Author Anika Hoybjerg discusses the importance of selecting meaningful goals.

By Anika Hoybjerg, PhD, EdS, BCBA-D, LBA and Casey Barron, BCBA, LBA

 As professionals in applied behavior analysis and related fields, it is our greatest privilege to work with those in our care. We have a responsibility to use our time, resources, knowledge, and skills to provide the most meaningful outcomes possible for our clients. Oftentimes, decisions about care are made solely by professionals based on an individual’s diagnosis, assessments, and characteristics of behavior. However, while the professionals in these fields have expertise regarding behavior, they are not the ones who are impacted by the treatment they provide day to day or over the years. In the article “I Can Identify Saturn But I Can’t Brush My Teeth,” Ayres and colleagues (2011) discussed the importance of clinicians selecting meaningful goals that have a significant influence on their client’s independence and quality of life.

Assessments are tools that can help guide and shape what skills are worked on during treatment, but they should not be used to mold individuals to fit the criteria of all the skills listed within it. Assessments are not just about mastering goals; it is about using a tool to develop and implement a plan to help individuals lead a satisfying life with steady improvements over time. Professionals should strive to truly know their clients, their strengths, and the areas of need that will help support their growth. Goals addressed during treatment are selected because they are necessary, important, functional, and lead to meaningful outcomes for the individual and their family.  Attempting to determine what skills are most important and will have the greatest impact can be a difficult task. Areas of importance can be done by interviewing and involving clients and stakeholders, collaborating with other professionals, building on an individual’s strengths and interests, building on skills that will lead to increased quality of life or independence, and giving the individual access to more opportunities that are enjoyable and preferred.

Author Casey Barron shares an example of how selecting more meaningful goals increases client buy-in

As mentioned above, one method for selecting meaningful goals may include interviewing and collaborating with the client you are working with (when appropriate), interviewing parents and caregivers, and collaborating with other professionals who work with the client. The Levels of Optimum Performance (LOOP) interviews are structured interviews that can be used to interview each of these stakeholders. The LOOP has questions related to the 20 domains of The Meaningful Outcomes Treatment and Assessment Scales (MOTAS), and provides a scale for the interviewee to rank how important it is to work on each domain. The information and scores from these interviews can be utilized to select treatment domains, allowing a professional to assess further in these domains and determine which skills are needed to help the individual achieve this goal.

Another important consideration when selecting meaningful goals is to take into account your learner’s current strengths, interests, and goals. This can be applied across a variety of teaching domains. For example, if you are teaching an individual to label animals and they love looking at books with mythical creatures, include labeling dragons, unicorns, and trolls into their program. This gives the individual a way to label things they are interested in and may give them ways to communicate and connect with others. There is time to work on building other common language skills, however focusing on what is important to the client should also be a priority.

Additionally, skills that allow for an individual to gain independence is a highly important component of providing treatment. Determining what independence looks like for an individual is going to be highly individualized and may change over time. For individuals who may be living with family members into adulthood, making their own meals, dressing themselves, participating in community activities, and engaging in interactions with family members may be some of the most important domains to work on. In contrast, individuals who may leave the home and live with roommates and have a job may work on skills related to gaining employment, time management, and perspective-taking skills. Independence may look different for each person, but by collaborating with clients, families, and professionals, setting high expectations, teaching in compassionate ways, problem-solving, and continuing to push the client to grow, we can aid these individuals in becoming more self-reliant.

Finally, it is important to consider goals that are going to give individuals opportunities to access activities, interactions, and people that they enjoy. Teaching communication, social skills, leisure activities, and community skills should not be taught only for them to accompany others on their errands or activities, but they should also be taught so the individual can participate in their preferred hobbies, spend time with others they care about in a variety of settings, and participate in other desired activities.

Additional Reading

See our recent blog, Introducing the Meaningful Outcomes Treatment and Assessment Scale

About the Authors

Anika Hoybjerg, PhD, EdS, BCBA-D, LBA
Dr. Hoybjerg is the CEO, founder, and owner of Autism & Behavioral Intervention (ABI) (a clinic-based ABA center in Draper, UT), ABA Education Center, and Integrity Billing. In addition to founding and leading these companies, Anika has worked in public schools and in private sectors with children and families for over 20 years. Anika is a Doctoral level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D) and a Licensed School Psychologist. Anika has a Bachelor’s degree in Human Development, a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction with an Emphasis in Autism, a Master’s degree in Human Exceptionality, an Ed.S in School Psychology, and a Ph.D. in Applied Behavior Analysis. Anika is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Neuroscience and Trauma. Anika has presented at regional, national, and international conferences on a variety of topics relating to kindness in ABA services, autism, collaboration, and assessments.

Casey Barron, BCBA, LBA
Casey is a practicing Board Certified Behavior Analyst in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has been working in ABA since early 2015, spending several years first working as an RBT then as a BCBA in academic, home, and clinical settings. In addition to her work as a practicing BCBA, Casey works as the clinical director of an ABA center that has supported hundreds of children and where she oversees and trains staff members and future BCBAs. Since becoming a BCBA, Casey has presented at regional and international conferences on case studies from her own clinical practice.

The post Using the MOTAS and LOOP: Selecting Meaningful Goals appeared first on Different Roads to Learning Blog.