VB-MAPP to Selecting Goals and Objectives

1. VB-MAPP to Selecting Goals and Objectives Amy Cohen, Ph.D, BCBA Maigret Fay, M.Ed, BCBA Julie Smith, MA, BCBA

2. Elements of Appropriate Goals • Individualized • Functional • Observable • Measurable • Reasonable/Acheivable • Do-able

3. IEP Priorities • Communication • All verbal operants should be well developed • Social and Play Skills • Behavioral Functioning/Self-regulation/Independence in group settings • Learning Readiness: imitation, listener responding, visual perceptual/matching skills, early academics

4. Using the VB-MAPP to set goals • Identify general level of the student- level 1,2, or 3 • Use the milestones and barriers assessment to identify areas of strength and challenge • Determine if there are special strengths in one area that can be a benefit to other areas, or a particular weakness that can be addressed • e.g., strong motor imitation but weak echoic skills=> sign language? • e.g., strong echoic skills but no manding

5. Using the VB-MAPP to set goals • Look for balance across all of the skill areas for each level • If out of balance what skills need to be addressed to better balance the profile?

6. Focus areas for level 1 students • Establishing 6 basic language and related skills: • Mands • Echoics • Motor imitation • Listener discriminations • Tacts • Visual perceptual/matching skills

7. Other focus areas for level 1 students • Play and socialization • Spontaneous vocalizations • Fine/gross motor skills and self help skills, as appropriate ** level 1 learners may benefit from more intensive teaching opportunities

8. Focus areas for level 2 students • Systematically expanding language and learning skills • Expanding size and scope of mand, tact, and listener repetoires • Developing multi-component verbal and nonverbal responses • Beginning responding by feature, function and class • Beginning interverbal skills • Developing social and verbal interactions with peers • Group and classroom skills • Learning in less restrictive settings

9. Other focus areas for level 2 students • Fine/gross motor • Independence • Self-care/toileting ** level 2 learners may benefit gradually increased exposure to less structured teaching ** beware of the danger of moving on too quickly for level 2 students, rather than strengthening/ expanding their skill repetoire

10. Focus areas for level 3 students • Expanding context of what student talks about • Expanding sentence size (introducing adjectives, prepositions, pronouns, adverb) • More complex manding • Teaching intraverbal behavior • Socially appropriate behavior • Increasing the frequency and complexity of peer and social interactions • Learning in group teaching formats • Beginning academic skills

11. Other focus areas for level 3 students • Fine/gross motor • Self-help • Independence • Safety • Reduction of behavior problems ** full inclusion and socialization play are more important for level 3 students, as they are more likely to benefit from the preschool classroom environment

12. Goals: Number and timeframe • 12-18 goals • 1 year time frame • Repeated administration of the VB-MAPP can help determine reasonable expected growth in that time frame

13. Making the goal specific • Use the VB-MAPP manual to aid in the goal writing process • Chapters 8,9,10 focus on sample goals for each level • Task analyses can help with breaking skills down into component parts for objective writing

14. Team Activity • Each team will receive 2 sample VB-MAPP milestone assessments • For each student: • Describe profile in terms of strengths, weaknesses, general level and overall balance • Prioritize goal areas • Write at least 3 goals for each student