IEP Goals for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Students

Generic IEP goals like "student will improve listening skills" or "student will participate in class discussions" tell you nothing about what your child should actually be working on — and give the school no accountability for results. Deaf and hard of hearing students need goals that address the specific access barriers they face in a hearing classroom: auditory skill development, self-advocacy, hearing technology management, language development across modalities, and social communication.

Here's what measurable DHH-specific IEP goals look like across each domain, and how to evaluate whether the goals in your child's IEP are doing their job.

Auditory Skill Development Goals

Auditory skill goals target how well your child detects, discriminates, identifies, and comprehends speech in real classroom conditions — not in a quiet therapy room.

Example goals:

• "Given spoken instructions in a classroom with background noise at typical levels (50–55 dBA), [student] will correctly follow 2-step directions with 80% accuracy across 4 consecutive data collection sessions, using their DM system."
• "During small-group instruction at a distance of 6 feet, [student] will repeat key vocabulary words with 85% accuracy as measured by teacher data collection over a 9-week grading period."
• "[Student] will identify when they have missed spoken information and use a repair strategy (asking for repetition, moving closer, checking with a peer) independently in 4 out of 5 observed opportunities."

The critical detail: goals should specify the listening condition (quiet vs. noise, close vs. distant, with vs. without hearing technology). A goal that doesn't specify conditions lets the school measure in optimal settings and claim progress that doesn't transfer to the real classroom.

Self-Advocacy Goals

Self-advocacy is arguably the most important skill domain for DHH students — and the one most often left out of IEPs entirely. A child who can't tell a substitute teacher how their FM system works, or who sits through an entire assembly understanding nothing because they didn't know they could request captioning, is a child whose IEP is failing them.

Example goals:

• "[Student] will independently explain their hearing loss and communication needs to a new teacher or substitute using a self-prepared introduction card, in 4 out of 5 opportunities across the school year."
• "When experiencing a technology malfunction (dead battery, broken receiver, pairing failure), [student] will independently troubleshoot using a 3-step protocol or alert the designated staff member within 2 minutes, in 90% of observed opportunities."
• "[Student] will request accommodations (repeat, rephrase, written instructions, DM system use) in classroom settings when they have not understood spoken information, in 4 out of 5 observed opportunities, without prompting."

Language Development Goals

Language goals for DHH students must account for the child's primary communication mode — spoken English, ASL, cued speech, or a combination. A child who uses ASL should have language goals measured in ASL, not forced into spoken English metrics. A child using listening and spoken language needs goals that track both receptive and expressive spoken language growth against hearing peers, not against a lowered DHH curve.

Receptive language examples:

• "[Student] will demonstrate comprehension of grade-level academic vocabulary (Tier 2 words) presented in context during content-area instruction, scoring 80% on weekly vocabulary assessments over one semester."
• "Given a 3-minute grade-level narrative passage presented in [student's primary communication mode], [student] will correctly answer 4 out of 5 comprehension questions including inference questions."

Expressive language examples:

• "[Student] will produce complete sentences with correct syntax (subject-verb-object agreement, appropriate use of pronouns) in written and/or signed narrative samples, with 80% syntactic accuracy across 3 consecutive samples."
• "During structured classroom discussions, [student] will contribute at least 2 on-topic comments or questions per session, using [student's primary communication mode], in 4 out of 5 observed sessions."

Speech Therapy Goals

Speech goals are relevant for students using listening and spoken language — not all DHH students. If your child's primary language is ASL, speech therapy goals should reflect the family's communication choices, not the school's default assumption that every deaf child should be working on speech production.

Example goals for students using spoken language:

• "[Student] will produce /s/ and /z/ phonemes in conversational speech with 80% accuracy as measured across 3 consecutive speech therapy sessions."
• "[Student] will self-monitor speech intelligibility and adjust volume, rate, or articulation when a listener signals misunderstanding, in 4 out of 5 observed opportunities."

Social Skills and Communication Goals

DHH students are at elevated risk for social isolation — not because of social skill deficits, but because of communication access barriers. A child who can't hear the lunchroom conversation or follow a fast-moving group discussion isn't struggling with social skills; they're struggling with access. Goals in this domain should target the access barrier, not pathologize the child.

Example goals:

• "During unstructured social times (lunch, recess, group work), [student] will initiate or join peer conversations using [student's communication mode] at least 2 times per day, as documented by teacher/aide observation logs over a 9-week period."
• "[Student] will identify and use at least 3 strategies for managing group conversations (positioning for visual access, using an FM system, asking peers to face them) independently in 4 out of 5 observed group activities."

Technology Management Goals

Every DHH student using hearing aids, cochlear implants, bone-anchored devices, or DM systems needs goals that ensure they can manage their own technology — and that the school has a protocol for when technology fails.

Example goals:

• "[Student] will complete a daily hearing technology listening check (Ling 6 sounds) independently each morning and report results to the designated staff member, with 90% completion rate over a grading period."
• "[Student] will independently pair their personal DM receiver with the classroom transmitter at the start of each class period, achieving successful pairing within 1 minute, in 90% of opportunities."

How to Evaluate Whether Your Child's Goals Are Strong Enough

Run each goal through this checklist:

• Does it specify a measurable behavior (not "improve" or "demonstrate growth")?
• Does it include a criterion (percentage, frequency, or number of trials)?
• Does it name the condition (classroom noise level, distance, with/without technology)?
• Does it specify who measures and how often?
• Does it reflect real classroom conditions, not therapy-room performance?
• Does it address an access barrier your child actually faces?

If a goal fails any of these, request a revision. Under IDEA, you have the right to participate in developing goals and to request changes at any IEP review.

The Deaf & Hard of Hearing IEP & Communication Access Toolkit includes a full IEP Goal Bank with ready-to-use goals across all six domains — auditory skills, self-advocacy, language development, speech, social communication, and technology management — that you can bring to your next IEP meeting.