What to Ask Before a New ABA Goal Starts

Start with the person's outcome

Ask what the child wants to do, communicate, access, avoid, learn, or manage more independently. Connect the proposed goal to a real setting and activity. A convenient clinic task may still have weak daily-life value.

The CASP ABA Practice Guidelines Version 3.0 public summary places goals within individualized assessment and planning. It does not endorse a standard goal bank.

Ask how the person participated

Find out how preferences, assent, dissent, culture, communication, disability, sensory needs, and family context influenced the proposal. Ask what happens if the person's response changes after teaching begins.

The ASHA AAC portal supports continuous access to AAC tools or devices. A goal should accept effective communication forms and preserve useful supports.

Review baseline and definition

Ask what counts, what does not count, which opportunities are eligible, who observed them, and over which dates and settings. Request raw counts and denominators. Ask whether the baseline included usual AAC, mobility, visual, sensory, and partner support.

If the team has little direct evidence, ask what assessment or observation will occur before a clinical decision.

Understand the teaching plan

Ask what the adult will do, what the learner may do, which prompts are available, how prompts will change, what consequences follow, and how choice and breaks work. Ask how the plan will transfer to everyday people and places.

The BACB Ethics Code addresses assessment-based intervention, client involvement, risk, data, documentation, consent and assent when applicable, and evaluation for covered certificants and applicants.

Protect ordinary access

Communication, food, water, bathroom use, mobility, prescribed care, rest, and emergency help should remain available according to the person's needs. Ask whether any preferred activity, relationship, device, or routine will be restricted and why.

Review likely effort, frustration, time, travel, caregiver work, and effects on school, sleep, play, and other care.

A fictional goal check

Ravi's proposed goal has eight readiness questions. Six have clear answers. The opportunity definition and generalization plan remain open, so readiness is 6 of 8, or 75%.

The clinician gathers more observations and rewrites the opportunity rule before the family consents to the plan. The count measures answered questions, not clinical quality or expected outcome.

Set the review conditions

Agree on a start date, initial review date, data displayed to the family, and signals for earlier review. Ask who can change the goal, method, measurement, or schedule. Record what happens if progress, comfort, access, or fit worsens.

Before a new ABA goal starts, the family should receive a plain-language description of purpose, method, evidence, burden, options, and the child's role. Keep unresolved questions attached to the proposal.

Use a goal-readiness checklist

Before teaching begins, confirm the goal statement, daily-life purpose, participant input, baseline dates, opportunity definition, response definition, accessible response forms, ordinary supports, teaching owner, staff training, data display, start date, and review date. Mark each item ready, pending, or needing revision.

Ask the clinician to show how one real example would be scored. Compare an independent response, prompted response, unavailable opportunity, child withdrawal, and environmental failure. Clear scoring helps the family understand later reports.

Ask about alternatives and tradeoffs

Find out what happens if the family chooses another priority, keeps a current support, uses a different communication form, or delays the goal. Ask whether another professional has relevant expertise and how school or home routines affect feasibility.

Discuss time taken from sleep, meals, school, relationships, leisure, and other care. A socially meaningful goal should justify its effort and remain adjustable when the burden exceeds the value.

Review the first observations early

Schedule an early check after enough opportunities occur to review access, understanding, staff implementation, child response, and unintended effects. Ask for counts alongside percentages and keep missing opportunities visible.

If the goal starts differently from the approved plan, pause the mismatch and ask the qualified owner to correct the setup or document a reviewed change.

Questions for final approval

Before agreeing, ask whether every effective communication form is accepted, which familiar supports remain, how adults respond to refusal, what shows usefulness outside sessions, and who reviews concerns between meetings. Record answers with the goal version. If the proposal changes before teaching begins, compare versions and confirm the new review.

Ask who will explain the first data review to the child and family, and save that date with the approved goal.