Writing Effective Pediatric Occupational Therapy Goals (With Examples)

As a pediatric occupational therapist, you know that writing effective goals is critical to your success in helping children reach their greatest potential.  

Not only do goals serve as motivation for your patients, their families, and you, but they also provide a clear road map for therapy and help measure progress. They must also demonstrate the medical necessity for insurance reimbursement. 

However, goal writing can be one of the trickiest aspects of the pediatric OT profession. What makes goals effective? How can you ensure they are appropriate and attainable for your patients? 

In this post, we'll discuss a framework that includes the most important components of an effective pediatric occupational therapy goal. We'll also consider some examples and offer tips for creating great goals of your own.  

Whether you're a student, a recent graduate just starting out or a seasoned therapist looking to refine your current goal-writing process, read on for helpful guidance. 

The SMART acronym is the gold standard for personal and professional goal setting, pediatric occupational therapy included. Effective goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. 

Other frameworks for pediatric OT exist beyond the SMART model. These include:  

Although these guidelines incorporate important components, choosing among them can be confusing. That’s why our team of clinicians at Ambiki created a framework that combines and distills these elements to help occupational therapists build high-quality goals for pediatric patients.  

Our framework is applicable to both short-term and long-term goals. Long-term goals should reflect the overall functional outcomes the patient is expected to achieve by the anticipated discharge date. These goals are broken down into short-term goals, or the specific steps/objectives the patient needs to progress toward and achieve a long-term goal. 

We recommend pediatric occupational therapy goals include the following components: Who, Skill, Context, Measurable, Reason, Time Frame, Understandable, Relevant/Realistic, and Achievable. Let’s discuss each of these in more detail.

Who 

Identify the patient or student who is working toward the goal. Effective OT should be patient-oriented, so go beyond simply writing a name and start thinking about what makes this case unique. This will set the stage for writing the other goal components. 

Skill 

This pertains to the “specific” element of a SMART goal. Clearly describe the skill or impairment occupational therapy will address. Avoid being vague. For example, rather than just writing that the patient “will complete visual-spatial activities,” add that these activities will include “puzzles, word searches, and hidden pictures.” 

Context 

Indicate under what conditions or within what context with the goal be measured. What level of assistance or cues will you provide? Also consider what other kind of support the patient can receive. E.g., “with no more than 2 verbal cues.” 

Measurable 

An effective goal includes data you will collect based on your observations. Specify measurements like frequency, how many repetitions, or duration, e.g., “3 minutes.” 

Reason 

Why are you and the patient working on this goal? Relate the exercises, activities, or skills you will perform in occupational therapy to a specific function impacting the patient’s life. E.g., “promote increased participation in age-appropriate activities of daily living.”

Time Frame 

By when is the patient expected to achieve the goal? Consider how much time you have to work with the patient. The time frame should be measurable and specific. For example, avoid vaguely stating “by discharge” and instead specify a deadline or the number of sessions, weeks, or months. 

Understandable 

This component encompasses the entire goal. Ensure that it is legible and free of OT jargon. Ultimately, the target audience is the patient and/or family, so write the goal with them in mind. 

Relevant / Realistic 

Whether the goal is relevant or realistic depends on your clinical judgement. The steps you will take to reach the goal should be unique to your patient, healthy, logical, and consistent with your overall objectives for the patient. Why is achieving this goal meaningful or important to the patient? 

Achievable  

This element also relies on your professional judgement. Is the goal reasonable considering the patient’s specific challenges? Ensure your patient has the time and resources required to achieve the goal. Think about the patient’s cognitive, physical, social, and environmental barriers. 

Now that you have a comprehensive framework to help you build better therapy goals, let’s consider a few examples. We’ll also break down where each component is incorporated. Remember that whether the goals are understandable, relevant/realistic, and achievable depends on your clinical judgment, so these components are not included. 

Example 1: School-based occupational therapy goal for fine motor skills

Lisa will cut out a 4” circle within ¼" of outline in 5/5 trials with no more than 2 verbal cues to improve fine motor skills for academic success over an 8-week period. 

Who: Lisa 

Skill: cut out a 4” circle within ¼" of outline 

Context: with no more than 2 verbal cues 

Measurable: 4” circle, ¼" of outline, 5/5 trials, 2 verbal cues 

Reason: to improve fine motor skills for academic success 

Time Frame: over an 8-week period 


Example 2: Occupational therapy goal for sensory integration

Chris will tolerate brushing his teeth and washing his face independently for at least 5 minutes without negative behaviors in 4/5 trials across a 6-week therapy period to improve personal hygiene and functional independence in daily life. 

Who: Chris 

Skill: tolerate brushing his teeth and washing his face 

Context: independently, without negative behaviors 

Measurable: at least 5 minutes, 4/5 trials 

Reason: to improve personal hygiene and functional independence in daily life 

Time Frame: across a 6-week therapy period 

Example 3: Behavioral pediatric occupational therapy goal

Given 2” blocks and no more than one verbal cue, Tiana will demonstrate increased self-regulation and attention while stacking a tower of 8/8 blocks without a tantrum in 6/6 attempts to improve participation in play and socialization by the end of the school year. 

Who: Tiana 

Skill: demonstrate increased self-regulation and attention while stacking a tower of 8/8 blocks 

Context: Given 2” blocks and no more than one verbal cue 

Measurable: 2” blocks, one verbal cue, 8/8 blocks, 6/6 attempts 

Reason: to improve participation in play and socialization 

Time Frame: by the end of the school year 

Now that you've seen some examples of how our framework can be applied to effective goal setting for pediatric OT, it's time to put this into practice. The following are some tips to help you easily create goals of your own. 

Collaborate and communicate with the patient and family 

Relying on your independent judgment when setting goals for your patient is not enough. Even if you're confident you know just what your patients need and they are successful in meeting the goals you set, the patient or family might not understand the value of your therapeutic interventions or be satisfied with the outcome.  

During the evaluation and throughout therapy, take the time to talk to your patients, their families, or caregivers and get to know them. Keep in mind that parents or caregivers will be involved in carrying out many of the activities you prescribe for your patient at home, so involving them in goal setting is imperative.  

Rather than merely observe, ask them what they can do, what their struggles are, and what they hope to achieve with therapy. Use this information when creating goals so that they are tailored, meaningful, and important to the patient and their family. Once you set goals, make sure you clearly explain (without jargon) your rationale behind them and confirm their approval and understanding. 

Access a pediatric occupational therapy goal bank 

You can avoid reinventing the wheel by browsing through collections of goals written by other OTs. This can help you get inspiration or a feel for how other therapists phrase their goals. You can use these goals as a template for creating your own, and you can modify them as needed. Regardless of where you find your inspiration, remember to individualize each goal so that it meets the specific needs of your patient.  

Ambiki's goal bank includes short- and long-term goals written by other therapists using our unique framework for guidance. You can use filters to search within the occupational therapy discipline and for the type of goal you need. Once you select a goal, you’ll see that the goal components are not only color-coded so you can easily identify them, but you can also conveniently customize your goal using selections and fields on the side of the screen (e.g., patient name, numbers, percentages, etc.)  

Use an OT goal builder 

Lastly, you can easily write a goal from scratch using a goal-building tool. You can select "Create New Goal" in Ambiki's goal bank and access a builder that includes features to help ensure you are incorporating all the components of an effective goal. You can highlight the different color-coded components within your goal as you write it, which will check them off a list so you can make sure you include them all. You can also add fields for variables, (e.g., patient, numbers, percentages) so you can save, re-use, and customize the goal in the future.  

Goal writing can be challenging, but you can make it easier and more effective by following a comprehensive framework, communicating with your patients and their families, and using goal banks and building tools. If you need more help planning and carrying out impactful pediatric occupational therapy sessions, be sure to check out our other tools and features.