Goal Setting in Speech Therapy

The arrival of a new school year means setting lots of goals.  For the SLP, it might be setting goals for student success, paperwork completion, classroom push-in supports and many more. For students that receive my services, goal setting in speech therapy is just as important. My students working on articulation have their target skills down. Many can recite each and every target sound. My students working on language fall short when trying to identify objectives. Language skills are much more difficult to define for students. That doesn't mean I stop trying to reinforce this necessary part of therapy.

Here are the ways I try to help my students understand therapy goals at the start of speech therapy.

I use my target skill posters. The ones pictured below are part of my Back to Speech packet. Each target area includes a CCSS link and an "I can" statement.

Also taken from my Back to Speech packet, I use communication contracts, communication foldable packets, and speech and language snapshots to help my students identify their target skills.

We talk about the word communication and focus on why communication skills are important. I paraphrase from their IEPs and we select which target area of communication matches their IEP goals. Then we break down the areas into "I can" target statements.

How do you work on identifying goals with your students in speech therapy?