Autism Communication IEP Goals: AAC, Social Skills, and Pragmatic Language

Communication is the domain where the gap between "what schools typically offer" and "what autistic students actually need" is widest. For non-speaking students, this gap can be life-altering: when a student can't communicate their needs, every meltdown, every refusal, every moment of apparent non-compliance is communication that isn't being heard. For verbally fluent students, the gap is subtler — pragmatic language and social communication differences are often dismissed as personality quirks rather than recognized as disability-related needs that belong in an IEP.

This goal bank covers three areas: AAC and core communication for non-speaking and minimally speaking students, pragmatic language for students with reliable speech, and social skills goals that are affirming rather than compliance-focused.

Starting Point: The Presumption of Competence

Before getting to specific goals, one principle needs to be stated clearly: the absence of speech is not evidence of the absence of understanding or intelligence.

Many school evaluations conclude that a non-speaking student has a cognitive disability based partly or entirely on their inability to produce verbal responses during a standardized assessment. This is a measurement error. Verbally loaded intelligence tests — including commonly used tools like the WISC-V — systematically underestimate the cognitive ability of students who don't use speech as a primary output modality. Language-free alternatives like the Leiter International Performance Scale-3 (Leiter-3) are designed to assess cognitive ability without requiring verbal responses.

The presumption of competence means the IEP team starts from the assumption that the student is capable of understanding, learning, and communicating complex information — and that the team's job is to find and support the right communication method, not to write goals based on an assumption of cognitive limitation.

AAC Goals for Non-Speaking and Minimally Speaking Students

AAC (Augmentative and Alternative Communication) encompasses all communication methods beyond natural speech — high-tech devices, PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), sign language, letter boards, and more. IEP goals for AAC users should focus on expanding communicative functions and increasing independence in initiating communication across environments.

Requesting (Level 3 support needs, early elementary):

• Given an array of highly preferred items, will use their AAC device or PECS to independently initiate a request, requiring no more than one visual prompt from staff, in 4 out of 5 opportunities daily across 3 different environments over an 8-week period.
• Given a novel item or activity in the classroom, will independently use their AAC system to express interest or request access using at least a 2-symbol combination, in 3 out of 5 structured opportunities per day.

Protesting and refusing (critically important — often omitted):

• Given an unwanted activity or sensory input, will communicate refusal using their AAC device or a gestural signal (pushing away, handing back, selecting the "no" symbol) without resorting to physical escalation, in 8 out of 10 occurrences across 4 weeks.

Note: Goals for protesting and refusing are among the most important AAC goals and among the most frequently skipped. When a student cannot communicate "no," escalation becomes the only available option. This is a safety issue as much as a communication goal.

Expanding utterance length (Level 2–3, elementary):

• Given structured opportunities during snack or play, will produce a 3-symbol AAC combination (agent + action + object or descriptor) in 3 out of 5 trials daily, across 6 consecutive weeks.

Generalization across environments:

• Will independently use their AAC device to communicate in at least 3 different school environments (classroom, cafeteria, and one elective or specials class) with the same communicative competence demonstrated in the resource room, across 4 consecutive weeks.

Pragmatic Language Goals for Verbally Fluent Students

Pragmatic language refers to the social rules governing communication: how and when to start a conversation, how to interpret figurative language, how to read tone and context, how to know when it's your turn to speak. Many Level 1 autistic students are verbally fluent but struggle with pragmatic language — and this is an educational need that belongs in an IEP even when vocabulary and grammar are above grade level.

Conversational repair:

• When a communication breakdown occurs (a peer doesn't understand their message), will independently attempt at least one repair strategy (rephrasing, demonstrating, drawing, or using a different modality) in 4 out of 5 observed situations over a 9-week period.

Interpreting nonliteral language:

• Given an idiom, sarcastic comment, or indirect request from a peer or teacher, will correctly identify the intended meaning in a structured discussion setting with 75% accuracy across 4 weeks of instruction and naturalistic observation.

Turn-taking and topic maintenance:

• During small-group discussion, will contribute relevant on-topic comments and wait for a natural pause before speaking, demonstrating awareness of conversational turn structure in 7 out of 10 group interactions across 3 different subjects or settings.

Asking for clarification:

• When given an ambiguous or multi-step direction, will independently ask a clarifying question before beginning the task in 4 out of 5 observed opportunities, across all general education classrooms over a 6-week period.

Social Communication Goals That Don't Enforce Masking

Social skills goals are the most contested area in autism IEP writing. Traditional goals frequently target behaviors that look socially appropriate to neurotypical observers — eye contact, scripted greetings, sitting correctly — rather than genuine communicative competence.

The PEERS program (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills), developed by Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson at UCLA, is one of the most rigorously validated social skills interventions for autistic adolescents. Its goals focus on ecologically valid skills: joining conversations, handling teasing, maintaining friendships, and recovering from social errors. Research published on the PEERS program shows significant and maintained improvements in social functioning without requiring students to mask or perform neurotypicality.

Peer interaction (elementary):

• During facilitated group activities, will initiate at least one communicative act per session (verbal, gestural, or via AAC) toward a peer without adult prompting, in 3 out of 4 sessions weekly, over a 10-week period.
• Given a conflict with a peer during unstructured time, will independently identify and communicate their discomfort to a trusted adult using a preferred method in 4 out of 5 observed situations across 6 weeks.

Social problem-solving (middle school):

• Given a social scenario involving teasing or exclusion, will identify the behavior as unwanted, articulate why it is unwanted in 2–3 sentences, and select one of three rehearsed response strategies with 80% accuracy across structured role-play and two naturalistic observations per month over a 6-week period.

Self-identification of social needs (high school):

• Will independently identify and communicate their social stamina limits (e.g., "I need to step out for a few minutes," "I'm at capacity for group work today") to a trusted adult or peer using a preferred method in 4 out of 5 situations, across three different school settings, over a 9-week period.

International Note

In the UK, speech and language therapy (SALT) goals within an EHCP follow the same functional communication principles, though the terminology differs. In Australia, AAC is funded through NDIS plans where applicable, but school-based implementation requires explicit documentation in the individual learning plan or equivalent. In Canada, assistive technology including AAC devices must be funded by the school board when identified as a necessary educational support — not shifted to the family. Knowing your jurisdiction's funding obligations is critical when advocating for AAC equipment.

The Autism IEP & Accommodation Toolkit includes a communication goal bank organized by AAC level and support needs, along with a script for requesting an AAC evaluation when the school claims speech therapy isn't needed.