Significant support needs
Students with significant support needs deserve goals that are as specific and measurable as anyone's. That often means smaller steps, prompt levels written into the criterion, and skills chosen because they matter in the student's daily life.
These guides cover writing goals for communication, functional academics, self-care, motor and participation, measuring progress with prompt hierarchies and task analyses, alternate assessment on alternate standards, and running a classroom where every adult collects the same data the same way.
Start here
- IEP goals for students with severe and profound disabilities
20 IEP goals for students with severe and profound disabilities across communication, choice-making, self-care and academics, with support-level criteria.
How-to guides
- How to measure goals for students who do not speak
How to measure IEP goals for nonverbal students: define the response mode, set wait time, control for guessing, record prompts, with a worked eye gaze example.
- How to run a self-contained classroom
How to run a self-contained special education classroom: a schedule built from IEP goals, room zones, staff roles, a data system and time with peers.
- Inclusion for students with severe disabilities: what works in practice
How to include students with severe disabilities in general education: a goal-by-activity matrix, communication access, adapted work and peer supports.
Examples
- Choice-making IEP goals
16 measurable choice-making IEP goals, from choosing between 2 objects to picking activities and saying no, with baselines and how to verify a choice.
- IEP goals for students with Down syndrome
16 IEP goals for students with Down syndrome in reading, speech and language, math, independence and motor skills, built on visual strengths and real routines.
- IEP goals for students with intellectual disabilities
24 IEP goals for students with intellectual disabilities in reading, math, language, adaptive skills, self-advocacy and work, with baselines and support levels.
- IEP goals for students with multiple disabilities
16 measurable IEP goals for students with multiple disabilities in communication, access, daily living and academics, with baselines and how to measure each.
- Medically fragile IEP goals: writing goals for medically complex students
16 IEP goals for medically fragile students: communicating health needs, taking part in care, self-advocacy and learning, with the health plan kept separate.
- Personal care participation IEP goals for students who need full support
24 personal care participation IEP goals for toileting, dressing, hygiene and mealtime for students who need full support, with task analysis data.
- Present levels examples for students with severe disabilities
16 annotated present levels examples for students with severe disabilities, each weak version rewritten with the response mode, prompt level and a baseline.
- Progress reports for students with significant disabilities: 12 annotated examples
12 annotated IEP progress report examples for students with significant disabilities, weak and strong side by side, tied to prompt level and task analysis data.
Comparisons
- Age-appropriate vs developmentally appropriate goals and materials
Age-appropriate vs developmentally appropriate goals and materials: the difference, one deciding question, a side-by-side table and three classroom scenarios.
Templates
- Life skills classroom schedule template with a completed example
A fill-in life skills classroom daily schedule template, a completed high school example, and notes on what reviewers and parents look for in each block.
Explainers
- Alternate assessment eligibility: how teams choose general, accommodated or alternate tests
How IEP teams decide between the general test, the general test with accommodations and the alternate test, with federal rules, state guidelines and a case.
- IEP goals for students who take alternate assessments
Writing IEP goals for students who take alternate assessments: link to alternate standards, add objectives, and mix academic and functional goals.
- Transition planning for students with severe disabilities
Transition planning for students with severe disabilities: federal rules, what varies by state, decision-making support, and one student's plan from 14 to 21.
IEP Atlas Pro
Turn your goals into progress reports
Pro tracks every goal on your caseload and drafts the report for you. Free for 14 days.
Count trials, prompts, and minutes live in the session; the graph and trend line draw themselves; progress reports are drafted from your data.