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DIY IEP: Step 2 - Goals and Objectives

Once you know what your child's skills are, decide what you want him to learn next. This is ideally expressed in two parts: a long term goal and short term objectives. The long term goal is a broad statement that sets the vision for the coming year. My goal for our elementary math student would be very open ended: "Improve math skills." Since this is a DIY IEP, I can get away with that and it will cover anything we do in math. The meat of the IEP will be in the short term objectives.

A short term objective (STO) is more specific and can be reached in a shorter period of time. It might read "will add, on paper, 2 digit numbers with one regrouping." Following the mastery of that objective, I would move to "will add, on paper, 3 digit numbers with one or more regrouping." Then I would move on to subtraction. Since these skills are best learned in sequence, I would work with the child on one skill at a time to avoid frustration or confusion. The other weak skill, stating the months of the year in order, is not directly related to this math sequence and could be added as a STO and addressed anytime.

It's as easy as that. Or is it? Some children may need a more detailed breakdown of objectives in order to master each skill. For example, adding 2 digit numbers with regrouping may be too much. We can break it down to the following steps:

1. Will write numbers legibly
2. Will write numbers aligned correctly
3. Will add numbers in the ones column
4. Will write second digit of the sum of the ones column in appropriate spot
5. Will write tens digit of sum of ones column in appropriate spot
6. Will add numbers in tens column
7. Will write sum of tens column in appropriate spot

Here is how it would look in practice.

Step 1 - write numbers legibly

Step 2 - write numbers aligned correctly

Step 3 - add number in ones column

Step 4 - write second digit of sum of ones column in appropriate spot

Step 5 - write tens digit of sum of ones column in appropriate spot

Step 6 - add numbers in tens column

Step 7 - write sum of tens column in appropriate spot

This may seem laborious and drawn out, but for a child with learning disabilities or even severe math anxiety, breaking the task into small steps can make all the difference. Each step can be practiced until it is comfortable. This also allows for more celebration and positive feedback as the child masters each step.

Along with this STO, I would also work on verbally reciting the months of the year in order. To do this I would use a technique called chaining, and turn it into something of a game. Chaining is just like it sounds, making a sequence where the child adds his newly learned information, or "link" to the chain, either at the beginning (forward chaining) or the end (backward chaining.)

I would begin by telling the child to keep in mind the month December, and when I point to him, he should say, "December." I would recite the other months - January, February, all the way to November, and then point to the child to add December. After a few tries, and liberal praise for correct performance, the child would then be expected to add November and December. We would work on this for about five to ten minutes, as long as the interest stays up. This is an example of backward chaining, which is one of my favorite techniques for two reasons - the child is responsible for only a manageable portion of information to start, and he will be exposed to multiple repetitions of the information, thus learning it faster.

The most important things to remember with STOs are to make them follow a logical sequence (crawl, then walk, then run), break the skills into easy-to-learn steps, and celebrate every success along the way.

A burning question at this point is "How do I know when a skill is mastered?" Part of the STO is deciding how good is good enough. For most skills, 80% to 90% accuracy is adequate. For others, like days of the week or months of the year, expecting 100% accuracy is not unreasonable. For most academics, 80% is considered the adequate mastery level to move on the next skill. However, the way to answer our question will come from the third step in the DIY IEP process - progress measurement.