IEP goals for students with intellectual disabilities

An intellectual disability affects two things at once: general intellectual functioning and adaptive behavior, the everyday skills people use to communicate, care for themselves and get along with others. Under IDEA, both must be present and must affect the student's educational performance.^[1] That is why a good IEP for a student with an intellectual disability has goals in both columns: academic skills and adaptive ones.

Students with intellectual disabilities range widely. One student reads at a 2nd grade level and takes the general state test with accommodations. Another uses a device to communicate and takes an alternate assessment. The examples below cover that range, with notes on support level. For students with the most extensive needs, the severe and profound disabilities goals page goes further into communication and partial participation.

Choosing the right goal

Pick the 4 to 6 skills that will make the biggest difference this year, and write fewer, stronger goals. Students with intellectual disabilities usually need many practice trials and teaching in more than one setting before a skill sticks. Ten goals spread that practice thin.

The baselines below are illustrations of the format, not norms. Collect your own from at least 3 probes, as the baseline guide explains.

Reading goals

Students with intellectual disabilities can learn to read words and connected text when phonics is taught directly and practiced often. Pair decoding with functional words the student needs daily. More templates are on the reading goals for intellectual disability page.

Weak: "The student will improve reading skills to grade level."

Measurable: "Given 20 consonant-vowel-consonant words, the student will read each aloud with 90% accuracy on 3 consecutive weekly probes."

The weak goal sets an outcome the student may not reach in a year and gives no way to see growth along the way. The rewrite targets the next skill and can be probed every Friday.

Math goals

Math goals should connect numbers to quantities, money and time the student meets every day. Use real objects and real coins before worksheets. See math goals for intellectual disability and the money skills hub.

Weak: "The student will learn money skills."

Measurable: "Given a price from $1.00 to $10.00, the student will pay using the next-dollar strategy on 8 of 10 trials in class and at the school store."

Language and communication goals

Many students with intellectual disabilities have speech and language needs. The SLP and teacher should write these goals together and target language used in class and at home. See speech and language goals for intellectual disability.

Weak: "The student will improve expressive language."

Measurable: "During classroom routines, the student will request items or actions using 3-word phrases on 8 of 10 opportunities across 2 settings."

Adaptive and daily living goals

Adaptive goals target the routines where the student still needs more help than peers. Use a task analysis, and teach in the place the routine happens. See functional skills goals for intellectual disability and the life skills IEP goals map.

Weak: "The student will become more independent."

Measurable: "In the cafeteria, the student will complete 7 of 8 lunch line steps independently on 9 of 10 days."

Goal 16 uses 5 of 5 because it is a safety skill. Do not let a student pass a personal information goal at 80%.

Social and self-advocacy goals

Students with intellectual disabilities are often helped before they ask, which leaves little room to practice asking. These goals give the student the words and the chance. See social-emotional goals for intellectual disability and self-advocacy goals.

Weak: "The student will improve social skills."

Measurable: "During lunch or recess, the student will start an interaction with a peer at least 3 times per 20-minute period on 4 of 5 days."

Work and transition goals

From age 14 or so, start building work skills on campus. The IEP must include transition goals no later than the first IEP in effect when the student turns 16, and many states start earlier.^[2] See transition goals for intellectual disability and the transition planning guide.

Weak: "The student will get job skills."

Measurable: "At a school job, the student will complete a 30-minute shift with no more than 2 prompts on 4 of 5 shifts."

How to measure progress

Match the data sheet to the measure and take data in the real setting. Accuracy goals use a fixed set of items, such as 10 or 20, so the denominator stays the same from probe to probe. Task analysis goals mark each step independent or prompted, with the prompt level. Opportunity goals count chances and successes; report both, such as 7 of 10.

Probe weekly at least, and graph the scores. A flat line after 6 to 8 data points is the signal to change instruction, not to wait for the annual review.^[3] Check generalization once a month with a different adult or setting, because skills learned in one room often do not carry over without teaching.

Writing objectives for these goals

Objectives can increase the number of items, steps or settings, or decrease the level of support. For goal 2, the objectives could be 18 of 30 words by the first report, 23 of 30 by the second, and 27 of 30 by the annual review. Students who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards must include benchmarks or short-term objectives in their IEPs.^[2]

Adapting by support level

For more templates in every area, browse the intellectual disability goal bank or start a goal in the goal builder. Then run the draft through the goal checker. For students with Down syndrome, the Down syndrome goals page adds goals for speech intelligibility and visual learning.

Frequently asked questions

Use it in IEP Atlas

• IEP goals for intellectual disability
• Intellectual disability in the IEP glossary
• Functional skills goals for intellectual disability
• IEP goal bank
• Goal builder
• IEP goal checker

Related guides

• IEP goals for students with severe and profound disabilities
• IEP goals for students with Down syndrome
• Functional IEP goal examples for independence at school, home and work
• Life skills IEP goals: the complete map by domain
• IEP goals for students with multiple disabilities
• Inclusion for students with severe disabilities: what works in practice
• Progress reports for students with significant disabilities: 12 annotated examples

Sources

1. 34 CFR §300.8: Child with a disability, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
2. 34 CFR §300.320: Definition of individualized education program, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
3. Progress Monitoring: Data & Goal Setting, National Center on Intensive Intervention

Written and checked by the IEP Atlas editorial team under our editorial policy. This guide describes general practice and federal rules. It is not legal advice; your state may add requirements, and the IEP team makes the decisions for each student.