To my way of thinking, there are two kinds of IEP goals:  remedial ones, and compensatory ones.  They are equally good; it is their purposes that differ.  A good IEP may contain some of both.

Remedial goals

A remedial goal is one which is intended to teach a student a skill which he has missed somewhere along the line.  I think of it as filling in a hole in the foundation of a child’s learning:  without this particular skill, progress in on grade-level standards is not achievable.

It’s important when considering remedial goals to choose ones which are reasonable and which are possible.  

I’ve written before about goals related to learning multiplication facts.  After fifth grade, I don’t think that should be a part of IEPs.   Knowing multiplication facts requires memory skills and sequencing.  Many kids really struggle with this – it may be a developmental thing and they’ll catch up later, or they may never get it.  

If parents really want the child to learn the multiplication tables, they can work on it at home.  Memorizing facts should not be an IEP goal.

Reasonable and possible remedial goals are ones which we believe a child can achieve with support and precise interventions.  

For example, we may discover that a sixth grade student doesn’t know what synonyms and antonyms are, and cannot use them in writing or to make meaning in reading.  This is something that has been taught in prior years, and is essential to progress in reading and writing. 

The student hasn’t “gotten it” in the general ed class,  so obviously a more direct and scaffolded approach is necessary.   Small group instruction or even a quick mini-lesson followed by 5-minute daily practice sessions could do the trick.  

Compensatory goals

Compensatory goals are ones which are designed to help a child perform a grade level standard with the necessary supports.  The goal is related to an academic standard, and it, as well as the benchmarks, specifies the types of supports that will be provided. 

Generally, we like to move from more to less.  

Lots of students have writing goals.  If the grade level standard requires that a child produce multi-paragraph essays (introductory paragraph with thesis statement, transition phrases, body paragraphs each with main idea and 3-5 supporting facts as well as a conclusion, and summary concluding paragraph, etc.) then that is the basic goal.  

Does the child need graphic organizers and visual prompts?  Checklists and rubrics?   A writing buddy?   Word banks and spellcheck?  

A goal might look like this:

“Given a topic, checklist of required assignment components, graphic organizer with word bank and rehearsal, Diana will produce a five-paragraph essay (introductory paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, conclusion) using compound sentences, rich vocabulary and proper spelling/punctuation, on 3 occasions with 80% accuracy as measured by checklist or rubric.”

If the child’s deficits are greater than Diana’s, perhaps the goal will read as follows: 

“Given a topic, checklist of required assignment components, and graphic organizer, Sam will use Dragon Speak or similar software to dictate 3 paragraphs, each with a main idea and 3-5 supporting details, on 3 occasions with 80% accuracy as measured by checklist or rubric.”

How about math?  Well, if Josh doesn’t know his multiplication facts in the fifth grade, he’s still going to have to be able to solve big multiplication problems.   As I said, Josh doesn’t need to learn to memorize.  He needs to learn strategies that will bridge the gap between his inability to memorize and fifth grade math problems.  Take a grade level standard and modify it.  How about one of these?

“Given 5 three-digit multiplication problems, a partial products template and a multiplication chart, Josh will show his work for each step in correctly solving them on 4/5 occasions with 80% accuracy.” 

Here, Josh is using compensatory strategies (multiplication chart and a partial products template) to do the same work as his grade-level peers.

Or

“Given 10 two-digit multiplication problems requiring knowledge of 8s facts and 9s facts, Josh will use compensatory strategies such as using the sum of the digits to write down his 9s facts and repeated addition to correctly solve them on 4/5 occasions with 80% accuracy as measured by student work.” 

If Josh can quickly jot down the 9s multiplication facts by writing 1 through 9 down the side of a page and then writing 1 through 9  up in the next space, he doesn’t need to have the nines memorized.  Similarly, if he can count on his fingers and write down the 8s through addition, he’s good to go!
 
Not every IEP needs both kinds of goals. 

Some kids are so close to grade level that they just need minimal supports in order to do the work that is required in their class.  Remedial goals might not be necessary.   Use your best judgment.

What I can say is that…

Only in IEPs for kids who are so severely disabled that the team decides they cannot access general education curriculum at all should you consider you omitting compensatory goals. 

Yes, a non-verbal child with autism who struggles with sensory issues can do some activity to demonstrate a component of a grade-level science standard.  It might be something simple, like correctly labeling the parts of a plant, or something more complex, such as growing a bean and making a chart of daily measurements.  

In a Special Day Class or a general ed class, our kids with IEPs are supposed to be accessing the gen ed curriculum.  They must have compensatory goals.

         An inordinate number of kids are growing up without learning their multiplication facts.  Some of this is due to the prevalent use of calculators.  Some is due to the fact that there’s been an overall rejection of rote learning – throwing the baby out with the bathwater, in this case, I think.  Some of it is due to low numeracy as a result of math disabilities. 

         Many kids with learning disabilities really struggle with numbers and their values.  And, I think, it also has to do with processing memory and retention of information that isn’t used on a regular basis.

         I think there’s a place for rote learning of math facts in a demanding classroom.   The only way to learn multiplication facts and what happens when you add ten to a number is to recite them over and over in some way or another. 

         The way I use is skip-counting.  Skip-counting can be done starting at any age, and should continue to be done if not daily, then at least several times a week once the kids know the routine.

 I cannot stress enough the importance of visual cuing when it comes to math.  In this case, a giant number line, or individual number lines to 100 for each student are  in order.  You can also use individual multiplication charts or a giant one; the point is that the kids have to have the numbers 1-100 in front of them when they are skip-counting, at least during the first few months.

           A lot of teachers practice skip-counting with their students through 3, 4, and 5 multiplication facts, and then stop.  As a result, many kids know their multiplication facts through five, and can’t go higher.  Don’t let this happen.

         It can be a part of your daily routine to start with 3, and have the kids skip-count to 60.  Move to 4, then 5, and 6.  Once they know those, move to 7 and 8.  Practice them religiously.  I like to point at the numbers on a chart or number line with a pointer or a yardstick at first, but later it becomes a favorite reward for a student to be allowed to stand at the front of the class and cue the numbers. 

         It doesn’t take long for kids to internalize the facts as they continue to skip-count regularly.  But here’s the deal:  You can’t stop here. 

         One mistake I’ve seen over and over again is special educators working on skip-counting with their students and then never extending the skill into actual math problems.  And when I say “actual math problems,” I don’t mean a standard multiplication worksheet.  I mean math problems that require critical thinking.

         There’s no point in rote learning unless the information learned by rote is applied in complex situations.  Skip-counting alone, in a vacuum, has little meaning.  We need our students to be able to use the math facts to solve word problems, to reason through division problems, to figure out the value of x, and to  calculate prices and amounts. 

          So teach the multiplication facts by rote, but then require your students to use them, and use them in a variety of ways.  Only in this way will they truly be learning.

          In a demanding classroom, rote memorization has a place in supporting mastery of facts to be used in deeper-level situations.