SLP Coffee Talk
A speech and language podcast to motivate and inspire school-based SLPs. Get the tips, strategies, and low-prep therapy ideas you need to confidently walk into your therapy room and plan with ease. Learn and hear stories from an SLP in the trenches just like you!
SLP Coffee Talk
The "So What?" Test for Writing Functional Goals
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In this episode of SLP Coffee Talk, Hallie is serving up some real talk about IEP goal writing—and it might just change the way you look at your entire caseload. If you’ve ever stared at a goal and thought, wait, why am I even working on this? This one’s for you. Hallie introduces the “so what?” test—the one question you should be asking before you write any goal—and breaks down what functional actually means for different students. She’s covering how to write curriculum-linked goals without crossing into ELA territory, how to squeeze more mileage out of every session, and why our role as SLPs is way more powerful than we sometimes give ourselves credit for.
Bullet Points to Discuss:
- Why not every language skill on an assessment is worth targeting in therapy.
- The “so what?” test: the one question that should guide every goal you write.
- How to define “functional” based on the individual student in front of you.
- Writing curriculum-linked goals the SLP way—without becoming the ELA teacher.
- How to use one resource across a mixed group and hit every student’s goal at once.
Here’s what we learned:
- If you can’t answer “so what?” clearly and confidently, that goal might be more fluff than function.
- Functional isn’t one-size-fits-all—a college-bound student needs self-advocacy; a life-skills student needs to know how to tell the bus driver where they’re going.
- Overlapping with academics is fine—just do it through a language lens, not a reteaching one.
- One good goal can target syntax, vocabulary, comprehension, and organization all at once. Therapy charcuterie board—one activity, all the skills, everyone eats.
- We’re not tutors and we’re not ELA teachers—we’re the language experts. Writing functional goals is how we step into that power.
Learn more about Hallie Sherman and SLP Elevate:
📝 Website: https://speechtimefun.com/
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📘✨ Grab your copy of The Secondary SLP Roadmap here! https://www.speechtimefunpd.com/stf-book
Subscribe today and get access to my secret podcast filled with my juicy secrets for planning with ease for secondary speech students. 6 quick episodes that you can quickly listen to and feel refreshed and inspired! https://speechtimefun.com/secondarysecrets