If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals, you’re not alone. Knowing what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals can make the difference between writing goals that truly address a student’s needs and writing goals that miss important skill gaps. While it’s tempting to jump right into drafting annual goals, the strongest IEPs begin with meaningful assessment data. Before writing a single objective, you need a clear understanding of what the student can already do, where they need support, and which skills will have the greatest impact on their success.
So, what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals? While every student is unique, there are six key areas that special education teams should consider before developing annual goals.
What Skills Should You Assess Before Writing IEP Goals?
When deciding what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals, it’s important to look beyond academics.
A comprehensive assessment should examine the student’s communication, adaptive behavior, social functioning, independence, and behavior in addition to traditional academic skills.
Assessing multiple domains helps ensure that IEP goals address the student’s most meaningful needs, not just the easiest skills to measure.
1. Adaptive Behavior
When considering what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals, adaptive behavior is often one of the most overlooked areas. Adaptive behavior refers to the everyday skills students need to function independently throughout the school day.
Depending on the student’s age and needs, you might assess skills such as:
- Following classroom routines
- Organizing materials
- Transitioning between activities
- Beginning work independently
- Cleaning up after activities
- Managing personal belongings
For example, a student may read on grade level but still require frequent prompts to unpack their backpack, gather materials, and begin morning work. Those executive functioning and independence skills may have a much greater impact on classroom success than another academic goal.
2. Functional Communication
Another important area to consider when deciding what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals is functional communication. Communication involves much more than expressive language.
Ask yourself:
- Can the student appropriately request help?
- Do they request breaks before becoming frustrated?
- Can they express wants and needs?
- Do they answer questions appropriately?
- Can they follow one- and two-step directions?
- Do they initiate communication with peers?
For many students, improving communication also reduces challenging behavior because they’re learning more effective ways to have their needs met. For example, a student who learns to appropriately request a break may no longer need to engage in task refusal or aggression to escape difficult work. Similarly, teaching a student to ask for help can reduce frustration and increase independence during academic tasks.
3. Academic Skills
Although many teams immediately think about traditional reading and math goals when asking what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals, academics are only one piece of the puzzle.
You should absolutely assess academic skills, but always through the lens of what is most meaningful and functional for that individual student. For some students, that may mean closing gaps in grade-level reading comprehension or mastering multiplication facts. For others, the more meaningful skill may be learning to identify the value of bills in a wallet, read a restaurant menu, or complete a job application.
The goal isn’t to check off another academic standard. It’s to identify the skills that will make the biggest difference in the student’s everyday life, both now and in the future.
4. Behavior
Behavior is another critical area to evaluate when determining what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals, especially if challenging behavior interferes with learning. Instead of writing goals around broad concepts like “behaves appropriately,” assess observable skills such as:
- Staying on task
- Following directions
- Remaining in the assigned area
- Transitioning independently
- Raising a hand before speaking
- Requesting a break appropriately
- Using coping strategies when frustrated
If problem behavior is significantly impacting learning, collecting behavior data and completing a Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA), when appropriate, can provide valuable information before developing behavior goals.
5. Daily Living Skills
Daily living skills are essential for many students, particularly those with autism or other disabilities.
Examples include:
- Handwashing
- Dressing
- Feeding
- Bathroom routines
- Food preparation
- Cleaning up
- Personal organization
- Safety awareness
Although these skills may not appear on standardized academic assessments, they often have the greatest impact on long-term independence.
6. Social Skills
Social skills are another area that deserves careful assessment before writing IEP goals. Consider evaluating whether the student can:
- Take turns
- Share materials
- Wait appropriately
- Initiate conversations
- Respond to peers
- Participate in cooperative activities
Strong social skills support participation across every school setting, from cooperative learning groups to recess and community instruction.
Don’t Forget Baseline Data
Once you’ve determined what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals, be sure to collect baseline data before writing the goal itself. Without baseline data, it’s difficult to know:
- Whether the goal can be realistically achieved within one year
- How much progress the student has made
- Which instructional strategies are effective
- When interventions should be adjusted
Baseline data also helps ensure that progress monitoring throughout the year is meaningful and objective.
Final Thoughts
If you’re still asking yourself what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals, remember that the answer will look different for every student. The goal isn’t to assess everything; rather it is to gather meaningful information that helps you identify priorities, develop accurate present levels, and write individualized, measurable goals that will have the greatest impact on student success.
The strongest IEP goals are built on strong assessment data. When you take the time to evaluate multiple areas of functioning (not just academics) you’ll create goals that better reflect your individual students and provide you with a clearer roadmap for instruction throughout the school year.
Simplify the Assessment Process
If you’ve been thinking about what skills should you assess before writing IEP goals, having the right assessment tools can make the process much easier.
My Functional Skills Assessment Bundle was designed specifically for special education teachers, BCBAs, ABA therapists, and related service providers who want a comprehensive, organized way to evaluate student skills before writing IEP goals. The bundle includes assessments across the exact domains discussed in this post, including adaptive behavior, functional communication, ABA classroom skills, academic skills, functional life skills, and pre-vocational skills. It also includes pre-written IEP goals, making it easy to move from assessment to present levels to individualized goal writing.
Whether you need a single assessment for one area or a comprehensive bundle to evaluate multiple domains, these resources help streamline the assessment process while ensuring your IEP goals are based on meaningful, objective data, not guesswork!
