What is a Speech Therapy Goal Bank?
Speech therapy is valuable for individuals facing communication challenges and speech impediments. It empowers them to improve their speaking abilities and dismantle barriers to effective communication.
A Speech Therapy Goal Bank is a compilation of ready-made speech therapy objectives designed to assist speech-language pathologists (SLPs) craft personalized treatment plans for their clients. These goals are systematically categorized by different speech and language aspects, encompassing articulation, fluency, receptive language, expressive language, and pragmatics.
Goals often include achieving at least 80% accuracy in verbal communication, answering questions, and following directions. Here's a quick overview of some goals one may expect in a goal bank for speech therapy:
- Articulation and phonology goals: Producing age-appropriate consonants and age-appropriate phonemes to reduce processes like final and initial consonant deletion and cluster reduction, which are part of phonological processes.
- Language therapy goals: Correct grammar, correct subject-verb agreement, selecting the correct word.
- Expressive language goals: Using descriptive language and descriptive words; identifying missing words; using the correct past, present progressive, and present tense verbs; mastering taught fluency shaping techniques; becoming proficient in structured language activities such as using sequence words to order and retell stories
And though a goal bank is designed specifically for a speech-language pathologist's benefit, parents and caregivers of children undergoing speech therapy can also utilize these goal banks to gain insight into the goals targeted in speech therapy and track their child’s progress. Students receiving speech therapy can also benefit by understanding their goals and monitoring their progress.
Educators working with students facing speech and language disorders can use the goal banks to enhance their understanding of therapy objectives and develop tailored lesson plans for their students.










