ABA Treatment Plan Template and Goals Examples

An ABA treatment plan is the document everything else hangs from: the data sheets, the session notes, the progress report and the reauthorization request all trace back to it. When goals are vague, every one of those downstream documents is weaker. This post gives you an ABA treatment plan template, a formula for writing goals that can be measured, and a bank of ABA goals examples across domains that you can adapt.

All learners and numbers in the examples are fictional. Targets in the examples are illustrations, not recommended criteria; your BCBA sets targets from the assessment and the learner's history. Payers and states also differ in what a treatment plan must contain and how often it must be updated, so check your funding source's requirements before you finalize the structure.

What goes into an ABA treatment plan

Most payer templates ask for variations on the same pieces. A solid plan has:

1. Identifying information. Learner, diagnosis, dates, authorization, BCBA, and the plan period.
2. Background. Brief history, prior services, school or home context, strengths and preferences. Keep strengths in; a plan that lists only deficits is incomplete and discouraging to read.
3. Assessment summary. Tools used, dates, and results that drive the goals: skills assessment, adaptive behavior measure, functional behavior assessment, caregiver interview, direct observation.
4. Goals. Skill acquisition and behavior reduction, each with a definition, baseline, criterion and timeline.
5. Intervention procedures. How each goal will be taught, in enough detail that a new technician can run it.
6. Caregiver training goals.
7. Generalization, maintenance and fading plan.
8. Service recommendation. Hours by type, locations, and the clinical reasoning.
9. Coordination of care and crisis procedures.
10. Discharge or transition criteria.

The ABA treatment plan template

Copy this skeleton and fill each field. The goal block repeats once per goal.

Field	Content
Goal number and domain	For example, 2, Communication
Goal statement	Learner will [observable behavior] [conditions] [criterion] [by date]
Operational definition	What counts and what does not
Baseline	Level, how it was measured, dates
Measurement method	Trial-by-trial, frequency, duration, task analysis
Teaching procedure	Method (DTT, NET, chaining), prompts, reinforcement, error correction
Mastery criterion	Percent, number of sessions, number of staff or settings
Generalization plan	People, settings, materials to be varied
Short-term objectives	Steps toward the goal, each with its own target date
Review date and status	Updated each reporting period

How to write a goal that can be measured

A usable goal answers six questions: who does what, in which condition, how well, how consistently, and by when. A weak goal fails at least one.

Weak	Why it fails	Stronger
"Ari will improve communication."	"Improve" is not observable, and there is no criterion	"Ari will independently mand for 10 preferred items using a picture, sign or spoken word, in 80% of opportunities across 3 sessions, 2 staff and 2 settings, within 6 months."
"Ari will have fewer tantrums."	"Tantrum" is undefined and there is no number	"Aggression (hitting or kicking an adult) during non-preferred demands will decrease from a baseline mean of 6 per week to 1 or fewer per week for 4 consecutive weeks."
"Ari will be more independent."	Which skill, how independent	"Ari will complete a 6-step toothbrushing routine with no more than 1 prompted step, on 5 of 5 consecutive days."

Three habits help. Write the operational definition so that two staff would score the same moment the same way. Record the baseline with the same method you will use later; a baseline measured one way and progress measured another cannot be compared. And write mastery criteria that include generalization (people and settings), not just a percentage, since a skill shown only with one therapist at one table is not yet a skill. See generalization and maintenance for planning that.

One goal block, completely filled in

Here is the template applied to a single goal for a fictional learner, so you can see how much detail "enough" is.

Field	Filled in
Goal 1, Communication	Ari will independently mand for 10 preferred items using a picture, sign or spoken word, in 80% of opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, 2 staff and 2 settings, by March 31.
Operational definition	Independent mand: Ari initiates a picture exchange, sign or word that names the item, within 5 seconds of the item being in view, with no prompt of any kind. Does not count: pointing alone, or a response after a model.
Baseline	2 items, with a gestural prompt. 3 sessions, October 2 to 6, trial-by-trial, 15 opportunities per session.
Measurement	Trial-by-trial, coded independent, prompted or incorrect; percent independent per session.
Teaching procedure	Contrived opportunities in NET during play and snack. Most-to-least prompting for the first 3 sessions on a new item, then a 2-second time delay. Reinforce with the requested item immediately. Error correction: model, re-present, reinforce the prompted response.
Mastery	80% independent for 3 consecutive sessions with the target item, across 2 staff and 2 settings.
Objectives	3 items by December 15; 6 items by January 31; 10 items by March 31.

The teaching-procedure row is the one most often left thin. If it says only "DTT", a new technician has to guess the prompt level, the delay and the correction, and the learner gets a different procedure from each staff member. Write it so that two people running it would look the same. When the procedure differs by learner, that is the clinical content of the plan, and it should be visible in the document.

ABA goals examples by domain

Each example is written in the six-question format. Treat the numbers as placeholders.

Communication

• Learner will independently request a break using a card, sign or word in 80% of opportunities when a demand is presented, across 3 staff, for 3 consecutive sessions.
• Learner will tact 25 common items, using a spoken word or approximation, at 90% independent across 2 people.
• Learner will follow 2-step one-way instructions, such as "get your shoes and sit by the door," at 80% independent across 3 environments.
• Learner will answer "what is your name" and "how old are you" in 4 of 5 opportunities with an unfamiliar adult.

Social and play

• Learner will respond to a peer's initiation by looking, speaking, or passing a toy in 4 of 5 opportunities in a 10-minute play session.
• Learner will take turns in a simple game for 5 consecutive turns, with no more than 1 prompt.
• Learner will initiate a greeting to a familiar adult within 5 seconds of the adult's arrival, in 4 of 5 opportunities.

Adaptive and daily living

• Learner will wash hands using an 8-step task analysis, with 7 of 8 steps independent, across 5 days.
• Learner will initiate a toileting request using a card or word before an accident on 80% of scheduled trips for 2 weeks.
• Learner will dress, pulling on a shirt and pants with no more than 1 verbal prompt, on 4 of 5 mornings.

Academic readiness and school skills

• Learner will sit with the group for a 10-minute circle with no more than 2 reminders, on 4 of 5 days.
• Learner will match identical and non-identical pictures at 90% across 3 sets.
• Learner will raise a hand and wait up to 30 seconds to be called on, in 80% of opportunities.

Behavior reduction, with a replacement behavior

Every reduction goal should be paired with something to do instead. Targets in the plan teach the learner the replacement, and the data show both.

• Elopement from the classroom (leaving the area without permission) will decrease from a baseline of 5 per week to 0 for 4 consecutive weeks, while the learner requests "walk" or "break" with a card at least 80% of the time prompted by increasing demand.
• Property destruction (throwing materials) will decrease from a mean of 4 per session to 1 or fewer, while the learner requests "all done" in 80% of opportunities.
• Vocal outbursts during waiting will decrease from a baseline of 40% of intervals to 10% of intervals, while the learner waits for 2 minutes with a visual timer in 4 of 5 trials.

Caregiver training

• Caregivers will implement the first-then board with 100% of steps correct across 3 observed rehearsals, and use it at home on 5 of 7 days as reported on a log.
• Caregivers will implement the bedtime routine plan independently, with the bedtime lasting under 45 minutes on 5 of 7 nights.

Objectives, mastery and what happens next

For each long-term goal, write short-term objectives so progress is visible between reports. A communication goal of mands for 10 items might have objectives at 3, 6 and 10 items, each with a date. Objectives let the progress report say "objective 2 of 3 met" rather than "progressing", and they allow you to adjust within a period. If a goal has gone several reporting periods without moving, the template's teaching-procedure field is where you document the change you made. The progress report template shows how the same goals feed the reporting table.

Plan for fading. A plan that never says how supports will be removed implies the service never ends. Include prompt-fading steps (see prompt hierarchies and prompt fading), reinforcement thinning, and the conditions for decreasing hours. Pair this with discharge criteria that name specific goals and levels, and keep them honest: if the learner is far from them, say so.

Keeping the plan alive

A treatment plan fails when it becomes a PDF in a folder. Three practices keep it working:

• Each session sheet carries the goal number so the data can be summarized by goal without re-reading narratives.
• The BCBA reviews the data on a fixed cycle and records decisions: continue, modify, mastered, discontinue.
• The plan is updated when the learner changes, rather than only at reauthorization. A goal mastered in month two should not wait until month six to be replaced.

Goals are the thing a BCBA spends the most thought on, so it is worth making them easy to track. In Wilma, goals sit with the learner's plan and the session data and notes refer back to them; see our ABA practice management software page if you are comparing tools. If you run a small practice, the small practice page covers how teams of a few people set this up. None of that replaces writing precise goals, which is the part only the clinician can do.