Sensory and fine motor goals template with examples
A sensory and fine motor goals template for children, with example goals for regulation, hand skills, self-care and school.
✓Four goal areas on one page
✓Example goal for every area
✓Accommodations a teacher can follow
Free · No sign-up · Saves in your browser · Built into healhab as “Sensory-Motor and Daily Living Goal Plan”
What's inside
Assessment Snapshot and Priority Routines
Focused Goal Areas
Accommodations and Environmental Supports
Caregiver / Team Guidance
Review Schedule
Therapist Sign-off
Preview · 6 sections
Sensory-Motor and Daily Living Goal Plan
Patient
Patient ID
Date of birth
Plan date
Therapy
Therapist
Source assessment
Next review
Assessment snapshot
Patient caregiver priorities
Assessment Snapshot and Priority Routines
Priority routines
Focused Goal Areas
Focus Area
Functional Goal
Starting Point
Success Criteria
Activities / Supports
Generalization Setting
Regulation / sensory participation
Fine motor / visual-motor
Self-care / daily living
School / play / community
Accommodations and Environmental Supports
Support
Setting / How Used
Caregiver / Team Guidance
Caregiver team guidance
Review Schedule
Review schedule
Therapist Sign-off
Therapist
Designation
Registration
Date
How to fill it in
1
Assessment snapshot and caregiver priorities
The source assessment, its key findings, and the family's and child's priorities.
More guidance
Open with the assessment this plan follows, its date, and the two or three documented findings the goals respond to. Then list the family's priorities in their words. If the child can express a preference, record that too, in their words. A child who says they want to ride a cycle with a friend has named a participation goal.
2
Assessment Snapshot and Priority Routines
The daily routines the goals target: when, who helps, and what goes wrong.
More guidance
Name the daily routines the goals target: getting ready for school, lunch in class, homework time, bath. Describe each briefly, including when it happens, who helps and what currently goes wrong. Routines give each goal a natural place to be practised and measured.
3
Focused Goal Areas: regulation and sensory participation
Goals for taking part in a routine or setting, including any support used.
More guidance
Write goals about taking part in a routine or setting rather than about removing a sensory response. Name the setting, the support the child can use, how long and how often. When the aim is participation with a support, such as a quiet corner or ear defenders, include the support in the goal.
4
Focused Goal Areas: fine motor and visual-motor
Hand-skill goals tied to a real task, with tool, conditions and criterion.
More guidance
Tie hand-skill goals to a real task: writing a homework line, cutting out a worksheet picture, opening a lunch box. Include the tool, the conditions and the criterion. Avoid goals that name only a grasp pattern unless the family and school understand why it matters for the task.
5
Focused Goal Areas: self-care and daily living
The family's chosen self-care tasks, done their way, with level of help as criterion.
More guidance
Choose the self-care tasks the family named and use the level of help as the criterion. Describe how the task is done in this home, because dressing, eating and toileting routines differ between households. A goal for eating with the right hand, or for washing after using the toilet, should follow the family's own practice.
6
Focused Goal Areas: school, play and community
Goals for joining playground games, group work and outings with available support.
More guidance
Cover participation beyond self-care: playground games, group work, birthday parties, temple visits, a trip to the market. Set the goal around joining in with the support available. Agree any school goal with the teacher before you write it down.
7
Accommodations and Environmental Supports
Each support, where it is used, who sets it up and when.
More guidance
List each support with its setting and how it is used: who sets it up, when, and what the child does. These are recommendations for the family or school to trial. Write them clearly enough for a substitute teacher to follow, and remove any that are no longer needed at review.
8
Caregiver / Team Guidance
Short, practical steps for parents, helpers and teachers: what to do and record.
More guidance
Give short, practical guidance for the people who carry the goals into daily life: parents, grandparents, ayahs, teachers, shadow teachers. Say what to do, when to step back and what to record. Use plain language, and translate for the adult who spends the most time with the child.
9
Review Schedule
Review dates, the information you will use, and who will attend.
More guidance
Set review dates, the information you will use and who will attend. New accommodations can be checked after a few weeks, with a full goal review at the end of the therapy block. Tell families how to reach you sooner if something is not working.
Sensory and fine motor goals template with examples: filled sample
Fictional entries, initials only, showing the level of detail to aim for. Impression and summary sections are left for the treating clinician.
Assessment Snapshot and Priority Routines
Morning, 6:30 to 7:10: grandmother dresses him while he watches cartoons; refuses socks most days. School lunch at 12:00: the ayah opens his tiffin.
Focused Goal Areas: regulation and sensory participation
By [date], K. will stay in the classroom for the whole music period, wearing ear defenders he puts on himself, in 3 of 4 weeks, as noted by his teacher.
Focused Goal Areas: fine motor and visual-motor
By [date], K. will copy a two-line sentence from the board into his four-line notebook with 8 of 10 letters resting on the base line, on 3 consecutive homework days.
Focused Goal Areas: self-care and daily living
By [date], K. will put on both socks and his Velcro shoes within 4 minutes with one verbal reminder, on 4 of 5 school mornings, recorded on the home chart.
Focused Goal Areas: school, play and community
By [date], K. will take part in a 10-minute playground game with two classmates, with his shadow teacher nearby, on 3 of 5 school days.
Accommodations and Environmental Supports
Visual timetable on the classroom wall; teacher points to the next activity 2 minutes before a change. Pencil grip on every writing pencil; K. fits it himself.
Caregiver / Team Guidance
At breakfast, put the tiffin on the table closed and wait. Help only after he asks or has tried twice. Mark on the chart whether he opened it himself.
Review Schedule
Accommodation check on [date] by phone with the class teacher. Full goal review with parents on [date], using the home chart and session notes.
Sensory-motor goal plan vs sensory diet
Sensory-motor goal plan
Sensory diet
Purpose
Sets measurable goals and review dates for therapy
Schedules OT-chosen sensory activities across the day
Main users
Therapist, family and school team
Parents, carers and teachers, day to day
Contains
Goals, starting points, criteria, accommodations
Times, activities, how long, the child's response
Changes
At planned reviews
Often, as the OT adjusts activities
Connection
May list a sensory diet as one support
Supports goals in the regulation area
Tips and mistakes to avoid
Do
Fill only the goal areas this child needs, and delete empty rows.
Write guidance for whoever carries each goal, often a grandparent or helper.
Name the notebook ruling (four-line, two-line or square) in handwriting goals.
Keep accommodations cheap: a rolled towel or a box-file slope board can start this week.
healhab includes this as the Sensory-Motor and Daily Living Goal Plan starter, keeping goal tables consistent.
Avoid
Goals to stop a sensory response, such as 'will not cover ears'.
Fine motor goals with no task, such as 'will improve tripod grasp'.
Accommodations with no note on how or when to use them.
The same goal wording copied across every child.
About this treatment plan
A sensory and fine motor goals template sets out a child's occupational therapy goals in four areas: regulation and sensory participation, fine and visual-motor skills, self-care, and school or play. Each row holds a functional goal, a starting point, success criteria, the activities and supports used, and where the skill should carry over.
After a sensory-motor assessment, with goals across areas
A school asks which accommodations OT recommends
One plan for the family and shadow teacher
At review, to compare with the previous plan
Read more
This plan usually follows a paediatric sensory-motor assessment. It keeps regulation, hand-skill and daily living goals on one page, because in a child's day they are rarely separate.
The OT writes it with the family and, where possible, the class teacher. Sections on accommodations and adult guidance make it easy to share with a school or shadow teacher.
Questions
What are examples of sensory goals in occupational therapy?+
Good sensory goals describe participation: staying through music class with ear defenders, or eating a mixed-texture meal at the family table. Each names a setting, a support, a frequency and a date.
What is a good fine motor goal for a child?+
One tied to a real task, such as cutting out a worksheet picture or copying a homework line, with a criterion, a date and a recorded starting point.
Can I share this plan with the child's school?+
Yes, with the family's consent. The accommodations table and team guidance are written for a teacher or shadow teacher to follow.
How is this different from the occupational therapy treatment plan?+
The treatment plan is organised by any occupation and suits all ages. This plan has four set areas for children, plus space for accommodations and caregiver guidance.
Are the goals linked to a child's age?+
No. Goals come from the child's own assessment and the family's priorities. The template has no age expectations.
Is there a filled sample of this goal plan?+
Yes. Each section guide shows a fictional example goal or entry, initials only. The assessment snapshot has no sample; take it from your own report.
Can I edit and download this goal plan free?+
Yes. Fill it in online with no sign-up and download a PDF. Your draft stays in your browser.
