IEP goals for students with severe and profound disabilities

Students with severe and profound disabilities learn, communicate and have preferences. The job of the IEP is to give them a reliable way to show it and more control over their own day. Good goals here are not smaller versions of grade-level goals. They target the skills that change daily life the most: saying what you want, choosing, taking part in routines with peers, and doing more of your own care.

Teams searching for "low functioning" goals are usually looking for this page. That label describes a test score, not a person, and it tends to lower expectations. This page uses "students with extensive support needs" and starts from the assumption that every student can learn and is already communicating something.

The 20 goals below each have an illustrative baseline counted per opportunity or per task analysis step. The numbers show the format. They are not targets for any particular student.

Principles behind strong goals

• Presume competence. Assume the student understands more than they can show. Teach age-level content in accessible forms, and treat an unclear response as a sign that the response method needs work, not that the student cannot learn.
• Communication comes first. The IEP team must consider the student's communication needs and whether assistive technology devices and services are needed.^[2] For many students, a goal for a reliable "yes," "no," "more" or "stop" changes every other goal.
• Partial participation counts. A student who cannot do all 12 steps of making a smoothie can still choose the fruit, press the blender switch and hand out cups. Write goals for the steps the student can own.
• Age-respectful materials. A 15-year-old gets teen interests and real objects, not toddler toys, even when the skill level is early.
• Choice in every routine. Choosing is a skill, a right and a way to cut challenging behavior. Build at least one choice point into each routine.

Choosing the right goal

Support level, criterion and prompt level

The criterion should fit the student's support level. A student with intensive physical needs may be making real progress when they move from full physical help to a light touch at the elbow. Count that. Writing "independently" into every goal often hides growth that is happening.

Write wait time into the condition. Some students need 10 to 30 seconds to plan and make a motor response. A goal that scores "no response" after 3 seconds measures processing speed, not the skill.

Communication goals

Communication goals should target functions the student will use all day: requesting, refusing, getting attention, commenting and asking for help. Model on the student's own system as you talk, an approach called aided language modeling.^[4] A student who never sees others use the device has no model to learn from. See AAC goals and early communication goals for more templates.

Weak: "The student will improve communication skills."

Measurable: "During snack and leisure, given a 4-symbol display and up to 15 seconds of wait time, the student will request 'more' or an item by touch or eye gaze on 8 of 10 opportunities across 2 adults."

Choice-making goals

Choice-making builds from choosing between two real objects, to choosing among photos or symbols, to choosing an activity from a schedule. Present preferred and non-preferred options at first, so you can tell a real choice from a random reach. Switch the left and right positions between trials for the same reason.

Goal 10 is an early self-determination skill. Teaching a student to direct their own support is as important as teaching the support itself.

Weak: "The student will make choices."

Measurable: "Given 3 photo or symbol choices, the student will select a leisure activity and stay with it for at least 3 minutes on 4 of 5 free time periods."

Life skills and self-care goals

Life skills goals for students with severe and profound disabilities often use partial participation. Write the task analysis, mark which steps the student will do, and name the prompt level for each one. The life skills IEP goals map covers the domains, and the daily living goals page has templates.

Weak: "The student will increase independence in self-care."

Measurable: "During handwashing, the student will complete 4 of 8 steps with a gestural prompt or less on 4 of 5 days."

Some families will ask why the goal is not "all 8 steps." Say plainly that doing 4 steps with little help is real independence, and that the next IEP can add steps.

Functional academics and class participation goals

Students with the most significant cognitive disabilities still have a right to access the general curriculum. Many take an alternate assessment aligned to alternate achievement standards.^[3][7] Their goals can target the same content as peers, reduced in complexity: the story the class is reading, the counting in the science lab, the vote in social studies. The TIES Center publishes inclusive practice resources for students with significant cognitive disabilities in general education classes.^[5] See the glossary on alternate assessment and significant cognitive disability.

Weak: "The student will participate in general education."

Measurable: "During general education group work, the student will take a turn in the group task at least 3 times per 20-minute activity on 4 of 5 days."

How to measure progress

Define the response first. If the student answers by eye gaze, write down what counts: a look held for 2 seconds, at one symbol, after the question. Two adults who disagree on what counts as a response will produce useless data. An operational definition fixes that.

Most of these goals use opportunity data or a task analysis scored by prompt level. Record the prompt level on every step, not only independent or not. Moving from full physical to partial physical is growth, and a sheet that only counts independent steps will show a flat line for months.

Here is a worked example for goal 13. In September, across 3 probes, the student did 1, 1 and 2 of 8 handwashing steps with a gesture or less, so the baseline is 1 of 8. The goal is 4 of 8. By January, the student pushes the soap pump and holds hands under the water with a gesture, and rubs hands with a light touch. The task analysis shows 2 of 8 at gestural and a third step moving from partial physical to light touch. The progress report can say exactly that.

Take short data often. Five opportunities a day for a communication goal, scored on the opportunity data sheet, give a clearer picture than one long weekly probe. Regular graphed data show whether a change in instruction is needed.^[6]

Writing short-term objectives

Short-term objectives or benchmarks are required for students who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate achievement standards.^[1] Three patterns work well:

1. Fade the prompt. Partial physical by the first report, light touch by the second, gestural by the annual review.
2. Add steps. 2 of 8 steps, then 3 of 8, then 4 of 8.
3. Widen the conditions. One adult and one routine, then 2 adults, then 3 routines.

Adapting goals by age

For older students, link these goals to transition planning; the transition planning guide covers what the IEP must include.

More guides for significant disabilities

• IEP goals for intellectual disability: 24 goals across academics, communication, adaptive skills and work, by support level.
• IEP goals for Down syndrome: 16 goals that build on visual learning and address speech intelligibility.
• Functional IEP goal examples: daily independence goals for students with fewer support needs.

The library hubs for significant support needs and multiple disabilities collect templates for every area. Check each draft with the goal checker before the meeting.

Frequently asked questions

Use it in IEP Atlas

• IEP goals for significant support needs
• IEP goals for multiple disabilities
• Significant cognitive disability in the IEP glossary
• AAC goals (speech language)
• Daily living goals (functional skills)
• Independent living goals (transition)
• IEP goal checker

Related guides

• IEP goals for students with intellectual disabilities
• IEP goals for students with Down syndrome
• Life skills IEP goals: the complete map by domain
• Functional IEP goal examples for independence at school, home and work
• Life skills classroom schedule template with a completed example
• Inclusion for students with severe disabilities: what works in practice
• Transition planning for students with severe disabilities
• Present levels examples for students with severe disabilities
• Age-appropriate vs developmentally appropriate goals and materials
• Alternate assessment eligibility: how teams choose general, accommodated or alternate tests
• Choice-making IEP goals
• How to measure goals for students who do not speak
• How to run a self-contained classroom
• IEP goals for students who take alternate assessments
• IEP goals for students with multiple disabilities
• Medically fragile IEP goals: writing goals for medically complex students
• Personal care participation IEP goals for students who need full support
• Progress reports for students with significant disabilities: 12 annotated examples

Sources

1. 34 CFR §300.320: Definition of individualized education program, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
2. 34 CFR §300.324: Development, review, and revision of IEP, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
3. 34 CFR §300.160: Participation in assessments, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
4. Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), ASHA
5. TIES Center, TIES Center, University of Minnesota
6. Progress Monitoring: Data & Goal Setting, National Center on Intensive Intervention
7. 34 CFR §200.6: Inclusion of all students (assessment of students with disabilities, including alternate assessments), eCFR (National Archives)

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.