Goals in MyTherapyWizard are built from structured fields instead of typed as one block of text. This article explains where goals come from, what each field does, how MTW uses those fields to measure progress, and how to write goals that track cleanly.

You Don't Have to Build Every Goal From Scratch

When you complete a guided evaluation in MTW and generate a plan of care from it, MTW suggests up to 2 long-term goals and 5 short-term goals based on the client's areas of need. Suggested goals pull in the client's real baseline data from the evaluation, so the starting point is already documented.

Ways to add goals to a plan of care

• Suggested from a guided evaluation: Up to 2 LTGs and 5 STGs, with baseline data from the evaluation.
• Goal Bank: Add goals you or your team saved as favorites.
• Add Goal: Build a new goal in the goal builder.

Editing, removing, and saving goals

• Edit: Click the pencil to change any field. Most fields have dropdowns.
• Remove: Click the trash can to delete a goal from the plan of care.
• Favorite: Click the flag to save a goal to your Goal Bank. Saved goals appear under My Goals with a yellow star and can be reused on any client's plan of care. Goals your team admin has saved show a green star.

Every goal, whether suggested, saved, or new, uses the same structured fields described below. That is what lets MTW track progress the same way across all of them.

Goal Fields at a Glance

Each field has a job. Together the fields tell MTW how to display the goal, what data to collect on the session note, how to calculate progress, and when the goal is mastered. MTW writes the goal sentence for you as you fill in the fields, including connecting words like "during," "given," and "in."

Goal Type: LTG or STG. Groups the goal on the plan of care.

Domain: The area of function, such as Visual Motor Integration. Links the goal to evaluation domains, strategies, reports, and analytics. 

Verb: One observable action, such as copy, form, or initiate. Defines what the client does and the direction of change.

Skill set descriptor (optional): Which items count, such as A to Z or age-appropriate shapes. Sets the scope of the skill.

Skill qualifier (optional): Task features, such as curved lines or multi-step. Describes how the task is performed.

Skill (required): The core skill in plain words. This is the skill being measured.

Skill Label (required): A short name, such as Shape copying. Used on charts and reports so the skill can be trended over time.

Context (optional): Where or during what activity the skill happens.

Success definition (required): What counts as a successful attempt. This is what you score on the session note.

Primary Measurement (required): Measurement type and target, such as Frequency, 6 of 10 opportunities. Sets how performance is scored each session.

Support (optional): Cues and assistance level. Assistance level is factored into progress scoring. Cues are documented but not scored.

Mastery Rule (optional): How consistently the target must be met, such as 3 consecutive sessions. Defines when the goal is mastered.

Baseline (optional): Current performance. Documents the starting point.

Measurement types: Completion (done or not done), Duration (how long), Frequency (how many, or X of opportunities), Rate (how fast), and Accuracy (correct versus incorrect).

Why it matters: Because every part of the goal is structured, MTW can set up session note data entry, score progress with performance and independence combined, show trends in the therapy record, and build progress reports from recorded data.

Understanding Goal Structure in MyTherapyWizard

Goals are built, not typed

In many documentation systems, a goal is a block of text. The software can store it and print it, but it has no way to measure it. Progress is usually tracked as a separate percentage that the clinician enters by hand.

MyTherapyWizard builds every goal from structured fields. Each field tells MTW something specific: what skill is targeted, what counts as success, how performance is measured, how much support the client needs, and when the goal is mastered. The goal still reads as a normal, professional sentence on the plan of care. Behind that sentence is structured outcome data that MTW tracks automatically, session after session.

Four questions every goal answers

1. What skill? The verb, the skill, and optional details about the skill.
2. What counts as success, and how much on one occasion? The success definition and Primary Measurement.
3. How consistently over time? The Mastery Rule.
4. With what help? Cues and assistance.

Example goal, field by field

• Goal Type: STG
• Domain: Visual Motor Integration
• Verb: copy
• Skill set descriptor: age-appropriate
• Skill qualifier: left blank
• Skill: geometric shapes and uppercase letters
• Skill Label: Shape and letter copying
• Context: structured fine motor activities
• Success definition: recognizable formation
• Primary Measurement: Frequency, 6 of 10 opportunities
• Support: verbal cues
• Mastery Rule: 3 consecutive sessions
• Baseline: Copies 2 of 10 with rotation errors

The most important rule: two different numbers

Many goals contain two numbers, and they belong in different places.

• Primary Measurement is how well the client performs on one occasion. Examples: for 10 minutes, in 6 of 10 opportunities, 15 letters per minute.
• Mastery Rule is how consistently that has to happen over time. Examples: in 3 consecutive sessions, in 4 out of 5 sessions, in 75% of opportunities.

When both numbers end up in one field, or a number is typed into the success definition, MTW cannot calculate progress correctly.

Choosing a measurement type

Mastery patterns

• Consecutive: in 3 consecutive sessions.
• Out of total: in 4 out of 5 sessions. Choose trials, sessions, observations, opportunities, tasks, or work samples.
• Percentage: in 75% of opportunities. You must choose what the percentage is of.
• None: a single achievement is enough.

How MTW measures progress: performance and independence together

Each time you record data on a goal, MTW calculates a Goal Performance Index (GPI). The GPI combines two things:

1. How well the client performed, based on the goal's measurement type.
2. How much support the client needed, based on the assistance level you recorded. Cues are documented on the goal but do not change the GPI.

A score achieved independently counts for more than the same score achieved with hands-on help.

Example: Two clients have the same goal: copy geometric shapes with 80% accuracy.

In a system that records only a percentage, these two sessions look the same. In MTW, Client B's data shows that the skill is emerging but still depends on support. That is what the progress report, the clinical assessment, and the next goal should reflect.

Progress in independence: Client C performs at the same 80% accuracy for three sessions while the assistance needed fades.

A record that tracks only the percentage would show no change across these three sessions. MTW shows steady progress, because the client is doing the same work with less help.

The Session Performance Index (SPI) averages the GPIs for every goal addressed in a session. It gives one view of overall session performance and is tracked over time in the client's therapy record.

Seeing progress in the therapy record

Once a plan of care is active, the client's therapy record lists each short-term goal with its current progress. No report is needed to see how a client is doing.

• Domain and goal: the domain label and the goal sentence, so you can see what is being targeted at a glance.
• Current GPI: the client's most recent Goal Performance Index for that goal, shown as a percentage.
• Trend: an arrow and change value showing whether performance is improving or declining compared with earlier data.
• Status: whether the goal is active.

Because the GPI includes assistance level, the trend reflects how independently the client performs as well as how accurately. A goal can trend upward with no change in accuracy as support fades.

How this differs from typical EMR goal tracking

What this means for your documentation

• Session notes set themselves up. When a plan of care is active, each session note pulls in the goals with data entry that matches each goal's measurement type.
• Fading support counts as progress. If a client moves from moderate assistance to minimal assistance at the same accuracy, the GPI goes up. Gains in independence show up in the data, not only in the narrative.
• Notes describe progress accurately. Session note narratives use GPI and SPI trends to describe whether performance is improving, stable, or declining. The index numbers do not appear in the note.
• Reports use real data. Progress reports draw on scores you recorded, not on numbers typed in later.
• Data holds up to review. Structured, consistent data supports payer review, IEP progress reporting, and clinical supervision.
• It runs on logic. Goals are scored using configurable rules, not guesses.

Tips for writing goals that work

• Use a verb you can watch. Copy, form, hop, and initiate can be observed. Increase and improve describe change, not something the client does.
• One skill per goal. If a goal covers two skills, split it so each can be tracked.
• Keep fields short. Use phrases, not sentences. MTW adds the connecting words.
• Write the success definition as a yes or no test. Ask yourself whether you could mark it yes or no for one attempt.
• Keep numbers in Measurement and Mastery. A number typed into text cannot be calculated.
• Leave optional fields blank when they don't add meaning. A shorter goal that measures cleanly is better than a long one.

Before and after

Built on structured, scored results

MyTherapyWizard is an EMR with clinical protocols built in:

• Guided Evaluations are scored with structured scoring: the same criteria, rules and performance bands for every client.
• The plan of care is generated from that evaluation, with goals linked to the baseline.
• Once the plan of care is active, its goals populate into your session notes. Each goal gets a Goal Performance Index (GPI) that combines accuracy with the support needed, so 70% independent and 70% with maximum assistance score differently. Each session gets a Session Performance Index (SPI), the average of its GPIs.
• Reports draw from these scored results plus the comments and narratives you wrote. AI only helps with wording. It never changes a score, and you approve every line.

Learn more: Understanding Performance Bands · Myth vs. Fact: structured scoring and AI