Everyone’s Goals Are Important: Working as a Team

Every child we work with has a whole team behind them: families, school staff, and multiple therapists, each bringing their own expertise and priorities.

Two professionals who often intersect are Applied Behavioral Analyst (ABA) Professionals and speech therapists (SLPs). Their goals and methods may look different on paper, but that doesn’t mean they’re working separately. In fact, many of their targets naturally overlap. When approached collaboratively, these differences become strengths, not barriers, and create a more unified path forward for the child.

What Collaboration Looks Like🔗

Here’s how to make that collaboration work in practice:

  1. Align goals and approaches.
    Make time to connect. Come into conversations curious and open. You may find your goals complement each other more than expected! You might find that many behavior goals pair perfectly with communication strategies to teach meaningful replacement skills. Easy ways to connect could be through weekly check ins, shared documents, or a communication log.
  2. Speak the same language.
    Both fields have their share of jargon. What one professional calls “manding,” another calls “requesting.” Getting aligned on terminology, along with teaching strategies and mastery criteria, reduces confusion and keeps everyone moving in the same direction. Check out this article on common ABA and speech terms for more info!
  3. Define roles early.
    Overlap is inevitable, so clarity is key. For example, a speech therapist might lead AAC and language development, while an ABA Professional focuses on behavior tracking and identifying communication targets. Clear roles create smoother, more efficient teamwork.
  4. Share data consistently.
    Good decisions rely on good data. Sharing what you track, and how you track it, helps ensure everyone is working from the same information and adjusting strategies effectively.

At the end of the day, collaboration isn’t just helpful; it’s essential. When professionals align their efforts, they create a stronger, more unified path forward for the child and that’s where real progress happens.

Aligning Goals🔗

Here is what aligning goals may look like in practice with two common goal areas:

Goal Example: Manding🔗

ABA Goal

Client will independently mand for preferred items or activities using a 2–3 word phrase (spoken, signed, or via AAC) in 80% of opportunities across 2 therapists and 3 consecutive sessions.

Speech Goal

Client will use multimodal communication (e.g., speech, AAC, gesture) to request a variety of preferred items/actions (at least 3 different functions, such as objects, actions, or assistance) at least 5 times per session with minimal support.

Collaboration
  • Identify motivating activities and materials together to ensure high engagement and natural opportunities for requesting.
  • Align on communication modalities (AAC, speech, gestures, signs) and ensure consistent modeling across providers.
  • Coordinate vocabulary targets: ABA team can share commonly reinforced items/activities, and the speech therapist can provide insight on use of core vs. fringe vocabulary and efficient AAC organization.
  • Agree on strategies to facilitate communication and fading plans to support independence.
  • Use similar data definitions (what counts as a request, strategies to facilitate communication, etc.) to ensure consistency.

Goal Example: Protesting🔗

ABA Goal

Client will use an appropriate communication response (e.g., “break,” “all done,” “help,” or AAC equivalent) to replace challenging behavior (e.g., throwing) in 80% of opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions.

Speech Goal

Client will use multimodal communication to express protest or self-advocacy (e.g., request break, help, more time, or sensory input) at least 3 times per session with decreasing levels of support.

Collaboration
  • Expand beyond a single scripted phrase (e.g., “I need a break”) to a flexible set of functional options (break, help, stop, different, more time, etc.).
  • Review the AAC system together to locate or program relevant vocabulary and ensure it is easily accessible.
  • Align on when and how to model these phrases during natural routines, especially during transitions or rising frustration.
  • Develop a shared plan for reinforcing appropriate protest and not reinforcing challenging behavior.
  • Coordinate strategies for transitions (e.g., visual supports, timers, first/then language) to reduce the need for protest escalation.

If you’ve got questions about SLP terminology or about implementing AAC with your client, our SLP Empowerment team is here to answer any questions you have- big or small!

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