3 Pediatric Dysphagia—Writing Treatment Goals

Question 1

Treatment goals must be ____ and _____!

Answer 1

OBJECTIVE

MEASURABLE

Question 2

Treatment goals MUST CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING (5):

Answer 2

1) Who
2) What
3) Objective Measure (#) (how much & how long)
4) Assistance
5) Observer

Question 3

1) Who is goal for?

Answer 3

• Patient or parent

Question 4

2) What will they do?

Answer 4

• Active goal, task, skill, “….as demonstrated by ______”, etc.

Question 5

3) Objective measure
(#) (how much & how long)

(2)

Answer 5

• How much: frequency, percentage, number of times, amount, etc.
o Ex: 4/5 times, 100% of the time, 10 times per session, consume 2 oz, etc.
AND

• How long: over what period of time, across how many sessions, how many times will they perform task in order to meet goal
o Ex: 6/7 consecutive days, x2 consecutive sessions, within 5 minutes, across 1 session, across 50% of daily feedings, etc.

Question 6

4) Assistance

Answer 6

• Level of independence, how much help will be given to meet goal
o Ex: with stimulation prior to act (specify what stimulation…”lingual stroking, labial tapping,” etc.), independently, after verbal cue, after tactile cue, with assistance (must quantify…can’t say “min or mod assistance”…must specify what that means), with no assistance, etc.

Question 7

5) Observer

Answer 7

• Who will measure?
o Ex: as observed in Tx (which assumes SLP measured), per parent report, per results of home exercise chart, per SLP observation, per MBSS results, per nursing chart records etc.

Question 8

Tips for Goal writing:

4

Answer 8

• **NEVER write a goal for decreased aspiration…NO aspiration is ok, so why would our goal be “will only aspirate 75% of the time per MBSS”?
• Subjective terms NOT to use: “tolerate, improve, like, enjoy, better, stronger, etc” (these are NOT objcetiv…you can’t measure it)
• Each goal should be only measuring ONE skill or Tx objective at a time
• You can write a parent goal, but it should be for them to demonstrate competence and carryover of specific treatment techniques/exercises. All compliance goals should be written for the child.

Ex: “Parent(s) will demonstrate proper positioning of infant (you can be more specific if necessary) for 100% of feedings in Tx with verbal reminders as necessary as observed by SLP” or “Child will complete ___ exercises 1x/day for 5/7 days per parent report via home exercise log.”