Assessment usually turns up more possible targets than you can teach at once: aggression, toileting, requesting, waiting in line, and a goal a caregiver adds later. Choosing which comes first affects the client's life, so it deserves a clear, shared process.
Why it matters
Applied behavior analysis is "applied" because it changes behavior that matters to the person and the people around them. A goal can be measurable and still be the wrong goal. It might serve staff convenience, clash with the family's values, or teach a skill the client will never use. The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts also expects them to involve clients and relevant stakeholders throughout services, and goal selection is one of the first places that shows.
Case questions on this task often give a list of possible targets and ask which comes first, or describe a conflict between what a BCBA, a caregiver, and the client want. The strongest choice is usually the one that protects safety, increases the client's access to reinforcement and independence, and includes the client and family in the decision.
Key ideas
- Safety comes first. Behavior that poses a danger to the client or others, such as severe self-injury, aggression, pica, or elopement, usually takes priority over behavior that is merely unusual or inconvenient.
- Ask what the change will do for the client. Useful questions include:
- How often does the behavior occur, and how long has it been a problem?
- Will the change give the client more access to reinforcement, settings, and relationships?
- Is the skill a prerequisite for other important skills?
- Will it reduce restrictions the client faces or harmful negative attention from others?
- How likely is success, and what will it cost in time and effort?
- Favor cusps and pivotal behaviors. Targets such as functional communication, imitation, or toileting can open doors to many other skills and settings.
- Pick targets the natural environment will support. A new behavior is more likely to last if it contacts reinforcement after formal teaching ends.
- Goals are client-informed. Involve the client at whatever level they can participate, including through picture choices, AAC, or observed preferences. Caregivers, teachers, and the client's legal decision-maker also weigh in. A rating form can make disagreements visible.
- Goals are culturally responsive. Families differ in how they eat, sleep, show respect, use language, and define independence. Ask about these values instead of assuming a "standard" goal fits. Avoid goals that only make a client look less different, such as forcing eye contact or stopping harmless stimming, unless the behavior truly limits the client's access to things that matter to them.
Definitions
- Social significance: the degree to which a behavior change improves the client's life in ways the client and their community value.
- Social validity: how acceptable and important the goals, procedures, and outcomes of an intervention are to the client and stakeholders. Asking people to rate proposed goals assesses social validity at the goal level.
- Behavioral cusp: a behavior change that gives the person access to new environments, reinforcers, and contingencies, leading to further learning. Learning to read and learning to ride the bus are classic examples.
- Pivotal behavior: a behavior that, once learned, produces changes in other untrained behaviors, such as initiating with peers or self-management.
- Relevance of behavior rule: select targets that are likely to keep producing reinforcement in the client's natural environment after intervention.
Examples from a session
Prioritizing in different settings
- Clinic: Kai, age 3, bangs his head on hard floors, has no reliable way to request, and lines up toys. His BCBA makes head banging the first priority. She also targets requesting, a likely cusp, and once a functional assessment shows what head banging gets Kai, she can teach a request that meets the same need.
- Non-example: Kai's BCBA adds "stop lining up toys" because it looks odd to visitors. The play is harmless and costs Kai nothing, so this goal serves appearance, not Kai.
- Home: In the Nguyen family, parents and children share a bed, and co-sleeping is part of their culture. A generic plan lists "sleeps in own bed." After talking with the family, the BCBA replaces it with the family's actual priority: falling asleep without a two-hour bedtime struggle.
- School: Amara, 12, uses an AAC device. Her BCBA shows her picture choices of possible goals. She picks "join lunch with friends," which becomes a goal alongside her teacher's priority of finishing class work.
- Adult services: Luis, 30, is his own legal decision-maker. He wants to learn to cook simple meals. The residential manager prefers a goal of staying in his room in the evening. The BCBA centers Luis's goal and looks for ways to address the staff concern that also benefit Luis.
Common mistakes / exam traps
- Ranking by convenience. A goal that mainly makes the classroom quieter or the staff's job easier is not automatically socially significant for the client.
- Assuming the BCBA knows best. Assessment results inform priorities, but the client and family help define what a meaningful outcome looks like.
- Leaving the client out. Limited vocal speech or young age does not mean a client has no input. Use their communication mode and watch their choices.
Exam trap
Frequent vs. dangerous. The trap: ranking by rate or by which behavior bothers caregivers most. The discriminating feature is severity: a rare behavior that can cause injury, such as swallowing a battery, outranks a frequent behavior that is only disruptive. If none is dangerous, favor the target that most widens access to reinforcement and future learning.
Exam trap
Behavioral cusp vs. pivotal behavior. Both are high-value targets, so the trap is treating them as synonyms. A cusp is defined by access: it opens new environments, reinforcers, and contingencies (reading, riding the bus). A pivotal behavior is defined by spread: learning it changes other untrained behaviors (initiating with peers, self-management).
Quick check
Rosa, a BCBA, finishes an assessment for Theo, 6, who rarely speaks. His teacher wants him to stop rocking during circle time, and his parents want him to ask for help when he is stuck. Rocking causes no harm. Which goal should Rosa likely prioritize?