Goals and Accommodations for Executive Functioning

In this episode, we dive into the often-overlooked art of writing clear, measurable goals for executive functioning. 

Unlike other academic or functional goals, executive functioning focuses on internal processes—making it harder to quantify and observe. 

Whether you're a teacher, therapist, or part of a school team, this episode will give you actionable tools to create meaningful IEP and therapy plan goals that truly support student growth.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

✔️ Why executive functioning is all about the process—and why that’s tricky for traditional SMART goals.

✔️ Examples of goal formats that keep things simple, specific, and actionable.

✔️ How to differentiate between goals that focus on behavior versus those emphasizing strategies.

✔️ A sample list of accommodations to support executive functioning without over-accommodating.

✔️ Tips to ensure students build independence with their accommodations over time.

📝Goals and Accommodations for Executive Functioning Blog post: https://drkarenspeech.com/goals-and-accommodations-for-executive-functioning/

👂EP 178: Are we allowed to say “dyslexia” in the schools (with Tom Parton): https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/ep-178-are-we-allowed-to-say-dyslexia-in-the-schools-with-tom-parton/

🎓 School of Clinical Leadership Program (A comprehensive course for service providers who want to lead their teams in supporting students socially, emotionally, and academically.): https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership

Key Takeaways:

Writing effective executive functioning goals starts with a clear understanding of the behaviors and processes you’re targeting.

The goal format “Given (cue/strategy), student will (behavior) with (accuracy/unit of measurement)” simplifies complex ideas into meaningful goals.

Accommodations should empower students and build skills—not create over-reliance.

We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL. 

IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more:

• Simplify and streamline technology
• Save teachers’ time
• Reliably meet Tier 1 standards
• Improve student performance on state assessments

🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.