Speech Therapy Goals That Should Be Canceled

I saw a therapy goal this week that stopped me in my tracks: “Johnny will maintain eye contact for 80% of a conversation.”

Seriously?! We’re still writing goals like this in 2024? 🤯

Here’s the thing—therapy goals should support autistic kids, not to make them less Autistic. 

Depression rates among Autistic individuals are alarmingly high, and their average lifespan is significantly shorter.

This isn’t something we can afford to put off.

As SLPs, we need to recognize this urgency—and it’s why we must call out bad practices and address ineffective goals head-on.

Today, I’m diving into some real goals I found in free online goal banks to analyze whether they’re worth keeping or if it’s time to toss them.

Again let me be clear, this is not to shame anyone. But you can’t do better until you know better. 

So let’s dive into my new segment called Keep or Cancel: Therapy Goals Edition:

Goal 1: Child will label emotions in pictures with 80% accuracy. 

Keep or Cancel?

❌ Cancel ❌

What we know about Autistic kids is that emotions can be challenging. And labeling emotions in other people as well as identifying them in themselves likely comes down to difficulties with interoception. Interoception is the ability to sense and perceive what's happening inside your body, including your physical and emotional states. But when we come in and try to just have kids label emotions based on facial expressions, we’re only going to teach rote memorization of pictures of emotions instead of actually helping the child to understand their body’s internal senses and what is truly going on. 

And that is why labeling emotions as a therapy goal – is canceled. 

Goal 2: Child will label a problem size as small, medium, or large with 80% accuracy. 

Keep or Cancel?

❌ Cancel ❌

It is incredibly hard for us to decide what size someone else’s problem should be.  That’s not our decision that we get to make, it’s theirs. I have this snowman mug that is very sentimental to me and if it were to break, that would not be a small problem for me.

And that is why identifying the size of the problem as a therapy goal – is canceled. 

Goal 3: Child will modify his/her behavior to keep his/her body and brain in the group with 80% accuracy. 

Keep or Cancel?

❌ Cancel ❌

We don’t want to force kids to stay in the group. If they need to move, they need to move. We should be teaching them more about what their body needs and how to advocate for those needs. And we can also try to modify the environment like providing a yoga ball for the child to sit on during group in order to help the child get the movement they need. 

And this why behavior modification as a therapy goal – is canceled. 

Want to hear more goals that should be canceled?

Check out this episode of Making the Shift to hear all the goals we’re canceling and why. 

>> Making the Shift Ep. 86, Speech Therapy Goals That Should Be Canceled

And if you want to learn more about neurodiversity affirming goal writing, make sure to join us in the NeuroAffirm Therapy Academy for our in-depth training!

The NeuroAffirm Therapy Academy is your one-stop-shop for all things neurodiversity affirming. 

When you join the ND Affirming Therapy Academy, you get trainings, live calls with our Autistic mentor, and unlimited CEUs. All the CEUs you need for a year, in everything ND affirming.

Click here to learn more about the NeuroAffirm Therapy Academy