The DIR-FCD IEP Goal Bank is an online self guided tool that includes:

• access to the Profectum learning management system, where all materials are organized
• the manual (downloadable PDF format), which describes the Goal Bank in detail and provides instruction on how to use it
• a bank of goals and objectives
• video case studies
• handouts

For twenty-plus years, we read books, attended educational programs, and received direct coaching from Drs. Greenspan and Wieder and the DIR faculty. Based on their guidance and our experience and ideas, we developed the DIR-FCD IEP Goal Bank (Goal Bank).

The goals for the Goal Bank were developed by case, not globally by level. Each student's case was assessed within the framework of the levels and then goals were written based on the individual needs of the students. After fifteen years, we started compiling all of the goals into ‘level-specific’ goal banks, which are organized in a developmental scope and sequence. Since the developmental levels organize the Goal Bank and there is a wide range of abilities within each level, Dr. Greenspan stressed that we stretch each level to its potential rather than working up a level before capacities are solid and consistent. Within each level, categories are used to target the different areas of development. Goals within the levels (and at different levels) support and overlap each other to target specific areas. At times they seem redundant, but they are slightly different. There are bottom-up and top-down goals at each level and not every goal is appropriate for every student.

The Goal Bank is not meant to be a checklist or ‘step-by-step’ program but rather a guide to support writing a goal plan for individual students. To develop a goal plan, assess the child, identify goals, individualize the goals, add meaningful examples, and add measurable qualifiers (in what setting for what measurement with what supports.)