Sources for assessment in writing an IEP and ABA curriculum guide:

 

**by Far the best way to write an IEP is to have an assessment done on the child.

Why so many people try to write goals for a child without fully testing or updating their assessments is a waste of time. The child may already know much of what you are suggesting or the child may not even be remotely ready to work on the goals. 2-4 below are good assessment tools to use.  Number 5 has sample IEPS and even a sample of a badly written IEP. What you find below is for children basically under the age of ten or for children who are in elementary school.  If the child is older, then it requires different skills and expectations.  I would not expect a 14 year old child with autism to learn how to ask a play mate to share a to but maybe he can learn to ask for ketchup.  You may also look towards more “life skills” for an older child.  However, any child in elementary school and preschool, ought to learn some of the goals below.

A good IEP should contain goals in the area of cognitive development, social development, behavioral, and Language.

 

1.      Sample of the curriculum the Maurice Children followed in Let Me Hear Your Voice by Catherine Maurice.

2.      A Work in Progress by Ron Leaf & John McEachin Appendix A

3.      ABLLS by James Partington and Mark Sundberg

4.      ABA flow chart

5.      Sample IEPs in this website

6.      Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism edited by C. Maurice, G. Green, S. Luce. A "how-to" manual on ABA, including research, curriculum, teaching methods, and legal information.

7.      Making a Difference: Behavioral Intervention for Autism
by Catherine Maurice (Editor), Gina Green, Richard Foxx (Editor)

8.      Relationship Development Intervention with Young Children: Social and Emotional Development Activities for Asperger Syndrome, Autism, PDD and NLD by Steven E. Gutstein, Rachelle K. Sheely  this book is for purely social /relationship skills.  This book gives you an assessment and a way to list goals in social skills that are discrete.

9.      Teaching Your Child the Language of Social Success
by Marshall P. Duke, Elisabeth A. Martin, Stephen Nowicki Jr.  ß purely nonverbal language goals and curriculum suggestions. (social skills- nonverbal)

10.  Goals for Children with Autismß free online book

11.  http://members.tripod.com/autism4dads/iep_goals.htm  take the suggestions and break them down into individual goals (ie, understands body language can be broken down, etc)

12.  Another sample IEP

13.  Self Help IEP goals

14.  Social Emotional Goals

 

 

Other “sample” guidelines to use:

(you can see how our IEP differed from the below suggestions. This shows that we tailored our IEP to our child.  I also am not thrilled with the eye contact drills- while “improve eye contact” is a good goal, I would go about teaching eye contact in a different way if your child is like Lukas. School readiness is often “social skills” as well.  It is more along the lines of “functional social skills” versus “relational social skills”.

Basic Curriculum Guide

attending Skills

  1. Sits in a chair independently
  2. Makes eye contact in response to name
  3. Makes eye contact when given the instruction "Look at me"  (I AM NOT SO THRILLED WITH THIS)
  4. Responds to the direction "Hands down" / or “sit nice”

Imitation Skills

  1. Imitates gross motor movements
  2. Imitates actions with objects
  3. Imitates fine motor movements
  4. Imitates oral motor movements

Receptive Language Skills

  1. Follows one-step intructions
  2. Identifies body parts
  3. Identifies objects
  4. Identifies pictures
  5. Identifies familiar people
  6. Follows verb instructions
  7. Identifies verbs in pictures
  8. Identifies objects in the environment
  9. Points to pictures in a book
  10. Identifies objects by function
  11. Identifies possession
  12. Identifies environmental sounds

Expressive Language Skills

  1. Points to desired items in response to "What do you want?"
  2. Points to desired items spontaneously
  3. Imitates sounds and words
  4. Labels objects
  5. Labels pictures
  6. Verbally requests desired items
  7. States or gestures yes and no for preferred and nonpreferred items
  8. Labels familiar people
  9. Makes a choice
  10. Reciprocates greetings
  11. Answers social questions
  12. Labels verbs in pictures, others, and self
  13. Labels objects by function
  14. Labels possession

Pre-academic Skills

  1. Matches
  2. Completes simple activities independently
  3. Identifies colors
  4. Identifies shapes
  5. Identifies letters
  6. Identifies numbers
  7. Counts by rote to 10
  8. Counts objects

Self-help Skills

  1. Drinks from a cup
  2. Uses fork and spoon when eating
  3. Removes shoes
  4. Removes socks
  5. Removes pants
  6. Removes shirt
  7. Is toilet-trained for urination

Intermediate Curriculum Guide

Attending Skills

  1. Sustains eye contact for 5 seconds in response to name  (HMM… How about in response to any social interaction versus name?)
  2. Makes eye contact in response to name while playing
  3. Makes eye contact in response to name from a distance
  4. Asks "What?" when name is called

Imitation Skills

  1. Imitates gross motor movements from a standing position
  2. Imitates sequenced gross motor movements
  3. Imitates sequenced gross motor movements
  4. Imitates actions paired with sounds
  5. Imitates block patterns
  6. Copies simple drawings

Receptive Language Skills

  1. Identifies rooms
  2. Identifies emotions
  3. Identifies places
  4. Follows two-step instructions
  5. Gives two objects
  6. Retrieves objects out of view
  7. Identifies attributes
  8. Identifies community helpers
  9. Pretends
  10. Identifies categories
  11. Identifies pronouns
  12. Follows directions with prepositions
  13. Identifies an object in view when it is described
  14. Places sequence cards in order
  15. Identifies gender
  16. Identifies item that is missing
  17. Answers wh-questions about objects and pictures
  18. Answers yes/no in response to questions about objects and actions
  19. Names an object by touch

Expressive Language Skills

  1. Imitates two- and three-word phrases
  2. Requests desired items in a sentence in response to "What do you want?"
  3. Requests desired items spontaneously in a sentence
  4. Calls parent from a distance
  5. Labels object based on function
  6. Labels function of objects
  7. Labels and points to body part according to function
  8. Labels function of body parts
  9. Labels places
  10. Labels emotions
  11. Labels categories
  12. Uses simple sentences
  13. Reciprocates information
  14. States "I don't know" when asked to label unknown objects
  15. Asks wh-questions: "What's that?" and "Where is..."
  16. Labels prepositions
  17. Labels pronouns
  18. Answers general knowledge questions
  19. Labels gender
  20. Describes pictures in a sentence
  21. Describes objects in view using attributes
  22. Recalls immediate past experience
  23. Answers "Where...?" questions
  24. Names what belongs in rooms
  25. Labels function of rooms
  26. Labels function of community helpers
  27. Answers "When...?" questions
  28. Describes sequence of pictures
  29. Delivers a message
  30. Role play with puppets
  31. Offers assistance

Pre-academic Skills

  1. Matches items from the same category
  2. Gives specified quantity of items
  3. Matches number to quantity
  4. Matches uppercase to lowercase letters
  5. Matches identical words
  6. Identifies more and less
  7. Sequences numbers/letters
  8. Completes simple worksheets
  9. Copies letters and numbers
  10. Identifies written name
  11. Draws simple pictures
  12. Writes name
  13. Pastes/glues
  14. Cuts with scissors
  15. Colors within a boundry

Self-help Skills

  1. Puts on pants
  2. Puts on shirt
  3. Puts on coat
  4. Puts on shoes
  5. Puts on socks
  6. Washes hands
  7. Is toilet-trained for bowel movements
  8. Self-initiates for bathroom
  9. Pours liquids from container into cup/glass
  10. Uses napkin to clean hands and face
  11. Cleans up after eating
  12. Dries hands
  13. Puts on pullover shirt
  14. Puts on boots
  15. Unbuttons/buttons front opening shirt
  16. Unzips, zips front opening coat

 

Advanced Curriculum Guide

Attending Skills

  1. Makes eye contact during conversation
  2. Makes eye contact during group instruction

Imitation Skills

  1. Imitates complex sequences
  2. Imitates peer play
  3. Imitates verbal responses of peers

Receptive Language Skills

  1. Follows three-step instructions
  2. Follows complex intructions from a distance
  3. Names a person, place, or thing when it is described
  4. Names an object when only part is visible
  5. Identifies items that are the same
  6. Identifies items that are different
  7. Identifies what does not belong based on attribute or category
  8. Identifies plural vs. singular
  9. Answers wh-questions about a short story
  10. Answers wh-questions about a topic
  11. Follows the instructions "Ask..." versus "Tell..."
  12. Finds hidden object given location clues
  13. Discriminates when to ask a question and when to reciprocate information

Expressive Language Skills

  1. States "I don't know" to unfamiliar questions
  2. Labels a category to which an item belongs
  3. Names items in a category
  4. Retells a story
  5. Describes objects not in view with attributes
  6. Recalls past events
  7. Describes topics
  8. Tells own story
  9. Expresses confusion and asks for clarification
  10. Labels advanced possessive pronouns
  11. Uses correct verb tense
  12. Asks a question and retells information
  13. Listens to a conversation and answers questions about the conversation
  14. Asserts knowledge
  15. Answers advanced general knowledge questions
  16. Describes how to do something
  17. Describes similarities and differences between objects
  18. Answers "Which...?" questions
  19. Asks wh-questions when provided with vague information

Abstract Language

  1. Answers "Why...?" questions
  2. Answers "If...?" questions
  3. Makes logical completions to sentences
  4. Describes irregularities in pictures
  5. Answers yes/no (factual information)
  6. Predicts outcomes
  7. Takes another's perspective
  8. Provides explanations
  9. Excludes an item based on attribute and category
  10. Identifies main topic in story and conversation

Academic Skills

  1. Defines people, places, and things
  2. Completes a pattern
  3. Matches written words to objects/objects to written words
  4. Reads common words
  5. Names letter sounds
  6. Names a word beginning with letter sound
  7. Names initial, medial, and final consonants
  8. Spells simple words
  9. States word meaning
  10. Identifies simple synonyms
  11. Identifies temporal relationships
  12. Identifies ordinal numbers
  13. Identifies rhyming words
  14. Writes simple words from memory
  15. Adds single-digit numbers

Social Skills

  1. Imitates actions of peer
  2. Follows directions from a peer
  3. Answers questions from a peer
  4. Responds to peer play-initiation statements
  5. Plays board game with peer
  6. Initiates play statements to peer
  7. Reciprocates information to peer
  8. Comments to peer during play
  9. Asks peer for assistance
  10. Offers assistance to peer

School Readiness

  1. Waits turn
  2. Demonstrates new responses through observation
  3. Follows instructions in a group
  4. Reciprocates social information in a group
  5. Sings nursery rhymes in a group
  6. Answers when called on
  7. Raises hand to answer question
  8. Listens to a story and answers questions about the story
  9. Shows and tells

Self-help Skills

    1. Table Manners & related Skills

a.       spoon/fork

b.      Drinks from a cup

c.       Pours

d.      Drinks from a straw

e.       Cuts /speads butter with a knife.

f.        Uses a napkin

 

    1. Dressing

a.       Clothes on (all items within this such as pants, shirt, underwear, socks)

b.      Clothes off (again, all items within this such as pants shirt, underwear , shoes, socks)

c.       Snaps

d.      Buttons

e.       Zippers

f.        Tie shoes (and don’t worry about a three year old doing this!  A kindergartener YES)

g.       Can do “go get dressed” and chain all the skills together without prompt (get shoes, socks, pants, shirt,etc)

 

    1. Toileting
    2. Hygiene

a.       washes hands

b.      washes face

c.       brushes teeth

d.      brushes hair

e.       independently bathes

f.        blows nose

 

    1. Puts school bags/coats away
    2. can make simple things in the kitchen (a bowl of cereal, a glass of milk)
    3. sets table (obviously not for two year olds!)
    4. clears table (to an appropriate degree, perhaps they take their plate to the sink after meals or they put them in the dishwasher-)
    5. feed pets ( a 3 & 4 year old can do this)