An adaptive skills goal measures a daily routine your child carries out where it is needed: dressing, eating, packing up, or paying. Written so it can be checked, it names the routine, the prompt still allowed, the room it is scored in, the count that means met, and the report date. You can check any goal against that list tonight: open your child’s IEP to the goal page, read one goal, and then find your child’s disability below for what it changes.
“A statement of measurable annual goals … [and] [a] description of … [h]ow the child’s progress toward meeting the annual goals will be measured, and when periodic reports … will be provided.”
34 CFR 300.320(a)(2)(i) and (a)(3)
The rule’s own example of a periodic report is quarterly, issued with report cards: four updates a year.
Every strong goal below passes all three.
Weak“At the table, the student will open the milk carton and wipe up spills, on 7 of 8 snacks, logged weekly.”
Strong“With a photo card at the table, the student will open the milk carton and wipe up spills, on 7 of 8 snacks, logged weekly.”
With no prompt named, an aide can open it and still mark it done. By June the carton still waits for an adult’s hands.
IDEA requires goals to be measurable: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(2).Weak“With a buzzing watch, the student will stack chairs and shelve bins before the bell, counted monthly.”
Strong“With a buzzing watch, the student will stack chairs and shelve bins before the bell, in 5 of 6 afternoons, counted monthly.”
Without a count, a single chair-stacking Friday stands for the whole month. The bins sit out all spring while the report reads met.
IDEA requires goals to be measurable: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(2).Weak“Using the microwave, the student will show kitchen independence, on 4 of 5 lunches, tallied biweekly.”
Strong“Using the microwave, the student will set the timer, heat the meal, and wait before eating, on 4 of 5 lunches, tallied biweekly.”
“Kitchen independence” has no step to tally, so an aide-heated meal still passes. Two years of met marks, and the student still burns a hand.
IDEA requires goals to be measurable: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(2).Weak“With a written script, the student will call the pharmacy, give the refill number, and confirm pickup, on 3 of 4 calls.”
Strong“With a written script, the student will call the pharmacy, give the refill number, and confirm pickup, on 3 of 4 calls, reported each semester.”
With no report date, all three good calls can date from October. Senior year ends with a refill nobody has heard the student call in.
IDEA requires the IEP to say how progress is measured and reported: 34 CFR 300.320(a)(3).Prompt, room, or interruption: a disability decides which of the three the routine’s goal spends its words on.
These pairs are written for the skill, not for your child: they do not replace the data the team starts from, or advice from someone qualified in your state.
The review reads every page you upload, flags each goal missing a baseline, measurable criteria, a target or a timeline, and quotes the wording with its page.
Check my IEP goals — freeFree, no card. It reads your pages and contacts no one.
Prefer to run the three tests yourself? The goal checker walks them line by line.
