Before you can write a good goal, you need an honest picture of the learner's current repertoire: the skills they already use well, the skills that are missing, and the skills that exist but do not show up when they should. Skill assessment gives you that picture.
Why it matters
Goals built on guesses waste time. If you target skills a learner already has, sessions feel like busywork. If you skip prerequisites, the learner fails repeatedly and problem behavior can grow. A careful skill assessment lets you start where the learner actually is.
Strengths matter as much as needs. A teen who already uses a phone calendar can use that skill to support a new chore routine. A preschooler who echoes words clearly gives you a path to teaching mands and tacts. Building on what works is faster, more respectful, and more motivating than focusing only on deficits.
In practice, that means picking the right type of assessment for a purpose, interpreting conflicting results, and telling a "can't do" problem from a "won't do" problem.
Key ideas
- Use more than one source. Combine indirect information (interviews, rating scales, checklists completed by caregivers, teachers, or the learner) with direct information (observing and testing the learner yourself). Indirect tools are efficient and cover many settings; direct measures show what the learner actually does under known conditions.
- Match the tool to the question.
- Norm-referenced tools compare the learner's score with a same-age standardization sample. They help with questions like eligibility or how far a learner is from peers, and they must be given exactly as the manual says. A standardized adaptive behavior scale, such as the Vineland, is a common example.
- Criterion-referenced tools compare performance with a fixed standard or a sequence of skills, such as milestone or curriculum-based assessments (for example, the VB-MAPP or ABLLS-R). They are better for choosing specific targets and tracking progress over time.
- Either way, the tool must sample skills relevant to the learner's age, settings, and goals. An early-childhood milestone tool cannot show the job and home skills an adult needs.
- Separate skill deficits from performance deficits. A skill deficit means the learner cannot yet do the behavior, even with strong motivation. A performance deficit means the behavior is in the repertoire but does not occur under typical conditions. Testing with a powerful reinforcer available is a quick way to tell them apart, and the answer points to teaching versus motivation-based supports.
- Assess chained skills step by step. Using a task analysis, you can run a single-opportunity probe (stop at the first error and score the remaining steps as not done) or a multiple-opportunity probe (complete or arrange any missed step, then assess the next one so every step gets scored).
- Look at more than accuracy. Check fluency, independence (prompt level needed), generalization across people and settings, and maintenance over time.
Definitions
- Skill assessment: a structured look at a learner's current repertoire to identify strengths to build on and areas of need to teach.
- Norm-referenced assessment: a standardized assessment that interprets a score by comparing it with a representative sample of same-age peers.
- Criterion-referenced assessment: an assessment that interprets performance against a set standard or skill sequence, not against other people.
- Skill deficit: the learner does not yet have the skill, so it does not occur even when strong reinforcement is available.
- Performance deficit: the learner can perform the skill but does not do so under typical conditions.
Examples from a session
Skill assessment in three settings
- Clinic: Aiko, 3, is assessed with a criterion-referenced language tool. She tacts many animals and imitates gross-motor actions, but rarely mands. Her BCBA notes strong imitation as a strength and early manding as a priority.
- Non-example of a skill deficit (school): A teacher rating says Omar, 11, "never" asks for help. During direct observation, Omar asks for help readily from a paraprofessional he likes but not from the teacher. This looks less like a missing skill and more like a generalization or motivation issue.
- Home: Dee, 34, lives with a roommate and wants to cook simple meals. Her BCBA runs a multiple-opportunity task analysis probe on making a sandwich. Dee completes most steps independently and needs help only with opening the jar and spreading the peanut butter, which become the teaching targets.
In each case, the result is not just a score. It is a list of strengths, needs, and conditions that help you choose and write goals with the learner and their family.
Common mistakes / exam traps
- Treating one caregiver report as the whole picture. Rating scales are useful, but reports and direct observation can disagree. When they do, gather more direct data across settings before setting goals.
- Assuming "doesn't do it" means "can't do it." Always check motivation and conditions before calling something a skill deficit.
- Changing standardized administration. Adding prompts or extra tries to a standardized test can make the norm comparison invalid. Use a separate probe if you want to see what the learner can do with help.
- Listing only deficits. Strengths guide teaching methods and reinforcers, and families often find a strengths-first summary more accurate and respectful.
Exam trap
Skill deficit vs. performance deficit: if a learner performs the skill once a strong reinforcer is available, it is a performance deficit, not a skill deficit. The next step is to work on motivation and conditions, not to teach the skill from scratch.
Exam trap
Norm-referenced vs. criterion-referenced: ask what the score is compared with. A norm-referenced tool compares the learner with same-age peers, which answers eligibility or "how far from peers" questions. A criterion-referenced tool compares the learner with a fixed skill sequence, which is what you need to choose the next targets and track progress.
Quick check
A school team asks a BCBA how Rosa's adaptive skills compare with those of other 8-year-olds for an eligibility meeting. Which assessment best answers that question?
Related topics
- Reviewing educational, medical, and historical records at intake (F.1)
- Weaving cultural variables into assessment (F.2)
- Designing and evaluating preference assessments (F.4)
- Prioritizing socially significant, client-informed, culturally responsive goals (F.8)
- Selecting and running chaining procedures (G.12)
- Writing intervention goals in observable, measurable terms (H.1)