Developing goals and objectives for handicapped children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Physical Therapy
• Educational Psychology
• Special Education Law

Background:

• Public Law 94-142 mandates physical therapist involvement in Individual Education Programs (IEPs).
• IEPs require annual goals and short-term instructional objectives for therapy services.
• School-based therapists need expertise in writing effective therapy goals and objectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide techniques for developing annual therapy goals.
• To outline methods for writing short-term, behaviorally defined treatment objectives.
• To guide physical therapists in creating measurable IEP goals for pediatric clients.

Main Methods:

• Specification of the essential components of a behavioral objective.
• Presentation of exemplary and non-exemplary pediatric therapy objectives.
• Discussion on the importance of data collection for objective achievement.

Main Results:

• Clear guidelines for constructing behaviorally written therapy objectives are provided.
• Examples illustrate effective and ineffective objective writing.
• Emphasis is placed on data-driven progress monitoring.

Conclusions:

• Effective goal setting and objective writing are crucial for school-based physical therapists.
• Behavioral objectives facilitate measurable progress tracking in pediatric therapy.
• Adherence to legal mandates like Public Law 94-142 ensures comprehensive service delivery.