Social Skills IEP Goals for Conversation and Group Work

Social skills IEP goals name what a student will do in conversations, group work and class routines, and how often, starting from a number the teacher has already counted. Some teams call them social goals; typical targets are taking a turn, staying on a partner’s topic or answering a classmate’s idea. Counted inside the routine where the student needs the skill, the goal gives each progress report a number that reflects real use. For the wider social emotional picture, see goals across all five CASEL competencies.

Social skills IEP goals on this page, by area:

• Worked example: a Grades 6–8 lab-group goal
• Conversation goals (6)
• Cooperative work goals (5)
• Group membership goals (5)
• Three common goals, rewritten
• 24 more goals by grade band (table)
• Short-term objectives that fade a support

One student, one lab group: from present levels to a goal

A measurable social skills goal starts with a baseline counted in one routine. Take Marcus, an illustrative Grade 7 student; the numbers on this page are constructed to show the method. His draft present levels say he “struggles to work with peers in group settings.” That can’t be measured, so his special education co-teacher picks the routine where group work already happens: science lab, three times a week, in groups of 3–4. For 2 weeks (6 labs) she tallies peer ideas and his responses during lab, then marks a 5-item group-work checklist in the last minute.

With no reminders given, Marcus adds an idea in 6 of 6 labs and stays with his group in 6 of 6. He does his assigned role in 4 of 6. He answers a peer’s idea before adding his own in only 1 of 6. (No disagreements came up.) The gap is responding, so that is what the goal targets.

The vague version reads “[Student] will improve peer interaction skills in group settings.” With the baseline, it becomes model goal A:

• [Grades 6–8] During science lab groups of 3–4 students, when a group member shares an idea, [Student] will respond to that idea (ask a question about it, add to it, or agree or disagree with a reason) before offering a new idea of their own, without an adult reminder, for at least half of the peer ideas in that lab, in 8 of 10 consecutive scored labs, as measured by the special education co-teacher’s group-work checklist, with peer ideas and responses tallied during the lab (baseline: met in 1 of 6 labs over 2 weeks, with no reminders given; moved past or talked over peers’ ideas in the other 5).

Every goal on this page, apart from the starting-point table near the end, has five parts:

1. Baseline: a number from the routine, in parentheses at the end.
2. Condition: the routine, partner or group, and any support.
3. Observable behavior: words or actions an adult could tally.
4. Criterion with a window: how often, out of how many sessions or chances, over what span.
5. Measurement method: who records it, on which sheet.

Two scoring rules hold for every goal below. A response counts only if it comes without an adult prompt, unless the goal names the prompt allowed. A session where the chance never comes (for the lab-group goal, a lab with fewer than 2 peer ideas) is marked – and left out of the count.

Before writing the goal, tell can’t from doesn’t. Over a few labs, prompt Marcus to answer a group member’s idea before adding his own, and compare those labs with unprompted ones. If he does it when prompted, the skill is there and the goal needs prompts, practice and reinforcement in lab; if he can’t even after a model, the skill needs teaching first. Gresham, Sugai and Horner recommend matching social skills instruction to the kind of deficit, a distinction usually framed as acquisition versus performance (Gresham et al., 2001).

Conversation goals for partner talk and class discussion

A conversation sample is a short partner exchange tallied live: twice a week, pair the student with a classmate, let the partner pick the topic and tally 3–4 minutes of talk. Count the student’s turns, on-topic turns, follow-up questions and moves to their own topic. Four columns are hard to keep while running a class, so plan for the SLP to take the sample on a push-in visit, or keep only the last two columns. On a heavy caseload, sample once a week and lengthen the goal’s window. One row:

ASHA’s Practice Portal lists topic maintenance, turn-taking and repairing communication breakdowns among the conversation behaviors that social communication difficulties affect (ASHA Practice Portal). The goals below count those behaviors:

• [Grades K–5] During a 2-minute turn-and-talk on a read-aloud question with an assigned partner who speaks first, [Student] will wait until the partner finishes, then answer or comment on what the partner said, in 4 of 5 sampled turn-and-talks each week for 3 consecutive weeks, as measured by the teacher’s daily Y/N sample of one turn-and-talk on a class-list clipboard sheet (baseline: waited and responded on topic in 1 of 5 sampled turn-and-talks over 1 week; talked over the partner in the other 4).
• [Grades K–5] During a 3-minute show-and-share with a partner who holds a 3-question card, [Student] will answer each question on topic and ask one back (one exchange), reaching a median of 3 exchanges per sample across 6 consecutive samples, as measured by the SLP’s conversation-sample tally, taken twice a week (baseline: a median of 1 exchange across 4 samples over 2 weeks; one-word replies, no question back).
• [Grades 6–8] When a literature-circle discussion is already under way, [Student] will wait until the speaker stops, then add a comment about the book or the last speaker’s point, at least twice per probe with no more than 1 interruption, in 3 consecutive weekly probes, as measured by the teacher’s event count while sitting with the group for a 10-minute weekly probe (baseline: 0–1 on-topic joins per probe across 3 weekly probes; interrupted mid-sentence in all 3).
• [Grades 6–8] During partner work in math or science, when the partner says they don’t understand, asks “What?” or answers a different question, [Student] will use a repair by speech, typing or AAC (“What I meant was…”, “Do you mean…?”) in at least 6 of the last 8 logged breakdowns within a 6-week period, as measured by the teacher’s event log kept during two 10-minute observed partner-work blocks a week (baseline: repaired 1 of 7 breakdowns logged in the same blocks over 2 weeks; repeated the same words louder in the rest).
• [Grades 9–12 and 18–22 programs] Model goal B. During a 4-minute partner conversation in English class (in an 18–22 program, a daily group session) on a topic the partner chooses, [Student] will stay on the partner’s topic, with no more than 1 move to [Student]’s own topic, and ask at least 2 related follow-up questions, in 5 of 6 conversation samples taken twice a week over 3 consecutive weeks, as measured by the SLP’s conversation-sample tally (baseline: 2 or more follow-up questions in 0 of 4 samples over 2 weeks, a median of 0; moved the conversation to [Student]’s own topic within 2 turns in all 4).
• [Grades 9–12 and 18–22 programs] On a break at a work-based learning site, [Student] will greet a coworker, keep 2 exchanges on the coworker’s topic (the coworker speaks, [Student] replies on topic) and close the conversation (“I’d better get back. See you later.”), with all 3 steps done without a prompt on 4 consecutive weekly probes, as measured by the job coach’s 3-step checklist, kept from a distance (baseline: all 3 steps without a prompt on 0 of 3 weekly probes; only the greeting came without a prompt; walked away without closing each time).

If the student keeps talking when a partner is bored or confused, a goal for reading faces, body language and tone of voice may need to come first.

Cooperative work goals: ideas, roles and disagreements

Score the group-work checklist in the last minute of each session, while students clean up: I (no adult reminder), P (after a reminder), N (not yet) or – (no chance that session). Keep counts such as ideas and reminders as tally marks during the session, and aim for under a minute per student.

Group roles and turn routines taught to the whole class come first, as in these classwide positive behaviors.

The lab-group goal at the top of this page is this section’s Grades 6–8 model. Five more:

• [Grades K–5] At a 4-student center game, [Student] will wait for their turn (taking no turn or materials during another player’s turn) and pass the materials to the next player when the turn ends, with both items independent in 9 of 12 center sessions across 4 weeks, as measured by the paraprofessional’s 2-item group-work checklist, scored at the center (baseline: both items independent in 2 of 6 sessions over 2 weeks).
• [Grades K–5] When the group plans a building or art task, [Student] will offer at least one idea by speaking, using AAC, signing or pointing to a picture idea card, in 7 of 8 consecutive planning sessions, as measured by the teacher’s tally on an extra row of the group-work checklist (baseline: offered an idea in 1 of 6 planning sessions over 3 weeks).
• [Grades 6–8] Given a role card listing the 3 steps of an assigned group role (recorder, materials manager or timekeeper), [Student] will complete all 3 steps and check off each one on the card in 9 of 10 consecutive group sessions, with [Student]’s card matching the teacher’s role checklist (all 3 checkmarks agree) in at least 8 of those 10, as measured by the teacher’s role checklist and the student’s card (baseline: all 3 steps in 2 of 6 sessions over 2 weeks; did only the first step in the other 4; no self-check used yet).
• [Grades 9–12 and 18–22 programs] During a small-group class project, when [Student] disagrees with the group, [Student] will state their view with one reason, without shouting or insults, then accept the group’s decision or propose a compromise or a vote while staying with the group, in 5 of the first 6 disagreements logged in one grading period, as measured by the teacher’s event log kept during project work (baseline: met in 1 of 4 logged disagreements over 3 weeks; left the group or argued past the decision in the other 3).
• [Grades 9–12 and 18–22 programs] At the start of a shared crew task at a work-based learning site, [Student] will ask the crew lead or a coworker which part to take, or propose a split, and then finish that part, on 9 of 10 consecutive shifts that include a shared crew task, as measured by the job coach’s shift log (baseline: asked or proposed a split on 1 of 5 such shifts over 3 weeks; waited for direction or did the whole task alone on the other 4).

When disagreements end in shouting or walking out, pair the disagreement goal with a self-regulation goal.

Group membership goals for routines, class meetings and clubs

The IEP must state the services and supports that will let the student take part in extracurricular and other nonacademic activities and be educated with nondisabled peers (34 CFR 300.320(a)(4)(ii)–(iii)). For meals, recess and school-sponsored clubs, the school must ensure the student takes part with nondisabled peers to the maximum extent appropriate to the student’s needs (34 CFR 300.117). The goals below count that participation at morning meeting, group transitions, class discussion, small-group work and clubs.

• [Grades K–5] At morning meeting, [Student] will greet the classmate on one side by name and answer the greeting from the classmate on the other side, by speaking, signing or using AAC, in 18 of 20 meetings attended over 4 weeks, as measured by the teacher’s daily Y/N on the meeting sheet (baseline: 4 of 10 meetings over 2 weeks).
• [Grades K–5] At the signal to move into small groups, [Student] will go to the assigned group’s table with their materials and sit with the group within 60 seconds on 9 of 10 consecutive recorded transitions, as measured by the teacher’s latency timing from the signal (baseline: a median of 3 minutes 20 seconds across 8 transitions over 2 weeks; within 60 seconds on 1 of 8).
• [Grades 6–8] In whole-class discussion in social studies, [Student] will contribute an on-topic comment or question, using a pre-planned comment card if needed, and mark each contribution on a tally card, reaching a median of 2 contributions per discussion across 8 consecutive discussions, with [Student]’s tally within 1 of the teacher’s in at least 7 of those 8, as measured by the student’s tally checked against the teacher’s (baseline: a median of 0 contributions across 6 discussions over 3 weeks; no self-tally used yet).
• [Grades 9–12 and 18–22 programs] During small-group work, when at least one group member hasn’t spoken yet, [Student] will ask that member for their idea (“What do you think?”) at least once per session in 7 of 8 consecutive sessions, as measured by an item on the teacher’s group-work checklist (baseline: 0 of 6 sessions over 2 weeks).
• [Grades 9–12 and 18–22 programs] At a weekly club, elective ensemble or student activity that [Student] chose, [Student] will stay with the group activity for the full meeting (a planned break that ends in returning counts) and make at least one contribution (a comment, a suggestion or taking on a task), with both items met at 6 of 8 consecutive meetings, as measured by the club sponsor’s 2-item check-in card, passed to the case manager each week (baseline: both items at 0 of 4 weekly meetings; stayed the full meeting at 2 of 4, with no contributions).

If a student is being excluded or teased by a group, report it through the school’s bullying-reporting procedure, bring in the school counselor and tell the case manager. If it affects the student’s learning, the IEP team may need to meet. A social skills goal for that student does not fix it.

Three common social skills goals, rewritten

A common social skills goal fails when it counts a display (eye contact), a manner (“please”) or a bundle of behaviors instead of one observable response with a baseline. Goals built on these three patterns fill online goal banks:

More social skills IEP goals by grade band

Treat each row as a starting point: take a baseline in the named routine first, then set the criterion from the student’s own numbers, with the scoring rules above still applying.

Breaking a social skills goal into short-term objectives

Social skills goals and objectives work as a pair when a support has to fade: each objective below removes one support on the way to the annual goal. The federal rule requires benchmarks or short-term objectives only for students who take alternate assessments aligned to alternate academic achievement standards (34 CFR 300.320(a)(2)(ii)). Some states require them more widely, and any team may write them, so check your state rules.

Model goal B (conversation, Grades 9–12 and 18–22 programs). The support is a question-starter card (“What happened next?”, “Why did you pick…?”, “How did that go?”).

Model goal A (lab group, Grades 6–8). The support is a sentence-starter strip taped to the lab table (“So you’re saying…”, “What if we…”, “I agree because…”).

Federal rules require progress reports on the annual goal; reporting each objective alongside it shows the family the steps.

Writing social skills goals with autistic students

Five practices change how social skills IEP goals for autism are chosen and worded:

1. Start with the student and family. Ask which exchanges matter to them: joining a lunch-table game, getting through a group project, talking with coworkers on a break. A work-site conversation goal works best when the student chose it.
2. Count the exchange, not a display. Leave out eye-contact, “quiet hands” and “whole body listening” goals; the conversation tally shows whether a student listened. Reciprocity runs both ways, so in practice sessions alternate who picks the topic.
3. Write the communication mode into the condition. State that AAC, sign, scripts and written turns count as participation, so no one scores a typed answer as a miss.
4. Teach explicitly, then practice with peers who have been shown how to listen and respond too. Social skills training and peer-based instruction and intervention are both on the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice’s list of evidence-based practices (Steinbrenner et al., 2020; see also AFIRM’s Social Skills Training brief packet).
5. Skip goals whose only aim is to make a student look less autistic, such as stopping harmless stimming or forcing small talk the student finds distressing. Autistic students can work toward conversation and group goals that serve them without either.

Supports the student needs to take part, such as a visual schedule or a break card, go on the IEP’s accommodations page; these accommodations for autistic students give sample wording for each.

Where the goal is taught, measured and written into the IEP

When the IEP puts a pull-out social skills group on the services page, run by the SLP, the counselor or a special education teacher, measure the goal in the class where the student needs the skill: reviews of social skills training have found weak generalization to new settings (Gresham et al., 2001). Once a month, score the goal item in a second class that runs group work, on 3 sessions in one week, with classmates who weren’t in instruction (for Marcus, math partner work). That class’s teacher records the goal item and one other on a 2-item card, and the result is reported as its own number.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires the IEP to state the goals, how progress is measured and reported, and the services and supports behind them. A file review traces each social skills goal through these parts:

• Present levels: the goal’s baseline appears there first.
• Services page: if the goal is measured in science lab, the services page should show how it is served there, as co-taught, push-in or consult minutes with the location stated (34 CFR 300.320(a)(7)).
• Supplementary aids and supports for school personnel: cards, role strips, an AAC device and a trained peer partner go under supplementary aids and services; training or coaching for the class teacher, paraprofessional, job coach or club sponsor goes under supports for school personnel (34 CFR 300.320(a)(4)).
• Access for the adults named: each of those adults must have access to the IEP and be told their part in it (34 CFR 300.323(d)).
• Time away from nondisabled peers: if the skill is taught in a pull-out group, the IEP’s explanation of that time has to cover it (34 CFR 300.320(a)(5)).
• Assistive technology: the team must consider whether every student needs assistive technology; when a goal relies on AAC, the IEP should show that consideration (34 CFR 300.324(a)(2)(v)).
• Data collector and reports: the person the goal names should be in that room when the routine happens, and progress reports go home on the schedule the IEP states, in the goal’s own unit.

Graphing the checklist and deciding what to change

Judge a social skills goal from a weekly graph of the same checklist that set the baseline. Here are Marcus’s first 6 labs after the goal began, with the sentence-starter strip on the table (the first objective). During this phase, I means no reminder with the strip still there:

Oct 2: substitute teacher; groups changed. Two of that day’s three reminders didn’t produce a response (marked N). Log a single low session like this one and keep the plan as it is.

Print a blank copy (one page, no sign-up): Download the checklist and rubric data sheet (PDF, one page)

Graph it weekly. Plot the annual-goal measure: the share of that week’s labs with the goal item independent, 1 of 3 (33%) in the first week above and 2 of 3 (67%) in the second. Draw an aim line from the baseline (1 of 6, about 17%) to the criterion (8 of 10, 80%) at the goal date. Over a 36-week goal that line climbs less than 2 points a week, so both of Marcus’s weeks sit above it.

Judge it every 2 weeks, and formally at each progress report on the schedule the IEP states (34 CFR 300.320(a)(3)(ii)). This is the cycle the National Center on Intensive Intervention calls data-based individualization: using progress-monitoring data to decide when and how to adapt the intervention (NCII). Two decision rules:

• If 3 consecutive weekly points (about 9 labs) fall below the aim line, change the instruction before changing the goal. Model the response again, add a reminder, or try a smaller group or a different partner.
• If 3 consecutive weekly points sit above the line, check the current objective before fading anything. Marcus’s reminder comes off only when he also meets the first objective (8 of 10 labs).

Three is a team-set starting number for sparse behavior data. Agree on the number with the team before the goal starts and write it into the progress-monitoring plan.

A flat line also matters legally. Under Endrew F., an IEP must be “reasonably calculated to enable a child to make progress appropriate in light of the child’s circumstances” (Endrew F., 2017). When progress stalls, the IEP team must revise the IEP, as appropriate, to address any lack of expected progress toward the annual goals (34 CFR 300.324(b)(1)(ii)(A)).

For the family, one plain sentence from the graph: “In science lab, with the sentence-starter strip on the table, Marcus answered a classmate’s idea before adding his own, on his own, in 3 of 6 labs these two weeks, and with a reminder in 2 more, up from 1 of 6 when we started.”

Where the student’s IEP, 504 plan or behavior plan already sets a data method or review schedule, follow that plan.

Quick answers for the IEP meeting

What are some examples of social skills goals for students?

A usable example names a routine, one behavior and a number. A Grades K–5 student waits until a turn-and-talk partner finishes, then answers on topic. A Grades 6–8 student responds to a peer’s idea before adding a new one in 8 of 10 scored labs. A Grades 9–12 student greets a coworker on a break, keeps 2 exchanges on the coworker’s topic and closes the conversation.

What are the core social skills an IEP goal can target?

In class routines, three areas cover most goals: conversation (turn-taking, staying on a partner’s topic, follow-up questions, repairing a misunderstanding), cooperative work (offering ideas, doing a role, handling a disagreement) and group membership (greetings, moving into groups, contributing in meetings and clubs). Target the one the baseline shows is missing.

What are some good social communication goals for students with autism?

Good goals count a real exchange: answering a partner’s idea, staying on the partner’s topic, asking a follow-up question or repairing a breakdown. Write AAC, sign, scripts and typed turns into the condition so they count. Leave out eye-contact and “quiet hands” goals, and start from the exchanges the student and family say matter.

What are some good social skills IEP goals for high school students?

Set them in routines the student will keep using: English-class partner talk, small-group projects, a chosen club and work-based learning sites. This page’s Grades 9–12 and 18–22 goals include staying on a partner’s topic with 2 follow-up questions, stating a view with a reason in a group disagreement and asking a quiet group member for their idea.

Practicing teamwork with a Grades 11–12 lesson

In the Ori Learning Transition Curriculum, the Transition Grades 11–12 “Social Skills” unit includes Lesson 2, “Working With Others,” on teamwork in class and at work. After a pre-test, students post what makes a great team on a collaboration board and learn the lesson’s definition: “Working together to reach a goal by sharing ideas, responsibilities, and support.” They pick which everyday situations involve teamwork and match habits such as dividing tasks fairly. The lesson is blunt: “Teamwork is best when everyone contributes. Don’t try to do it all, or leave it all to be done by others.”

Three tasks follow at different levels of challenge: sorting scenarios by whether someone is a good team member, choosing the best action in six team scenarios, and reflecting on the role each student prefers to take. Two scenarios match the cooperative-work goals above: one person doing all the work, and a disagreement with no compromise in sight. A post-test and a journal prompt close the lesson.

Sources

1. Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, 20 U.S.C. §1414(d); 34 CFR 300.320, 300.323, 300.324 and 300.117.
2. Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District RE-1, 580 U.S. 386 (2017). Opinion (PDF).
3. Gresham, F. M., Sugai, G., & Horner, R. H. (2001). Interpreting outcomes of social skills training for students with high-incidence disabilities. Exceptional Children, 67(3), 331–344. doi:10.1177/001440290106700303.
4. Steinbrenner, J. R., Hume, K., Odom, S. L., et al. (2020). Evidence-based practices for children, youth, and young adults with autism. National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice, FPG Child Development Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. See also AFIRM: Social Skills Training brief packet.
5. National Center on Intensive Intervention. Data-Based Individualization.
6. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. Practice Portal: Social Communication Disorder.

To see where social skills sit across the full curriculum, see our scope and sequence.

Related IEP Goal Resources

• how to write SMART IEP goals
• peer interaction IEP goals
• friendship IEP goals
• perspective-taking IEP goals