IEP Goals for Autism in DC Schools: Communication, Behavior, and Social Skills

IEP goals for students with autism in DC need to address the three core domains that IDEA explicitly recognizes as central to autism: communication, social interaction, and behavioral flexibility. A well-written autism IEP is built from a thorough assessment of the individual student — not from generic autism templates — and the goals should reflect where this child is right now and what meaningful progress over the next twelve months looks like.

These goal examples follow DC's 5-A DCMR requirements: observable behavior, defined conditions, measurable criteria, and a timeframe. Use them to evaluate your child's current IEP, propose revisions, or calibrate what specificity you should be asking for.

Communication Goals

Communication goals for students with autism vary widely based on the student's communication profile. Students who are non-speaking or minimally verbal need AAC-focused goals. Students who are verbal but have pragmatic language challenges need different targets.

AAC and functional communication (for non-speaking or minimally verbal students):

• "By [date], [student] will use their AAC device to make a choice between 2 options across 4 of 5 structured opportunities in 3 different daily settings, as measured by SLP and teacher observation data."
• "By [date], [student] will use their AAC device to request a preferred item or activity across 4 of 5 naturally occurring opportunities per day, without physical prompt, across 3 consecutive weeks."
• "By [date], [student] will protest (say 'no' or use 'stop' on AAC device) when a non-preferred activity is presented, in 4 of 5 opportunities, as an alternative to physical protest behaviors, across 3 consecutive weeks."

Verbal communication and pragmatic language:

• "By [date], [student] will maintain a conversational topic for 3 or more exchanges with a familiar adult, initiating at least 1 topic-relevant comment, across 3 of 4 weekly structured opportunities."
• "By [date], [student] will use a greeting (verbal or AAC) upon entering the classroom with a familiar adult without prompting in 4 of 5 school days per week, across 4 consecutive weeks."
• "By [date], [student] will ask a clarifying question ('What did you mean by...?', 'Can you show me?') when they do not understand a direction, in 4 of 5 opportunities where confusion is observable, across 3 consecutive data collection weeks."

Selective mutism / social communication anxiety:

• "By [date], [student] will verbally respond to a direct question from a familiar adult in a small group of 3 or fewer students in 4 of 5 weekly opportunities, as measured by teacher observation log."

Social Skills Goals

Social goals for students with autism must address specific, observable behaviors — not broad constructs like "social skills" or "peer relationships."

Turn-taking and joint attention:

• "By [date], [student] will participate in a 2-turn exchange of a tabletop activity or conversation with a peer (each person taking at least 2 turns) on 3 of 4 structured peer interaction opportunities per week, across 4 consecutive weeks."
• "By [date], [student] will follow the gaze of a peer or adult to a shared referent (pointing, looking) in 4 of 5 naturally occurring opportunities, as measured by therapist and teacher observation."

Play and shared activity:

• "By [date], [student] will engage in parallel play within 3 feet of a peer without physical intrusion or withdrawal for at least 5 consecutive minutes, across 3 of 4 weekly play sessions."
• "By [date], [student] will invite a peer to play using a verbal phrase or AAC request in 3 of 5 unstructured periods per week, as measured by teacher observation."

Perspective-taking and social inference:

• "By [date], [student] will identify the likely emotional response of a story character given a described scenario (from a set of 4 choices) at 80% accuracy across 4 consecutive social skills instruction sessions."
• "By [date], [student] will describe what a peer 'might be thinking' in a structured role-play scenario, identifying perspective from context at 70% accuracy across 3 of 4 weekly opportunities."

Behavioral Regulation Goals

Self-regulation and de-escalation:

• "By [date], [student] will use an identified self-regulation strategy (visual break card, AAC 'break' request, movement break tool) within 1 minute of recognizing early arousal cues, reducing elopement incidents to 0 per week across 4 consecutive weeks, as measured by incident log and staff observation."
• "By [date], [student] will return to the instructional area within 5 minutes of a sensory break, without physical redirection, across 4 of 5 weekly break opportunities."

Routine and transition:

• "By [date], [student] will transition between 3 or more scheduled activities using a visual schedule with 1 verbal prompt or fewer, across 4 of 5 daily transitions, over 4 consecutive school weeks."
• "By [date], [student] will accept an unexpected change to the daily schedule (introduced with advance notice and visual change card) without escalation to problem behavior, across 3 of 4 weekly scheduled change practices."

Task engagement:

• "By [date], [student] will remain on task during an independent work period of at least 10 minutes, with 1 adult prompt or fewer at the 5-minute mark, across 3 of 4 consecutive daily probes."

Adaptive and Independent Living Goals

For students with autism who have significant support needs, the IEP should include adaptive goals that address functional independence in daily school routines.

• "By [date], [student] will independently complete a 4-step personal hygiene routine (wash hands, dry hands, straighten clothing, check appearance) using a visual checklist, with 1 verbal prompt or fewer, across 4 of 5 daily opportunities."
• "By [date], [student] will independently retrieve needed materials from their backpack, place them on their desk, and store the backpack at the start of the school day, without prompting, across 4 of 5 school days per week, over 4 consecutive weeks."
• "By [date], [student] will order a cafeteria lunch item by pointing to a picture menu or using AAC independently in 4 of 5 weekly lunch opportunities."

Transition Goals for Older Students with Autism in DC

DC's transition planning begins at age 14 under 5-A DCMR. For students with autism, transition goals should be based on age-appropriate transition assessments that account for the student's communication profile, sensory needs, and supported employment or post-school living preferences.

DC has specific resources for students with autism in the transition years:

Project SEARCH sites at the Smithsonian Institution and NIH serve students ages 18–21 with significant disabilities who are in their final years of FAPE eligibility. Project SEARCH uses an immersive internship model focused on competitive integrated employment.

RSA Pre-Employment Transition Services (Pre-ETS) are available to all students with disabilities starting in the last two years of secondary school. For students with autism, pre-ETS job exploration and work-based learning activities can be explicitly incorporated into the IEP as transition services.

DDS (DC Department on Disability Services) adult services coordination should begin before the student exits school — IEP teams are supposed to facilitate this referral as part of the transition plan for students who will need adult supports.

Transition goal example for a student with autism:

• "By [date], [student] will complete 5 community-based vocational exploration sessions across 2 different work settings, demonstrating consistent attendance (present for 90% of scheduled time), task initiation within 3 minutes of direction, and appropriate workplace communication, as documented by job coach observation notes."

Why Autism Goals in DC IEPs Often Fall Short

The most common failure mode for autism IEPs in DC — at both DCPS and charter schools — is that goals are written to be easy to check off rather than to produce meaningful growth. Goals like "will improve communication skills" or "will interact appropriately with peers" cannot be measured, cannot be taught systematically, and cannot be evaluated for progress.

The second most common failure: goals that address one domain while ignoring others. A student with autism who has only academic reading and math goals in their IEP, with no communication or social-behavioral goals, is receiving an IEP that doesn't reflect the full scope of autism's educational impact.

If the goals in your child's IEP cannot be answered with data — either yes or no, with a number attached — ask the team to rewrite them.

The District of Columbia IEP & 504 Blueprint includes a full DC autism IEP goal bank organized by domain and communication level, with DCPS context and guidance on requesting autism-specific services.

For a broader overview of autism IEPs in DC, see our DC IEP for autism guide. For the general IEP goal bank, see our DC IEP goal bank.

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