What is a generative IEP goal?

"Generative" IEP goals help students develop skills that lead to other skills. When we write generative IEP goals, we're thinking about long-term and person-centered planning for our kids.

According to Dr. Natalie Holdren, "When we ask is it generative, what we mean is is it a splinter skill? Is it a skill that you're going to learn that doesn't really lead to other skills? Or is it a skill that's going to open up other skills to you? I think phonetic reading is one of the most generative skills there is because if you can turn letter sounds into words, that gives you tons of opportunity to be engaged in academics, and ride a bus, and order food off of a menu, and write letters or emails to your friends and family, or text your family (although, of course, we have wonderful assistive technology). But are we thinking of this one skill in terms of the scope and sequence of all the other skills that this student is going to want to accomplish over the course of their academic career?"

Dr. Andrew Fedders says, "I think a limitation of our annual IEP process is sometimes we teach one skill per year. A splinter skill that year, and then the next year we move into a different area of literacy. Maybe one year we were working on fluency and decoding, and the next year we decide to do comprehension, and we're not bringing all the skills up at the same time or building a foundation in earlier years of the annual IEP and looking towards more developed skills in later years of the annual IEP. So one of the reasons why long-term planning and person-centered planning are important is to kind of get a a long-term picture of where the individual and their family wants them to go so we can kind of, even at the elementary level, design goals that will be building blocks to get somebody where they want to go in 15 years."

Hear more from Dr. Holdren and Dr. Fedders in our full article 10 Questions to Ask about IEP Goals.