IEP writing goal would be formulated and written by a special education administrator or the child’s teacher, and parents would review it in their child’s IEP. Parents should ask two questions: how is the goal measured, and is it realistic and achievable for their child? She adds that parents do have the legal right, as members of the IEP team, to propose a goal in any subject, even if it is not part of the district’s goal bank in their IEP computer system.
If, by the end of the reporting period, the student has achieved this goal, the next goal could be adapted to be slightly more challenging. However, if the student has not achieved the goal, then it can either carry over into the next reporting period or be modified to be more specific and achievable when the student tries again.
When it comes to writing goals in an IEP, Olds tells us it's easy to fall into the pattern of setting default benchmarks that are more focused on what the adult thinks a child needs to learn, for example, “By next year, they’ll write all their ABCs neatly and with proper spacing.” She explains that along with more common goals like these, she likes to add one or two goals that connect to the underlying skills that support writing success.
For example, a therapist might notice challenges with bilateral coordination (using both sides of the body together) or core strength (which affects posture and stability). Those aren’t things you can measure in sentences or paragraphs, but they have a huge impact on handwriting. So alongside one of the expected writing goals, an OT might include something like: “By next year, the student will explore a variety of occupationally meaningful core-strengthening activities for improvement in handwriting and stability in their chair.”
This gives space for flexibility and creativity in therapy. Maybe that means playing “The Floor Is Lava” for 30 minutes, Olds explains, while jotting down the names of all the Sonic characters who “fell in the lava.” Sounds silly, right? But it’s actually doing two important things:
Hear Olds explain what she looks for in making sure IEP writing goals are meaningful for a child:
Realistic, positive IEP goals set our kids up for small, incremental successes to help them maintain momentum to keep learning and growing.
It’s important that standards-based goals tie at least some of the IEP goals to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). Note that the goals themselves should not match the CCSS because those standards apply to all students, regardless of whether they have an IEP. The idea of standards-based goals is to identify the skills students need as a step up to achieving the common standard.
The Common Core curriculum was officially launched in 2009 in an effort to standardize and improve the American education system. While the Common Core does not contain a list of accommodations or a set of separate standards for students with disabilities — it is designed to be relevant for everyone — kids with significant cognitive disabilities may be able to access alternate achievement standards in their state. For example, see California Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts (ELA) and explore the California Alternate Assessments in ELA.
For these students who aren’t able to meet the regular CCSS in writing, special education teachers can provide specially designed instruction to focus on the Core Content Connectors (CCCs) and Essential Understandings (EU) (in both an inclusive class or in a separate setting) instead. These EUs are aligned with the CCSS standards that all students learn, but they were created for students who are using Alternate Assessments and need a modified general education curriculum.
Let’s explore how CCCs and EUs come into play. Here are some examples of how students can work on writing using alternative achievement standards.
Example #1:
Or, they can work on the Essential Understanding, “Given a writer’s claims, identify the writer’s perspective on the topic (e.g., pro or con).”
Example #2:
“I love standards,” Dr. Baker says. “They give me a guide. I can follow exactly what the student needs to learn and how it’s going to be crafted, delivered, modeled. Then once I have that structure, that’s when teachers really, and myself included, can be creative. That’s the fun part of writing — how can you be imaginative and creative, but still have the structure?” And for kids with disabilities, she emphasizes meeting them where they are:
Person responsible: Education specialist and OT.
Goal:
By next annual IEP, when given a visual model of the lower case and uppercase alphabet, the student will correctly form uppercase and lowercase letters using proper size, spacing, and alignment, to write familiar words (names, high frequency, CV, CVC and CVCE) legibly in 4 out of 5 opportunities, as measured by writing samples and teacher observation.
Short-term objectives:
By the first reporting period, when given unlimited verbal and minimal physical prompts (to adjust grip and starting position on the paper) and a nearpoint visual model, the student will correctly copy familiar words (CV, CVC) legibly using lowercase letters using proper size, spacing, and alignment, in 4 out of 5 opportunities, as measured by writing samples and teacher observation
By the second reporting period, when given minimal verbal prompts and a visual model, the student will correctly copy their first name legibly using uppercase and lowercase letters using proper size, spacing, and alignment, in 4 out of 5 opportunities, as measured by writing samples and teacher observation.
Aligned CCSS:
Person responsible: Education specialist, OT and SLP.
Goal:
By next annual IEP, using a text-generating app such as Clicker software or AAC tools, with minimal verbal prompting, the student will select words from a word bank to compose a complete sentence with at least one descriptive word [subject + (adverb) verb + (adjective) object] in response to a picture, prompt, or question in 4 of 5 sessions, with correct syntax and appropriate punctuation, as measured by writing samples and teacher observation.
Short-term objectives:
By the first reporting period, using a text-generating app such as Clicker software or AAC tools, the student will independently select words from a sentence grid to create a complete thought in response to a picture, prompt, or question in 4 of 5 sessions, with correct syntax and appropriate punctuation, as measured by writing samples and teacher observation.
By the second reporting period, using a text-generating app such as Clicker software or AAC tools, given visual and verbal prompts, the student will select words from a word bank to compose a complete sentence (subject + verb + object) in response to a picture, prompt, or question in 4 of 5 sessions, with correct syntax and appropriate punctuation, as measured by writing samples and teacher observation.
Aligned CCSS:
Person responsible: Education specialist, OT and SLP.
Goal:
By next annual IEP, with a teacher-provided graphic organizer, and utilizing predictive text and editing software if needed, the student will independently plan and write (handwritten or typed) a three-sentence paragraph that includes a topic sentence, two supporting details, and an ending sentence, achieving 3/4 rubric points in structure and focus on 4 out of 5 assignments.
Short-term objectives:
By the first reporting period, with minimal verbal and visual prompts, given a topic, picture or writing prompt, the student will identify a main idea and two supporting details to complete a teacher-provided graphic organizer, on 4 out of 5 assignments.
By the second reporting period, with minimal verbal and visual prompts, given a topic, picture or writing prompt, and a teacher-provided graphic organizer, the student will write one supporting detail for each idea in the organizer on 4 out of 5 assignments.
Aligned CCSS:
Person responsible: Education specialist, OT and SLP.
Goal:
By next annual IEP, with the support of a graphic organizer, after reading or listening to a short passage at their instructional level, the student will use Lemons’ Getting the Gist strategy (who/what + most important idea) to write (type, handwrite or dictate) a “gist sentence” that accurately summarizes the text in 4 out of 5 trials, as measured by student work samples.
Short-term objectives:
By the first reporting period, with minimal verbal and visual prompts, with the support of a graphic organizer, after reading or listening to a short passage at their instructional level, the student will identify “who or what” the passage is mostly about and circle or highlight the “most important idea” in the paragraph in 4 out of 5 trials, as measured by student work samples.
By second reporting period, with the support of a graphic organizer and verbal and visual prompts, after reading or listening to a short passage at their instructional level, the student will use Lemons’ Getting the Gist strategy (who/what + most important idea) to write (type, handwrite or dictate) a “gist sentence” that accurately summarizes the text in 4 out of 5 trials, as measured by student work samples.
Aligned CCSS:
Person responsible: Education specialist, OT and SLP.
Goal:
By next annual IEP, given a prompt and visual supports, the student will write a multi-paragraph composition (introduction, body, conclusion) that stays on topic, uses transition words, and includes at least three supporting details, scoring 3/4 on a standards-based rubric across 4 of 5 teacher collected samples.
Short-term objectives:
By the first reporting period, given a prompt and visual supports, student will plan ideas using a paragraph frame or outline consisting of introduction, body, conclusion,and three supporting details, scoring 3/4 on a standards-based rubric across 4 of 5 teacher collected samples.
By the second reporting period, given a prompt and visual supports, student will plan ideas using a paragraph frame or outline and draft at least three paragraphs using transition words (“one reason,” “for example,” “in conclusion”) and revising for clarity, sequence, and sentence variety scoring 3/4 on a standards-based rubric across 4 of 5 teacher collected samples.
Aligned CCSS:
Save your favorite resources and access a custom Roadmap.
Get Started
