By Dawn Spence

A new school year is just around the corner and with it comes new IEP goals and objectives. Sometimes your goals may be continuing from the year before, or you may have new goals. As you start out a new school year with new goals, you want your child to embrace those goals and enjoy the new challenges. Here are 4 ways to start out your year with new goals.

1. Break Down the Goals
All your goals do not have to be introduced at one time or even in the same week. Let your child get comfortable working on a new goal before introducing more goals. You can do read-alouds or play games so that there is something to look forward to after working on a challenging activity.

2. Take it Slow

IEP goals are usually set for a school year or a physical year, so you have plenty of time to work on meeting goals. You could work on language arts goals on Wednesdays and Fridays, and then work on math goals on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Make the schedule work for you and your child.

3. Make it Exciting

If you are excited and have joy about teaching the goal, that will go a long way to help your child look forward to the activities. You can take their goals and make a game. If a goal is hard for the student, make the challenge something that they will look forward to tackling.

4. Be Flexible

If you introduce a new goal and the method that you are using is not working, you can always change it. You might realize that writing with pen and paper will not produce that paper but typing it will. You can even ask your child what would help him or her to achieve the goal.

IEP goals are a great way to organize your academic year and show progress. Allow yourself the space and grace to learn alongside your child.

If you would like more help in establishing an IEP for your homeschooled student, check out these articles well as our IEP Information page and free IEP template download:

4 Things to Prepare Before Writing Your Child’s IEP 
How to Write IEP Goals and Objectives
Writing an IEP: Accommodations and Modifications
How to Track IEP Goals

 


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