A common complaint I hear from parents is “my child has had an IEP for __ years but hasn’t made any progress.” One of the first things I ask parents is, “what do the IEP goals look like?” What typically happens is parents end up with vague, unmeasurable goals in their child’s IEP. Then because the goals are so vague, the student “meets” their goals on paper but without making any meaningful progress in the classroom. This cycle can go on and on for years until parents get fed up and call a special education lawyer wanting to sue the district.
Wouldn’t it be nice if your child’s IEP goals were written properly the first time? How many years of frustration could you save yourself and your child? It’s not as easy to draft quality goals as one might think, and I must say that most IEP goals I see are garbage. Yes, I said it. The goals are garbage! My goal in this blog post is to help educate parents, like yourself, so that you can tell the difference between a well-written goal and garbage and then how to fix it.
Now that you know you need a goal for each area of need and what your child’s Present Levels should look like, it’s time to start drafting goals. In Part 2, we will take a deep dive into drafting meaningful, measurable goals. If you have any questions about your child’s IEP goals or how to draft meaningful, measurable goals, I’m here to help. Schedule your consultation today!
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