Pragmatic language goals
Pragmatic language goals are used to develop language skills, such as social communication skills, which help individuals communicate with others appropriately. How we start conversations, interpret social cues, stay on topic, and repair breakdowns when communication doesn’t go as planned are all influenced by pragmatic language skills.
Summary
- Pragmatic language skills involve the social use of language, including conversation initiation, turn-taking, topic maintenance, and interpreting social cues.
- Pragmatic language goals should be individualized and age-appropriate, targeting foundational skills in preschoolers and more complex social reasoning and conversational flexibility in adolescents.
- Effective assessment includes observation, checklists, and caregiver input, while therapy activities such as role-play, video modeling, and social stories help build functional communication skills. Download my free online speech therapy games worksheet.
- Progress can be measured using clear metrics like cueing levels, accuracy, frequency of behaviors, and generalization across settings to support documentation and treatment planning. SLPs can easily track client progress in tools like EHRs.
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Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) can help clients improve these skills by following assessment considerations, developing effective therapy activities, and using strategies to measure progress.
What are pragmatic language skills?
Pragmatics is the social use of language and involves three major communication skills:
- Using language for different purposes: Communicating greetings, demands, information, and requests.
- Changing language depending on the situation or listener: Altering language when speaking to different people according to factors like their age, your familiarity with them, and the environment.
- Following rules for storytelling and conversations: The “mechanics” of social interaction – understanding how to structure language and follow “hidden” rules that guide appropriate conversations.
Conversational turn-taking, maintaining appropriate eye contact/non-verbal communication, and topic maintenance (staying on a certain subject without abrupt shifts to another topic) are all key pragmatic language skills.
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Examples of pragmatic language goals by age
Pragmatic language skills develop over time. Goals should reflect age-appropriate expectations and should also be individualized to fit each client’s specific needs.
Preschool- Age (Ages 3-5)
Pragmatic language goals for preschoolers often focus on the foundational social communication skills that support early interaction and play.
This can include skills such as responding to their name, participating in simple social routines, and engaging in joint attention.
- Basic greetings: The client will greet others using single words (i.e., “hi”, “bye”) with minimal verbal prompts in 4 out of 5 opportunities.
- Joint attention: The client will engage in a shared activity with a peer for 3 minutes in 80% of opportunities.
- Requesting: The client will use a gesture to request a turn during play in 4 out of 5 opportunities with moderate cueing.
School-age (Ages 6-12)
Social demands increase as children enter school.
Pragmatic language goals should be developed specifically to help the client navigate more complex peer dynamics and classroom expectations.
- Asking/answering questions: The client will ask a follow-up question related to a partner’s stated topic a minimum of 2 times during a conversation with minimal prompting.
- Perspective taking: When presented with a social scenario, the client will identify a character’s feeling in 4 out of 5 opportunities with moderate cues.
- Topic maintenance: The client will stay on topic for at least 3 conversational turns with minimal cues.
Adolescents (Ages 13-18)
For teenagers, understanding and using nuances of language, like sarcasm and reading between the lines, are crucial for social belonging.
- Sarcasm and indirect language: The client will identify sarcastic language in video models or role-play with 80% accuracy given minimal cues.
- Conversational repair: The client will use a strategy (e.g., asking for repetition or rewording a message) to clarify the message when a communication breakdown occurs in 4 out of 4 opportunities with moderate prompts.
- Contextual flexibility: The client will identify appropriate conversational topics for different listeners (e.g., friends versus teachers) with 80% accuracy given minimal cues.
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Assessment and baseline tips for pragmatic language goals
Before developing goals, SLPs should gather information that can paint a clear picture of the client’s strengths and challenges. Pragmatic skills are so widely varied that a single standardized test rarely tells the whole story. That’s where informal assessment methods come in.
Checklists and rating scales: Frequently used to capture a client’s pragmatic behavior across different settings. These tools can help the SLP identify strengths and challenges related to social interaction.
Direct observation: Observe the client in a natural setting, such as in the classroom, during play, engaging in conversation, or within group activities. This allows clinicians to see the client’s pragmatic skills in action.
Focus observations on the client’s skills in areas such as initiation, responsiveness, turn-taking, use of nonverbal cues, and topic maintenance.
Parent and teacher reports: Caregivers and educators can provide valuable insight into how a client’s pragmatic challenges impact daily functioning. These individuals can offer examples of real-life situations where the client has social communication breakdowns or successes.
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Activities to build pragmatic skills
Interactive, functional activities that reflect real social situations are the key to teaching pragmatic language skills.
Role-play
- Allows clients to practice their behavior in social situations within a safe environment
- Simulate asking a teacher for help, ordering food at a restaurant, or asking peers to join a group game.
Video modeling
- Clients watch professional videos of others or a video of themselves successfully performing a social skill.
- Helps build confidence and self-awareness.
Social stories and scripts
- Structured narratives explain social situations, expected behaviors, and potential outcomes.
- Benefits clients who respond well to clear, predictable explanations of social rules.
Additional activities:
- Conversation cards
- Group games
- Peer-based activities
- Discussions
- Naturalistic play
Measuring and documenting progress
Measuring progress in pragmatic language skills is sometimes considered “gray”, as they are more qualitative in nature. Using clear metrics is the key to making progress monitoring clear.
SLPs can measure progress by documenting:
- Accuracy during structured and unstructured tasks
- Level of support or cueing required
- Frequency of target behaviors (e.g., number of times during a conversation)
- Generalization of a skill across settings and communication partners towards independence
Rubrics, where a client is rated from 1 (needs significant support) to 5 (independent) across categories, can clearly show progress. Assess the client’s pragmatic skills, such as volume, relevance, and eye contact.
Additional resources for pragmatic language goals
Speech therapy for pragmatic language skills is all about giving clients the tools they need to navigate a social world that often feels confusing. Writing specific, age-appropriate, functional goals allows SLPs to help clients build confidence and connect with others more independently.
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Resources for speech therapists
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References
Como, D. H., Goodfellow, M., Hudak, D., & Cermak, S. A. (2024). A scoping review: Social stories supporting behavior change for individuals with autism. Journal of Occupational Therapy, Schools, & Early Intervention, 17(1), 154-175. https://doi.org/10.1080/19411243.2023.2168824
Dolata, J. K., Suarez, S., Calamé, B., & Fombonne, E. (2022). Pragmatic language markers of autism diagnosis and severity. Research in autism spectrum disorders, 94, 101970. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2022.101970
Jensen de López, K. M., Kraljević, J. K., & Struntze, E. L. B. (2022). Efficacy, model of delivery, intensity and targets of pragmatic interventions for children with developmental language disorder: A systematic review. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 57(4), 764-781. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1460-6984.12716
FAQs about pragmatic language goals
What are pragmatic language goals in speech therapy?
Pragmatic language goals focus on improving social communication skills, such as conversational turn-taking, understanding social cues, maintaining topics, and repairing communication breakdowns.
How do SLPs assess pragmatic language skills?
SLPs use informal observations, rating scales, caregiver reports, and structured interactions to evaluate social communication abilities across real-world situations.
What activities help improve pragmatic language skills?
Common therapy activities include role-playing social scenarios, video modeling, social stories, group activities, and conversation practice to promote functional communication.
