Learning Plan Goals for ADHD and Autism in Tasmania: What Good Looks Like

Most Tasmanian Learning Plans fail at the goal-writing stage. Not because the school doesn't care, but because vague goals are easier to write, harder to dispute, and create no accountability for anyone. You can recognise a weak goal immediately: it contains the words "improve," "develop," or "increase" without specifying by how much, by when, or how it will be measured.

Here is what a strong goal looks like — and how to push for one at your next SSG meeting.

The SMART Framework in DECYP Learning Plans

The DECYP Learning Plan Procedure mandates that all goals be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. In practice, the majority of plans that parents see fall short on Measurable and Time-bound — the two criteria that actually create accountability.

The test: could a relief teacher, walking in on day one with no prior knowledge of this student, implement this goal and know whether progress is being made? If the answer is no, the goal needs to be rewritten.

A poor goal: "Student will improve focus and task completion."

A SMART goal: "By the end of Term 2, with access to chunked task cards and a visual timer, the student will complete a three-step written task within the allotted period independently on 4 out of 5 consecutive assessment occasions."

The difference is not cosmetic. The first goal can never be failed. The second creates a specific, measurable outcome the school is committing to work toward.

ADHD: What Learning Plan Goals Should Cover

For students with ADHD, the Learning Plan should address three distinct domains: attention regulation, executive functioning, and assessment conditions.

Attention and Task Completion Goals

The goal should name the specific task type, the support provided, the success criterion, and the timeframe.

Example: "By the end of Term 3, using a visual task sequence card and a set timer, the student will independently initiate and complete a 20-minute sustained writing task with no more than two redirections, measured across 4 consecutive teacher-observed sessions."

Executive Functioning Goals

Working memory deficits are common in ADHD and directly affect the student's ability to hold and apply multi-step instructions.

Example: "By mid-year, when given written step-by-step instructions (maximum 3 steps per page), the student will follow procedural instructions without requiring verbal repetition, as measured by teacher observation logs on 4 out of 5 occasions."

Organisation Goals

Example: "By the end of Term 1, using a personalised colour-coded timetable and weekly homework planner, the student will arrive to each class with the correct materials on 80% of school days, as recorded by the classroom teacher."

Assessment Accommodations

These are adjustments, not goals, but they must be explicitly stated in the Learning Plan:

• Extended time on all formal assessments (typically 25% additional time)
• Access to a separate, low-distraction room for assessments
• Permitted movement breaks during assessments (duration and frequency specified)
• Option to dictate answers rather than write, where writing mechanics are not the assessment target

Autism: What Learning Plan Goals Should Cover

For autistic students, the Learning Plan should address social communication, sensory regulation, transition management, and curriculum access.

Social Communication Goals

Be careful with goals in this domain — the aim is not to force compliance with neurotypical social norms, but to build functional communication capacity. Goals should be student-led and meaningful.

Example: "By the end of Term 2, when feeling overwhelmed in a group situation, the student will use their designated 'break card' to request a five-minute break from the group without adult prompting, on 4 out of 5 occasions per week as recorded by the support teacher."

Sensory Regulation Goals

Example: "By mid-Term 1, with access to the designated sensory break-out space and a visual timer, the student will independently initiate a regulation break when identified as dysregulated (using their personal body-signal checklist) before becoming physically aggressive, across three consecutive weeks of observation."

Transition Management Goals

Transitions between activities, classrooms, and environments are a known trigger for many autistic students. The Learning Plan must specify the supports.

Example: "By the end of Term 1, when given a five-minute visual transition warning (visual timer plus verbal prompt), the student will transition between classroom activities without physical refusal on 4 out of 5 observed occasions."

Curriculum Access Goals

Example: "By the end of Term 3, using a pre-written sentence frame and graphic organiser, the student will independently draft a five-sentence response to a comprehension question at Year 4 level with 70% accuracy, as measured by teacher assessment on 3 consecutive occasions."

Progress Monitoring: How Goals Should Be Tracked

A goal without a tracking mechanism is a wish. The Learning Plan should specify:

Who is measuring: Classroom teacher, support teacher, or aide? The responsible person must be named.

How often: Daily frequency counts? Weekly teacher observation notes? Monthly formal assessment?

What evidence is collected: Observation notes, work samples, frequency data, percentage correct, time-on-task measurements?

Where it's recorded: In the CMP Learning Plan Module, or in a separate tracking sheet that feeds back to the SSG review?

DECYP mandates a minimum of two formal reviews per year — mid-year and end-of-year. Between reviews, data should be collected continuously. If you ask the school at mid-year what data they've collected on a specific goal and they cannot produce it, the goal has not been monitored.

Before any SSG meeting, ask the support teacher to provide the data collected on each current goal since the last review. This is not an unreasonable request — it is exactly what the DECYP procedure requires.

Using an Assessment Report to Write Better Goals

If your child has had a private psycho-educational assessment, the report's cognitive subtest scores can directly inform goal targets. A student with a working memory score at the 12th percentile should not have a goal that requires them to hold four verbal instructions simultaneously. A student with a processing speed score at the 8th percentile should not be assessed under standard time conditions.

Map the report's specific findings to the corresponding Learning Plan goals. If the assessor recommends text-to-speech software, that recommendation should appear as a specific, named adjustment in the plan — not as a vague "access to assistive technology where appropriate."

The Tasmania Disability Support Blueprint includes a structured SMART goal worksheet designed for the Tasmanian system — with a goal bank of examples across ADHD, autism, specific learning disabilities, and anxiety, formatted for DECYP Learning Plans. It also includes a progress monitoring framework that you can use to track implementation between SSG meetings.

When Goals Are Being Written Without You

If a draft Learning Plan is presented to you at an SSG meeting for signature on the spot — goals already written, adjustments already decided — you have the right to take the document away, review it, and request amendments before signing.

You are a member of the SSG with equal standing in the goal-setting process. A Learning Plan should be developed with parents, not handed to them. If you're consistently being presented with fait accompli documentation, that's a procedural issue worth naming — politely but explicitly — in the meeting.

The Bottom Line

Weak Learning Plan goals are the most common failure point in Tasmanian disability education. A goal that cannot be measured cannot be held to. Knowing what SMART looks like for ADHD and autism specifically, and knowing how to request evidence of progress monitoring at every SSG meeting, gives you the tools to shift from a passive signatory to an active architect of your child's educational plan.

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