Comments on: Wait…Isn’t that Outcome TOO Specific?

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 15:01:15 +0000

In reply to Barbara.

Hooray! I’m so glad! We do tend to focus a lot on outcomes. A pretty good rule of thumb is to treat writing goals and outcomes using similar rules – both need to be measurable, functional, routines-based, etc. Keep an eye out because this topic is now on my list!

By: Barbara

Barbara — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 14:51:09 +0000

In reply to Dana Childress, M.Ed..

This is so helpful, you have no idea! I feel like we often get a lot of guidance on outcomes in general, but not so much direction on short term outcomes. So I definitely support the idea of a blog post about that 🙂

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 12:05:26 +0000

In reply to Barbara Tucker.

Thanks Barbara, I really appreciate that! This video blog thing is new, something I’m trying out. I’m glad to hear that it’s helpful! I LOVE what you say about the outcome providing a glimpse into generalization…that’s IT! You got it!

Let me know how your reminder card works and maybe we can share it with other readers!

By: Dana Childress, M.Ed.

Dana Childress, M.Ed. — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 12:03:13 +0000

In reply to Barbara.

GREAT question, Barbara! The short term outcomes should be related to the same big picture, so your example of a short term goal with Elise using single words during mealtime is perfect. The big picture is her communication, and if her parents want to measure progress with single words at meals, that’s completely fine. What you want to avoid is having short term goals that are completely unrelated to the long term outcome. For example, under Elise’s outcome, a short term goal for her to walk across the room ten feet probably wouldn’t fit, UNLESS the walking goal is integrated with her communication. For instance, you might say (if this made sense for the child) that “Elise will walk across the room using her gait trainer to find a favorite toy (like her ball or bear) and bring it to her mom when asked twice a day for one week.” This short term goal integrates motor and communication development, supporting her ability to follow two-step directions, and that’s fine. We just don’t want to have one long term outcome followed by a laundry list of unrelated short term goals. Does that make sense? Maybe I’ll write another blog post using your question…thanks for the idea! 🙂

By: Barbara Tucker

Barbara Tucker — Wed, 01 Apr 2015 04:49:38 +0000

What a wonderful “ah ha” experience. The blog sets the tone to think about the differences between the two outcomes and the video completes the circle. I am going to give my staff a reminder card to have with their IFSP forms that the phrases “to get wants and needs met” and “during daily routines” are not permitted 🙂
We now need to help practitioners understand that the outcome is merely a glimpse into the generalization of the skill.

Wonderful blog and video. Combining a blog with a video is like my chocolate cake with fudge frosting — separately they are each good, however combining the two really makes a statement 🙂

Thank you again ~~ very, very helpful.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Tue, 31 Mar 2015 22:00:57 +0000

This is very helpful, thanks! My question is about short term outcomes. There are a lot of questions on my team about whether or not the short term outcomes have to be related to the same routine mentioned in the long term outcome. For example, in the outcome above, could you put a short term goal of Elise using a certain number of single words to request during mealtime? Or should we just focus on talking in the backyard?