Asking about ABA goals and progress

Start with what matters to your child

ABA therapy at Training Wheels ABA is BCBA-led and individualized. Your family’s view belongs in the goal conversation too. These prompts can help you prepare.

• How does your child tell you what they want, and what would help them tell you more?
• Which everyday moments are hardest for your child right now?
• What does your child love, and who do they like being with?
• What would you never want anyone to change about your child?

Ask how each goal would help your child communicate, gain independence, or enjoy daily life. If a goal seems aimed at how your child appears to others, with no clear benefit to your child, ask about that too.

Questions for each goal

1. Why was this goal chosen for my child now?
2. How would this help my child in daily life?
3. What will it look like when my child can do this?
4. Where should it show up: the clinic, home, preschool, or somewhere else?
5. How does my child show whether they are comfortable with this work?
6. What are you measuring, and can you show me in a way I can follow?

Listen for: plain words, examples from your child’s day, and room for your questions.

Ask what progress means for your child

Data can help, so ask what is recorded and how you will see it. A graph still cannot tell you everything. These questions can round out the picture when you talk with your child’s BCBA.

Nobody can promise how a child will progress, and each child moves at their own pace. If something feels slow to you, say so and ask what the team is seeing.

When to ask about revisiting a goal

Ask how often your child’s plan is reviewed, and remember that you can bring up a goal before then. These are reasonable reasons to ask.

• A goal no longer matters in your child’s daily life
• You have seen the skill in several places
• Your child avoids the work or seems upset by it
• The data and what you see at home do not match
• A goal has not changed, and you are unsure what the team is trying next
• Life has shifted, with a move, a new preschool, or a health concern

This guide offers questions, not clinical advice. Your child’s BCBA and pediatrician can speak to your child’s care.

A worksheet for your next review

Before your next meeting, jot down answers for each goal you want to discuss.

1. The goal, in my own words
2. Why it matters, or does not matter, for my child
3. Where I have seen it lately
4. How my child seems during this work
5. What I want to ask
6. What we agreed to do next, and who will do it
7. When we will look at this again