How to write goals related to the Alert Program^®

When writing goals, we encourage therapists to ask themselves (as well as the client, teachers, supporting adults, family members, etc.) what behavior is a PROBLEM and what behavior do you want to observe in a client. Goals are written according to what you want to see happen.

Goals that reflect improvement in self-regulation are functionally related. For example, the goal might relate to focusing, attending, or listening when required. Also, goals might relate to adjusting to transitions, or self-monitoring for the client to calm or alert when needed.

Additionally, improvement in self-regulation also fosters enhanced social-emotional skill development. For example, a goal in this area might focus on listening to others, or developing friendships, or asking others for help, etc. The options are unlimited. You can grade desired outcome behaviors so as to monitor progress.

When working with children, you might also need to consider goals for the teachers and adults in the children’s lives, as they are extremely important for the success in facilitating self-regulation and the resultant social-emotional development of the children.

We are seeing more and more children who are entering kindergarten with inadequate self-regulation abilities and this is grossly hampering teachers’ abilities to teach the children what is required within the curriculum. Implementing the Alert Program^® school-wide has proven to be effective AND efficient. It is also a much better use of limited therapist’s time as the therapist focuses on the bigger picture versus having a very high 1:1 caseload. Typically that kiddo with special needs is NOT the only one with self-regulation issues in a classroom or school.

Given the benefits of a system-wide implementation, we have been working with schools in helping them develop a flow-sheet or model for looking at self-regulation: the activities to support implementation of the program; outcomes and objectives desired; and systematic tools for evaluating such. This allows the educational team to make appropriate adjustments in the many strategies for addressing self-regulation in the curriculum— enhancing those strategies that are proving to be successful, evaluating change for those that don’t appear successful, and when appropriate, dropping off those activities that don’t seem to be effective. This program evaluation process is highly successful in helping systems be as efficient AND effective in addressing this issue, particularly in light of tight human/financial resources.

Interested? Contact us for more information for this valued consultation service called “Tracking Success”.