Developing Goals and Objectives for Handicapped Children

With the enactment of Public Law 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, public school physical therapists were mandated to participate in the development of an individual education program for each recipient of therapy services. Because each individual education program requires a statement of annual goals, including short-term instructional objectives, school therapists must become familiar with the mechanics of writing appropriate therapy goals and objectives. The purpose of this article is to present techniques for developing both annual therapy goals and short-term, behaviorally written treatment objectives. The components of a behavioral objective are specified, and good and bad examples of pediatric therapy objectives are shown. The importance of collecting data to measure progress toward the achievement of short-term objectives is also discussed.