Setting goals for conversation

Yes, texting is conversation!

During Office Hours this month (Oct 17th @ 2:00 PST 📅⏰ – ​you’re coming, right?​ 👀), the topic will be helping our students collaborate 🤝 in writing goals that support them in being their true selves 🌟. Let’s take a look at what that might look like, remembering that we can write year- or semester-long goals 📆, but we can also write goals that cover a shorter length of time ⏳.

I’ve been combining CPPEV and SocialScales 🛠️ in my work. Texting 📱 is a way lots of teens and young adults have conversations (or by using Discord 🗨️, etc., which is similar). This student and I put a Scale together that allowed them to think about how they used this communication platform. Since they were leaving for college 🎓 after summer, they wanted to spend several months experimenting with being “out there” more. Looked like a great short-term goal to us! ✅

Using CPPEV, we had been working on formulating questions and comments, so this student was feeling pretty confident 💪 going into this goal. We outlined a bit of what they could say, and off they went. The next time I saw them, they reported easy success 🎉 – they ended up having an outing to SF with a friend 🏙️👯‍♂️ that was really fun!! It was great to see this student enjoy their success 🥳 and feel how reaching out resulted in a super good time with a friend. 😊

​CPPEV includes a set of rubrics for goal writing. Meant to be individualized, there’s lots of information there to help you present CLEAR 📊 information – so important when, often, school team members and parents have varying levels of understanding of how rubrics work 🤔. They are in Excel form 🧮, but it’s super easy to cut and paste them into a more “friendly” form.

I often provide info about the students I see to insurance companies, so they continue to cover our sessions. They want to see goals, so here are two examples of what I have sent them:

GOAL #1:

By March 2023, when in a small group setting with peers with whom he shares common interests, X will express curiosity about others by asking questions about their interests or experiences, as measured by scoring at a 3 on the included rubric across 3 sessions.
​GOAL MET ✅​
1️⃣ = With consistent modeling and/or high verbal/visual support, asks questions as appropriate to individual, context, and group
2️⃣ = With multiple verbal and visual supports & prompts (<5x/5min), asks interesting and relevant questions as appropriate to individual, context, and group
3️⃣ = When provided with minimal reminders (<3x/5min), asks relevant & interesting questions as appropriate to individual, context, and group

With some of our students, anxiety 😰 impacts their conversational successes, so we may want to include managing anxiety as a measurable goal:

GOAL #2:

By March 2023, when in a small group setting with peers with whom he shares common interests, X will manage his anxiety by using a Feelings Tracker and Feeling Fixers as needed during conversation while engaged in a small group activity as measured by scoring at a 3 on the attached rubric over 3 sessions.
​GOAL PARTIALLY MET – CONTINUE 🔄​
1️⃣ = Needs consistent/high support to use visual aids and self-regulating strategies to to manage anxiety and stay engaged during a group activity
2️⃣ = With multiple verbal and visual supports & prompts (<5x/5min), is able to manage anxiety and stay engaged during a group activity
3️⃣ = When provided with minimal reminders (<3x/5min), is able to manage anxiety and stay engaged by using visual supports and positive self-talk in small group activities
4️⃣ = Independently able to manage anxiety and stay engaged by using visual supports and positive self-talk in small group activities

Over the years, I have sent many rubric-based goals like these to insurance companies. While at first I was worried they would reject them, I have never had that happen! 🤞 While it took me a while to get used to writing conversation goals in this format, it actually is SO much easier than trying to fit percentages into the concept of conversation (like the dreaded “will start conversations 80% of the time” 🥴).

How do you write goals focusing on conversation? What’s the trickiest part for you?

Hope to see you at Office Hours! 📅 Until then, Happy Falling into Fall 🍂🍁 everyone!