What should a 2 year old learn?
ABA needs to target the appropriate skills and not have too many written goals in place for a child. Focusing on very few should be the ideal approach.
An ABA therapist would need to target maybe 5-10 acquisition skills for a 26-month-old that align with critical developmental milestones. These skills should focus on what would truly benefit a child her age and have a meaningful impact on her life. It's essential not to overload with too many goals for a 2-year-old but instead prioritize those that are most impactful and developmentally significant.
Example of Goal-setting for Preschool Readiness:
The goal is to facilitate the child's smooth transition to preschool by ensuring the acquisition of developmental milestones appropriate for their age and the preschool environment. This includes:
Social/Emotional Skills:
Learning to play effectively with peers.
Initiating greetings and interactions with others.
Approaching other children confidently, overcoming shyness.
Engaging in smiling, eye contact, and back and forth interactive play such as playing peek-a-boo.
Learning to gain attention appropriately by tapping on someone’s shoulder and showing them something interesting.
Independence/Adaptive Development:
Mastering the ability to eat and drink independently.
Developing the skill to follow simple instructions.
Zipping/unzipping
Drinking in a sippy cup, no more baby bottle
Cognitive Development:
Retaining and responding to her name and age when prompted.
Building the capacity to follow basic instructions.
Naming body parts, and starting to identify pictures in a book and/or their environment.
“Learn how our specialized ABA services can address your child's unique needs and goals.”
Gross/Fine Motor Development:
Building blocks
Hopping, jumping, running, squatting,
Kicking a ball with directions towards someone specific
Learning to scribble
Playing with the abacus
Communication Development:
Must have at least 40-50 words in their vocabulary
Starting to put 2 words together.
Showing possession of mine
Following directions without gestures, starting to follow 2 simple step directions
Understanding many words when people speak to them, such as 200-300 words.
By focusing on these key areas of Developmental Milestones, we aim to equip the child with the necessary skills and confidence to thrive in the preschool environment.
These goals are like big targets we want to hit to help a child grow. They're important because they help the child learn important things for school and make friends. After the child learns these things, we can think about other stuff.
We want to pick the goals that help the child the most.
These are the ones that make life better and help the child do things on their own.
