Let's talk goals...

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As always, let me start by saying that I know that EVERY kid is different and follows a different developmental clock. However, I am curious to see if a particular time lime exists.

1. How soon after you start working on a goal should a child show SOME progress towards said goal (say even 1 out of 5 trials) ? Have any of you had a situation where you have worked with a child for 6 months and still not had much progress ? (My son is pre-verbal so I am currently struggling to get him to meet his expressive language goals).

2. Tied up to my first question, when - typically - would you modify a goal that is not being met In its current form ? Per my current interventionist, any goal that is not being met AT ALL even after 90 days of work should be modified. Is this generally the case ? When do you abandon a goal completely (his interventionist says that she typically 're-writes' goals If progress has not been documented on said goals even after 180 days from start of work on it) ?

3. How do you know if the goals being set are developmentally (not chronologically age) appropriate ? I am having a hard time telling this for my child.

4. What is a reasonable measure of progress in DTT ? Is it success 3/5 or 4/5 ?

I will be homeschooling my boy and need this advise to help set up an appropriate curriculum and appropriate progress tracking on him. Thanks !

My son's social goals have never been close to being met. I make them rewrite them every year, but they are never met. I think they are too general, and am going to try to make them write something real basic in there like have at least one conversation with another child every day, or something. My son's teacher this year gets it, so I am hoping she will help me come up with attainable goals.

I honestly can't help you, but I have been reading your threads and just want you to know that I am really proud of you and the choices you are making for you and your child. It is going to be OK. I can't tell you what OK is going to look like, but it is going to be OK.

We don't try to keep this level of detailed info at home so I can't say specifically but my gut says that your interventionist is probably right on track about 90 days. If there is NO progress by then I think its safe to say that it is beyond his current developmental stage or that there is some other impediment preventing him from making progress and a change of tactic would be warranted. Perhaps it would be a good idea though to circle back around with that goal in 90 days and see if he is ready to try it again. WHile you are homeschooling will you still have benefit of the interventionist? Sounds like that person is knowledgeable and helpful.

Hi DW, thank you so very much for your compassion and support. It means a lot to me - I am in desperate need for words of comfort and encouragement.

A good ABA therapy programme with good practioners will allow your child to progress no matter what. Thats the point of it, it is empirical.
I think 4/5 is a good measure of success for a DTT. What will happen though is they go back on things, they may have got matching objects aced, then a few weeks later are scoring poorly again. They do it to mess with you
I started calling my sons ABA sessions "homework" rather than therapy or ABA when talking to my son about it, and it has stuck, his therapists now call it "homework" to, we all like it better, and I call them his "tutors" or "teachers". The word therapy makes me think of Woody Allen lieing on a psychologists couch being neurotic

My son is seven. He is very verbal (inappropriately so, at times) but has pragmatic speech issues, so he is getting ST for those as well as to help with the social constructs of communication.

Our social goals (to the extent that we have them) are general and not very helpful. They involve turn taking (which he can do) and reciprocity, and initiation, which he can't. He really needs step-by step assistance on social interactions. They do some of that in speech class, but he does not apply it on the playground.

He really needs something like Sheldon's Friendship Algorithm from The Big Bang Theory.

I have one very important thing to say about goals.

Buildup:
I have often discovered that the NTs around me have always had a very clear idea of what my goals should be.
I often do not share an understanding of the motivation / or a biological drive / to meet the goals they have in mind.
Even explained to me, sometimes the reason behind their idea of goals fails to motivate me

Fact:
Without internal motivation, (which means: definable and desirable purpose), I WILL NOT pursue a goal with any enthusiasm.

Result:
Failure to meet goals defined by another, despite their (and society's) feeling that the goal is good and has "obvious" benefits.
(Obvious maybe to you, but certainly not to me - else with my intellect I would have already pursued them!! !! !! !).

Suggestion:
1> Decide whaat the goal is.
2> Ask the child/target of the goal to COME UP WITH (over the next three days) HIS/HER own reason why the goal would be beneficial to him/her. Or if rejected, tell him to be prepared to explain why the goal is 'pointless'. Three days.
3a> If the subject can come up with their OWN motivation/reason/intellectual interpretation of the benefits of the goal, they WILL be motivated to accomplish it. Three days is plenty of time to sort out a yes no.
3b> If the goal is rejected: Listen. Listen to the logic, to the beliefs, to the explination. Great way to understand just how different (my) mind is from yours' and maybe realize what goals I might be convinced towards accomplishing. If you desperately want them to achieve this goal, you've had three days yourself to try looking for other motivations (it's not all the kids' responsability - you as the adult have more experience and intellect) to propose to him/her. Tell them you accept their denial, then ask if they have thought of it in another way (propose ALTERNATE motivations).

Remember at all times, that there are just certain motivations/instincts/drives that are not devellopped or devellopping, and there's nothing you can do to add them. But there are drives and motivations there, that you might not even have, that you CAN use to motivate.