For Canadian practices outside Quebec
Speech therapy goals for kids: a pediatric goal bank by area and age
Speech therapy goals are easiest to use when each one says who does what, in which situation, how success is counted and when the clinician will look again. This pediatric goal bank gives original example goals for articulation, language, social communication, fluency, voice and AAC across four age bands, plus a pattern for writing your own. The goals are wording examples, not norms, test items or clinical advice.
Example goals only. They are not clinical advice and not a standard of care. A qualified clinician chooses and reviews every goal for the individual child, with the family.
Last updated: 2026-10-08
How to write a measurable speech therapy goal
A usable speech therapy goal has six parts: the child, the observable behaviour, the situation, the success measure, the level of support and the review date. When all six are written down, the goal is easy to count in a session and easy to explain to a family. The table splits one fictional goal into those parts.
Two habits keep goals useful. First, link every goal to a baseline the clinician recorded, so the target means something. Second, keep the family’s priorities in view: asking for a snack at the table may matter more to a family than a tidy sound chart, and both can sit in the same plan.
| Part | What it answers | Fictional example fragment |
|---|---|---|
| Child and behaviour | What will the child say or do that someone can hear or see? | The child will combine two words to request a snack or a toy |
| Situation | Where, and with whom? | during a play routine with a caregiver and the clinician |
| Measure | How will success be counted? | in at least 8 of 10 recorded opportunities across 3 sessions |
| Support level | What help is allowed? | after no more than a gestural cue |
| Review date | When will the clinician look again? | at the plan review in 12 weeks |
The details are invented to show wording structure. They are not a recommended target for any child.
Articulation and speech sound goals by age band
The age bands describe the situations in which goals are usually written: play and naming for toddlers, cards and short games for preschoolers, reading and conversation for school-age children and teens. They are not developmental norms. Which sounds to target, and in what order, comes from the clinician’s assessment of the individual child.
Replace each bracketed placeholder with the sound or number chosen after assessment. Many clinicians write one long-term goal for a sound and a few short-term goals for word positions or levels, as the second and third preschool rows show.
| Age band | Where it is practised | Example goal wording | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 2 to 3 years | Play, songs and picture books with a caregiver | The child will say early consonant-vowel words such as “ba”, “mo” and “up” during play, on their own or after a model, in at least 6 of 10 opportunities across 3 sessions. | Tally of attempts out of recorded opportunities |
| About 2 to 3 years | A 10-minute play sample | The child will use at least [number] different consonants at the start of words, up from [baseline number] at assessment. | Count from a short recorded sample |
| About 4 to 5 years | Picture cards and short games | The child will say [target sound] at the start of single words with 80% accuracy across 3 consecutive sessions, after no more than one spoken model. | Percent accurate per session, with cue level noted |
| About 4 to 5 years | Games with a carrier phrase such as “I see a ___” | The child will say [target sound] in the middle and at the end of words inside the carrier phrase with 80% accuracy across 2 sessions without a model. | Percent accurate; cue level |
| About 4 to 5 years | Sound-contrast and minimal-pair play | The child will use back sounds such as /k/ and /g/ instead of /t/ and /d/ (for example “key” instead of “tea”) in 8 of 10 picture-card words with no more than a gestural cue. | Correct contrasts out of trials |
| About 4 to 5 years | Everyday requests | Unfamiliar listeners will understand the child’s three-word requests in 8 of 10 role-play attempts. | Listener tally; who listened is recorded |
| About 6 to 8 years | Reading aloud and structured sentences | The child will say [target sound] in sentences of five or more words with 85% accuracy across 3 sessions, noticing and fixing their own errors after a prompt such as a picture reminder. | Percent accurate; self-corrections counted |
| About 6 to 8 years | A short conversation with a familiar adult | The child will say [target sound] correctly in 90% of the words that contain it during a 3-minute conversation. | Clinician tally plus the child’s own check |
| About 9 to 14 years | Conversation and class talk | The student will use the correct [target sound] in at least 90% of attempts during a 5-minute conversation and will describe the strategy they used. | Tally; student self-rating |
| About 9 to 14 years | Class presentations and reading | The student will notice and repair their own [target sound] errors in a 5-minute reading or talking task, repairing at least 4 of every 5 errors they notice. | Self-repairs out of noticed errors |
Wording examples only. The sounds, accuracy levels and cue types for a real child come from the clinician’s assessment.
Language goals: understanding and using words and sentences
Language goals cover what a child understands (receptive language) and what a child says or signs (expressive language). A child may work on both in the same activity, so the examples name the activity and the support. Where a child communicates with signs, pictures or a device, read “say” as “communicate”.
| Age band | Area | Example goal wording | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 2 to 3 years | Understanding | The child will follow one-step directions about familiar objects (“give me the ball”) in 8 of 10 opportunities, with a gesture allowed. | Trials correct; gesture noted |
| About 2 to 3 years | Using words | The child will use at least [number] different words in play, as tallied from a caregiver word list and clinic observation, by the plan review. | Word list tally |
| About 2 to 3 years | Combining words | The child will combine two words (“more juice”, “go car”) to request or comment in 6 of 10 recorded opportunities, after no more than a gestural cue. | Opportunities with a two-word combination |
| About 4 to 5 years | Understanding | The child will follow two-step directions that include a position word (“put the cup under the table, then clap”) in 8 of 10 trials without repetition. | Trials correct without repetition |
| About 4 to 5 years | Sentences | The child will use regular past-tense verbs (“jumped”, “opened”) when telling about a picture sequence, in 8 of 10 targeted sentences after no more than a model. | Correct targeted sentences |
| About 4 to 5 years | Questions | The child will answer “who”, “what” and “where” questions about a short story read aloud with 80% accuracy across 3 sessions. | Percent accurate per session |
| About 6 to 8 years | Storytelling | The child will retell a short story with a beginning, a problem and an ending, including at least [number] of the main events, in 3 of 4 retells, using a picture organizer. | Story elements counted from the retell |
| About 6 to 8 years | Vocabulary | The child will explain a taught word by naming its category and one feature (“a hammer is a tool; you use it to hit nails”) for 8 of 10 words. | Words explained out of words taught |
| About 9 to 14 years | Following directions | The student will ask a clarifying question or ask for repetition when classroom directions are unclear, in 4 of 5 recorded classroom or role-play moments. | Moments out of opportunities |
| About 9 to 14 years | Explaining | The student will explain a routine task in five or more sentences using sequence words (first, next, then, last), with every step in order, in 3 of 4 tries. | Steps in order; sequence words used |
Social communication and pragmatic language goals
Social communication goals describe real situations that matter to the child and family. Children on the autism spectrum often work on them, and so do many children without a diagnosis. Write them around participation and the child’s own way of communicating. Avoid goals that only ask a child to look or act a certain way in order to seem less different; a clinician and family decide what is a useful target.
| Age band | Skill | Example goal wording | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|
| About 2 to 3 years | Shared attention | The child will share attention with a partner by pointing, showing or giving an object in 5 of 10 recorded play opportunities. | Opportunities with a shared-attention act |
| About 2 to 3 years | Requesting | The child will request an item or action using a word, sign, picture or device, in whichever way the family and clinician agree, in 8 of 10 opportunities when the item is in sight but out of reach. | Requests out of set-up opportunities |
| About 4 to 5 years | Turn-taking | The child will take three turns on a shared topic with a peer or adult during play, in 4 of 5 recorded interactions. | Interactions with three turns |
| About 4 to 5 years | Asking for help or saying stop | The child will ask for help or say “stop” with a word, sign or picture, rather than leaving the activity, in 8 of 10 moments when help or a stop is needed. | Moments out of opportunities |
| About 6 to 8 years | Keeping a conversation going | The child will add a related comment or question in at least 3 turns of a 5-minute conversation with a familiar peer. | Related turns counted by the clinician |
| About 6 to 8 years | Understanding feelings in stories | The child will use feeling words to explain why a character acted (“he was nervous”) in 4 of 5 story discussions. | Discussions with a feeling-based explanation |
| About 9 to 14 years | Repairing a misunderstanding | The student will notice a communication breakdown and repair it (“I meant …”) in 4 of 5 breakdowns during a small-group activity. | Repairs out of breakdowns noticed |
| About 9 to 14 years | Self-advocacy | The student will tell a teacher or coach what they need, such as a break, a quieter space or repeated directions, using agreed words or a card, on 4 of 5 recorded school or program days. | Days with a self-advocacy message |
Examples only. Goals about peer interaction should reflect what the child wants, not only what adults expect.
Fluency, voice and AAC goals
Goals in these areas depend heavily on the individual child, so this section shows patterns rather than a ladder by age. Fluency (stuttering) goals often focus on the child’s comfort, participation and chosen strategies, as well as, or instead of, counts of disfluencies. Clinicians generally coordinate voice goals with the child’s medical team. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) goals centre on how many situations, partners and messages the child can use.
| Area | Example goal wording | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|
| Fluency (stuttering) | The child will describe in their own words what happens when a word gets stuck and choose one strategy to try, then report how it went after 3 of 5 practice conversations. | Child self-report after practice |
| Fluency (stuttering) | The child will take part in a 5-minute conversation or a class share without avoiding words or situations, as reported by the child, family and teacher on a short weekly rating. | Weekly rating by named raters |
| Voice | The child will follow the vocal habits agreed with the team, such as drinking water before practice and resting the voice after loud play, on at least 5 of 7 days. | Home checklist |
| AAC | The child will use their device or picture system to make requests, comments and questions in at least three daily routines, with the number of different messages per routine tracked each week. | Weekly tally of messages per routine |
| AAC | Communication partners (parent, teacher, sibling) will model [number] new words on the child’s device during a daily routine and note it on a simple log. | Partner log reviewed at each session |
Mealtime and feeding goals sit with the occupational therapy and speech teams; see the pediatric occupational therapy goal bank for feeding and self-care wording.
Caregiver coaching and home carryover goals
Many pediatric plans include goals for the adults around the child, because most communication happens outside the clinic. Write them like any other goal: name the person, the behaviour, the situation, the measure and the review date.
- The caregiver will wait several seconds and then add one word to what the child says during a daily routine, shown in a coaching session by the plan review.
- The caregiver will practise the target for five minutes on four days a week and note it on a home log that the clinician reviews every two weeks.
- The caregiver will use the agreed response, a model rather than a correction, when the child says the target word differently, in 8 of 10 observed opportunities.
- The school team will keep the child’s communication board in reach during morning circle and snack, as confirmed at the term meeting.
- The family will name the three situations where being understood matters most to them, and the clinician will re-rate those situations at each review.
Turn a goal into data: baseline, measure and review date
A goal is only as useful as the data behind it. Record a baseline before the first session on the goal, choose one measure, and write down the cue level every time. Different cue levels make sessions hard to compare, so the count and the support belong together.
| Measure | Used for | How to record it | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trials correct out of opportunities | Articulation, vocabulary, following directions | Tally correct and total attempts for each session, with the cue level | Changing the number of trials from session to session |
| Percent across consecutive sessions | Mastery criteria | Percent per session; mastery after the same level in an agreed number of sessions | One strong session can be chance |
| Cue level | Any goal with prompting | Record the least support that worked: independent, gestural cue, spoken model or direct teaching | Mixing cue levels in one count |
| Language sample tally | Sentence length, past tense, storytelling | A short recorded sample counted by the clinician | Sample size and activity change the result |
| Caregiver or teacher rating | Intelligibility, participation, comfort with speaking | A short rating on the same scale at each review | A rating reflects the rater’s view, so record who rated |
Keep goals, session data and reviews together
A goal bank is a starting point. The goal still has to sit in a plan, be measured in sessions and be reviewed. TherapyCRM has a goal library where a practice saves its own goal presets with their data collection sheets, so the same wording can be dropped into a treatment plan. Plans carry a version and a review date, and clinical notes go through clinician review before publication. The goals on this page are not built into the software; copy only the wording the clinician has chosen.
TherapyCRM serves English-language practices in Canada outside Quebec. It is practice management software with a clinical record, not a physician EMR, and has no EMR certification. It has no telehealth or video visits and does not submit insurance or government claims, including Ontario Autism Program claims.
Frequently asked questions
What are good speech therapy goals for kids?
A good goal names the child, an observable behaviour, the situation, a success measure, the level of support and a review date. It also reflects what matters to the family. The examples on this page show that wording across articulation, language, social communication, fluency, voice and AAC.
How do I write a SMART speech therapy goal?
Make it specific (one behaviour in one situation), measurable (a count or percent), achievable for the child, relevant to the family’s priorities and time-bound (a review date). The six-part table at the top of this page lays out each piece with a fictional example.
How many speech therapy goals should a child have?
There is no fixed number. A clinician chooses based on the child’s needs, session time and the family’s priorities. Many plans keep to a small set so each goal gets enough practice, and the plan is reviewed on a set date.
Are these speech therapy goals for autism?
They are written for pediatric speech therapy in general. The social communication and AAC examples are often relevant to children on the autism spectrum, but a clinician and family choose goals for the individual child and should avoid targets that only ask a child to act less differently.
What does 80% accuracy over three sessions mean?
It is a mastery rule: the child reaches 80% correct in three sessions in a row, at the same support level. The rule is a clinician’s choice. A different percent or number of sessions can be written into the goal.
Are these goals based on a test or on norms?
No. They are original wording examples and contain no licensed test items, scores or norms. Which targets suit a child comes from the clinician’s assessment of that child.
Can I copy these goals into a treatment plan?
You may adapt the wording after a qualified clinician has chosen a goal for a real child. Replace the placeholders, add the baseline, and set the measure and review date. The examples are not a clinical recommendation.
Does TherapyCRM include this speech therapy goal bank?
No. TherapyCRM has a goal library where a practice saves its own goal presets with their data collection sheets, and plans carry a version and a review date. This page is general guidance, not a feature of the software.