SLP Now’s Speech Therapy Goal Bank
Use our collection of customizable SMART goals to enhance your speech therapy practice and elevate student success:
Click an area to view the goals.
Goals for using augmentative and alternative communication devices.
AAC Goals
- Transport his/her device when transitioning between activities or locations
- Use word preduction effectively
- Access his/her device when needed
- Ask for help when the device does not work
- Adjust the voice/volume of the device depending on context
- Navigate between the main page and one other page
- Navigate between the main page and two other pages
- Navigate between the main page and three other pages
- Navigate between the main page and four other pages
- Navigate between the main page and other pages
- Select the more appropriate strategy (e.g., single word buttons, spelling, word prediction)
- Self-correct errors/miss-hits
- Request help
- Request desired objects/actions
- Request a turn
- Request recurrence (e.g., more)
- Protest undesired objects/actions
- Gain attention
- Greet others
- Introduce him/herself
- Make contextually appropriate comments
- End a conversation
- Express agreement or disagreement
- Talk about current events
- Tell about a past event
- Tell about a future event
- Tell a personal narrative
- Retell a story
- Request clarification
- Ask relevant questions
- Ask partner-focused questions
- Respond to 'yes/no' questions to indiciate choice
- Respond to 'yes/no' questions to provide information
- Respond to 'who' questions
- Respond to 'what' questions
- Respond to 'where' questions
- Respond to 'when' questions
- Respond to 'why' questions
- Respond to 'how' questions
- Initiate interactioninitiate interaction
- Take turns in a conversation
- Ask partner-focused questions
- Maintain a conversation by asking questions
- Maintain a conversation by commenting
- Tell jokes
- Compliment others
- Give directions/instructions
- Use 10 words per week
- Use 20 words per week
- Use 30 words per week
- Use 40 words per week
- Use polite social forms (i.e, “please”, “thank you”)
Goals for correct pronunciation of speech sounds.
Articulation Goals
- Produce /p/
- Produce /b/
- Produce /t/
- Produce /d/
- Produce /m/
- Produce /n/
- Produce /h/
- Produce /f/
- Produce /v/
- Produce /k/
- Produce /g/
- Produce "ch"
- Produce "j"
- Produce "sh"
- Produce /l/
- Produce /s/
- Produce /z/
- Produce /l/-blends
- Produce /s/-blends
- Produce /r/-blends
- Produce "th"
- Produce "ng"
- Produce /r/
- Produce 2-syllable words
- Produce 3-syllable words
- Produce 4-syllable words
- Produce intelligble words
Coming soon!
Goals Coming Soon!
Help them distinguish between facts and opinions
Fact & Opinion Goals
- Explain what a fact is
- Explain what an opinion is
- Identify statements as fact or opinion
- Explain why a given statement is a fact/opinion
- Provide one detail to support a fact
- Provide one detail to support an opinion
- Provide two details to support a fact
- Provide two details to support an opinion
- Provide three details to support a fact
- Provide three details to support an opinion
Goals for smooth, uninterrupted speech
Fluency Goals
- Describe how the speech machine works
- Describe affective and cognitive reactions to stuttering (as documented in his/her speech notebook)
- Describe the types of stuttering (e.g., prolongation, sound repetition)
- Identify the types of suttering (e.g., prolongation, sound reptition) in his/her own speech
- Describe fluency techniques (e.g., easy start, ligh contact, pausing and phrasing)
- Use fluency techniques (e.g., easy start, ligh contact, pausing and phrasing)
- Describe strategies to decrease tension when speaking (e.g., cancellation, pull out, preparatory set)
- Use strategies to decrease tension when speaking (e.g., cancellation, pull out, preparatory set)
- Describe self-disclosure and how it can help people who stutter
- Self-disclose to individuals selected by the student (e.g., a teacher or a friend)
Practical communication skills for daily activities
Functional communication goal bank
- Engage in joint attention
- Choose between two items
- Point to request desired objects
- Use gestures to request desired objects or actions
- Use gestures to protest undesired objects or actions
- Use words to request desired objects or actions
- Use words to protest undesired objects or actions
- Use vocalizations to gain attention
- Use words to gain attention
- Use vocalizations to greet others
- Use words to greet others
- Answer yes/no questions
- Produce 2-word utterances
- Produce 3-word utterances
- Produce 4-word utterances
Goals for using correct grammatical structures.
Grammar Goals
- Produce 3-word sentences that are grammatically correct
- Produce 4-word sentences that are grammatically correct
- Produce 5-word sentences that are grammatically correct
- Produce action + object (e.g., wash hands) phrases
- Produce agent + action (e.g., I jump)
- Produce action + modifier (e.g., jump fast)
- Use prepositions
- Use modifiers
- Use words to indicate spatial locations (e.g., in, on, over, above)
- Use words to indicated spatial relationships (e.g., with, next to, between, among)
- Use words to indicated spatial relationships (e.g., with, next to, between, among)
- Use adverbs to modify verbs based on distance and time (e.g., far, sometimes, early, never, short, always, immediately)
- Use regular plural nouns
- Use irregular plural nouns
- Use subject pronouns (he, she, they)
- Use possesive pronouns (my, her, his)
- Use helping verbs (is, are, am)
- Use modal and auxiliary verbs (e.g., could, would, may, might)
- Use past tense verbs
- Use irregular past tense verbs
- Produce grammatically correct sentences
- Produce compound sentences using conjunctions (e.g., and, but, so)
- Produce complex sentences using conjunctions (e.g., before, because)
- Point to a picture that represents a given auxiliary verb ("is" or "are" + verbing)
- Point to a picture that represents a given pronoun
- Point to a picture that represents a given possessive noun (e.g., girl's)
- Point to a picture the represents a given comparative (adjective + "er")
- Point to a picture the represents a given superlative (adjective + "est")
Coming Soon!
Address patterns of sound errors
Phonological processes goal bank
- Reduce backing by producing /t/ and /d/
- Reduce fronting by producing /k/ and /g/
- Reduce gliding by producing /l/ and /r/
- Reduce stopping by producing /f/ and /v/
- Reduce stopping by producing /s/ and /z/
- Reduce stopping by producing /f/ and /s/
- Reduce stopping by producing /v/ and /z/
- Reduce stopping by producing "sh," "ch," and "j"
- Reduce stopping by producing "th"
- Reduce stopping by producing "th"
- Reduce stopping by producing fricatives
- Reduce stopping by producing affricates
- Reduce stopping by producing affricates
- Reduce vowelization by producing /l/
- Reduce final consonant deletion by producing final consonants
- Reduce initial consonant deletion by producing initial consonants
- Reduce cluster reduction by producing clusters
- Reduce syllable deletion by producing 2-syllable words
- Reduce syllable deletion by producing 3-syllable words
- Reduce syllable deletion by producing 4-syllable words
- Reduce prevocalic voicing by producing prevocalic voiceless consonants
- Reduce final consonant devoicing by producing final voice consonants
Improve their understanding of the spoken language
Receptive language goal bank
- Follow 2-step directions
- Follow 3-step directions
- Answer yes/no questions
- Answer questions (who, what)
- Answer questions (when, where)
- Answer questions (how, why)
- Answer WH questions (who, what, when, where, why)
Goals for expanding and using vocabulary effectively
Vocabulary Goals
- Define grade level vocabulary words
- Use context clues to define unknown words
- Define idioms
- Define the maning of a figurative statement using literal language
- Define multiple meaning words
- Name objects
- Identify spatial concepts
- Name spatial concepts
- Identify temporal concepts
- Name temporal concepts
- Identify qualitiative concepts
- Name qualitiative concept
- Identify qualitiative concepts
- Name qualitiative concepts
- Identify quantitative concepts
- Name quantitative concepts
- Identify comparatives (e.g., big/bigger, small/smaller)
- Name comparatives (e.g., big/bigger, small/smaller)
- Identify superlatives (e.g., smallest, biggest)
- Name superlatives (e.g., smallest, biggest)
- Sort items by category
- Name items in categories
- Name a category when given three items
- Describe an item using 2/7 descriptors (e.g., category, function, appearance, parts, location)
- Describe an item using 3/7 descriptors (e.g., category, function, appearance, parts, location)
- Describe an item using 4/7 descriptors (e.g., category, function, appearance, parts, location)
- Describe an item using 5/7 descriptors (e.g., category, function, appearance, parts, location)
- Describe an item using 6/7 descriptors (e.g., category, function, appearance, parts, location)
- Describe an item using 7/7 descriptors (e.g., category, function, appearance, parts, location)
- State 2 differences
- State 3 differences
- State 4 differences
- State 5 differences
- State 2 similarities
- State 3 similarities
- State 4 similarities
- State 5 similarities
- Compare/contrast (providing 2 similarities/differences)
- Compare/contrast (providing 2 similarities/differences)
- Compare/contrast (providing 4 similarities/differences)
- Compare/contrast (providing 5 similarities/differences)
- Name the antonym
- Name the synonym
- State the meaning of a root word
- State the meaning of a prefix
- State the meaning of a suffix
- State the meaning of an unknown word using word parts
How To Use Our Goal Bank
What Is An SLP Goal Bank?
An SLP goal bank is a thoughtfully compiled list of SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) crafted to help speech-language pathologists develop personalized and effective treatment plans for their students.
How To Use SLP Now’s Goal Bank to Write a Speech IEP Goal
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1. Using the formal and informal assessment data, determine if there is a speech and/or language impairment.
Student exhibited the phonological disorder of fronting /k/ and /g/ during the standardized assessment and informal language sample, and qualifies for speech services.
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2. Identify goal targets that impact the student academically/socially.
Parent and teacher report that Student replaces /k/ with /t/ (e.g. “cat” is spelled “tat”) in their spelling. It is also hard to understand what the student is asking or commenting when talking with the teacher and peers in the classroom.
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3. Determine which level to target the goal at based on the student's baseline data performance. While determining your student’s baseline for a goal, observe which kind of support your student benefits from, and, if applicable, include it in your goal!
Student demonstrated the phonological process of fronting in 75% of instances in words. Verbal prompts for tongue placement to produce /k/ increased accuracy.
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4. Write SMART Goals to Help Make Your IEP Goals as Clear as Possible
S – Specific: Is your speech goal specific? Did you talk about the setting? Are you putting too many things in one goal?
M – Measurable: Can you measure this speech goal with data? Consider a rubric for some of those harder-to-measure speech therapy goals.
A – Attainable: Is this speech goal attainable in a year for this particular student? Goals are individual, make sure it’s feasible for this student.
R – Realistic: Is this speech goal something that will generalize to the classroom/school environment and help the student succeed at school? Have you considered the whole EBP triangle with research, clinical judgment, and information from the student and their family?
T- Timely: Can the student achieve the speech goal in the amount of service time you are recommending for the IEP?
Refer to the SMART goal writing format to ensure that your goal is specific, measurable, attainable, and realistic. If a student produces /k/ with 0% accuracy, it may not be attainable or realistic to mark mastery as 100%.
Based on this information, a SMART goal for Student could be “By the end of the IEP, Student will decrease the phonological process of fronting from 75% to 40% by producing /k/ and /g/ in the initial position of words, given no more than 2 verbal prompts, across 3 consecutive sessions.”
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5. BONUS - Keep everything organized with SLP Now!
As your caseload grows, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Forgetting which goals belong to who, as-well-as everyone’s progress is enough to make your head explode.
With SLP Now you assign goals from our goal bank to your students. And track their progress inside the platform too.
Ambitious SLP’s can also set up their own custom goal or add goals recommended from an assessment.
Here’s how you add goals..
- Go to the Caseload page. (if you aren’t a member yet you can sign up for a free trial – without a credit card).
- Click on a student's name.
- Click on the Goals tab.
- Click Quick Add Custom Goal.
- Type your goal in the Goal box.
- Click Add.
- Repeat Steps 4-6 for all of your goals.
- Click Save (on the top right) to save your changes.
If you'd like to add levels or objectives to a goal, click Edit next to the goal. Type your levels/objectives in the box, click Add Level, and click Save (once you've added all of your levels/objectives).
(No credit card required)
Benefits of Using our SLP Goal Bank
Utilizing our SLP goal bank offers several advantages for speech-language pathologists. Here are some key benefits:
Efficiency
You save significant time with ready-to-use goals. Instead of creating goals from scratch for each student, you can refer to the goal bank and select goals that are already well-formulated.
This efficiency allows for more time to be spent on direct therapy and individualized planning.
Consistency
Using a goal bank ensures consistency in goal setting. The goals are standardized and aligned with best practices, which helps maintain a high quality of care across different cases.
Consistency in goal setting also facilitates progress monitoring and comparison over time.
Customization
While the goals in the bank are standardized, they can be easily modified to suit the individual needs of each client.
This flexibility allows SLPs to tailor goals to specific areas of need.
For example:
Example 1: A general articulation goal might be adjusted to focus specifically on the /s/ sound for a student who struggles with that phoneme.
Example 2: A vocabulary goal can be customized to include words relevant to a student's interests or curriculum.
Measurability
The goals in our SLP goal bank come with clear criteria for assessing progress, making it easier to measure outcomes. Each goal is designed to be specific and measurable, ensuring that progress can be tracked accurately.
The best way to track their progress is inside our platform. You’ll be able to graph their performance over time, so you can see it visually.
Areas to Consider When Choosing Speech and Language Goal Targets
1. Student Case History
Understanding a student’s case history is crucial for comprehensive goal setting. Background information on the student’s family history, home environment, and previous medical history provides valuable context. This information can highlight underlying issues and inform more personalized goal development.
2. Teacher Input
If you are a speech-language pathologist in the schools, it is critical that you get teacher input! In most (if not all) states, there must be an area of educational impact to determine a student qualifies for school-based speech services. Speaking with the student’s teacher gives you relevant information on where the student struggles, which in turn helps you determine your goal targets.
3. Student Input
Have a discussion with your student on what they perceive as their areas of strength and their areas of need.
Student input can have a huge impact on your goal writing process. If there is a speech-related area the student identifies as creating a negative impact on their life (academic or social), this could be an indication that this would be a great speech goal to target (given that it is an area they show a need for).
Student buy-in can really change the game when it comes to making progress toward their goals!
4. Standardized Speech and Language Assessments
Standardized assessments are a tool to identify how a student compares to other students from similar ages/grades. It also is a resource for us to see specifically which areas the student struggles.
When selecting standardized assessments, keep in mind diagnostic accuracy, reliability, and validity. This is especially important when working with students from different cultures.
Diagnostic Accuracy – how well does a test identify the presence/absence of a disorder?
Reliability – if you repeat a test, will you get the same results?
Validity – does the test measure what it is supposed to?
5. Informal Speech and Language Assessments
Standardized tests can give us important information, however, informal assessments allow us to get even more! For example, a standardized assessment may only offer a few different items focusing on past-tense verbs, so informal assessments provide us an opportunity to look into that area further.
Examples of Informal Assessments:
- Language Samples
- Classroom Observations
- Work Samples
Speech therapy goals examples
Articulation speech therapy goal examples
When writing articulation goals, focus on the specific sound errors the student needs to address and the context in which these sounds will be practiced (e.g., words, sentences, conversation).
- By the end of the IEP period, given a visual cue, Student will produce the /s/ sound in the initial position of words during structured activities in the speech classroom with 80% accuracy across three consecutive sessions.
- Within six months, Student will increase intelligibility by producing the /r/ sound in the medial position of words during conversational speech in the classroom setting, with 75% accuracy over three consecutive sessions, given no more than one verbal prompt.
- By the end of the school year, given a list of target words, Student will accurately produce the /k/ sound in all positions of words at the sentence level during structured speech activities with 85% accuracy across three consecutive sessions.
Language speech therapy goal examples
When writing language goals, target specific areas such as vocabulary, grammar, or comprehension.
- Over the next 12 months, Student will enhance vocabulary usage by learning and correctly using 20 new age-appropriate words in sentences, reaching 80% accuracy across three consecutive sessions.
- In six months, Student will improve grammatical skills by accurately using past tense verbs in sentences during class activities, achieving 75% accuracy in four out of five trials.
- By the next term, Student will demonstrate improved comprehension by answering who, what, where, and when questions about a read-aloud story with 85% accuracy over three consecutive sessions.
Pragmatics speech therapy goal examples
Focus on improving social communication skills such as initiating conversations, turn-taking, and understanding nonverbal cues.
- By the end of the academic year, Student will improve memory skills by accurately recalling and retelling three key details from a short story or event, achieving 80% accuracy over multiple sessions.
- In the next six months, Student will enhance problem-solving abilities by identifying and explaining two possible solutions to given social or academic scenarios, reaching 75% accuracy over four consecutive trials.
- Over the course of the next term, Student will increase attention skills by maintaining focus on a given task or activity for at least 10 minutes with minimal redirection, achieving 85% accuracy across different classroom settings.
Measurability
The goals in our SLP goal bank come with clear criteria for assessing progress, making it easier to measure outcomes. Each goal is designed to be specific and measurable, ensuring that progress can be tracked accurately.
The best way to track their progress is inside our platform. You’ll be able to graph their performance over time, so you can see it visually.
Start your free 14 day trial of SLP Now. Turn your goals into full therapy plans…
Get Tips from SLP Goal Setting Masters!
Check out our SLP Goal Setting Podcast series:
Rose Griffin - Writing goals for older students
Rose provides practical tips and examples for setting meaningful goals that support students in real-world contexts, ensuring their communication skills are functional and beneficial for their future.
Jesse & Chris - Neurodiversity affirming goals
Jesse Ginsburg and Chris Wenger share insights on supporting autistic children, and emphasize learning from autistic voices to create effective, respectful goals.
Amy Graham - Implementing the cycles approach
Amy shares insights from her journey in speech therapy, emphasizing thorough assessments and choosing the right intervention strategies to address phonological deficits in children.
More SLP Goal Setting Resources:
How to Target Sequencing Goals
A comprehensive guide for writing goals for childhood apraxia of speech (CAS).
How to Write Stuttering & Fluency Goals for School-Age Students (Stuttering Goal Bank)
Effective stuttering therapy goals, emphasizing personalization, fluency techniques, and support for emotional and educational needs.
How to Write Goals for Childhood Apraxia of Speech as a Speech-Language Pathologist
Discover how to use contextual narrative interventions to enhance comprehension and communication skills effectively.