F.O.C.U.S.™
Functional goal quick-check
- FFunctional
- OObservable
- CContextual
- UUnderstandable
- SSetting-aligned
What it solves
F.O.C.U.S. is the cross-setting quick-check for any pediatric PT goal. Where MAPS is the school-specific filter, F.O.C.U.S. works in early intervention, school, outpatient, inpatient, the NICU, home health, or oncology.
When to use it
Use F.O.C.U.S. any time you write or audit a goal, and especially when you move between settings and the documentation rules change under you.
In practice
A goal that passes F.O.C.U.S. is defensible anywhere. It targets a function rather than an impairment, can be observed rather than inferred, lives in a real context rather than a treatment-room abstraction, uses language any team member can understand, and matches the rules of its setting.
F.O.C.U.S.™ is one of 14 frameworks in the Playbook
Read the full treatment in Chapter 43 of the Pediatric PT Playbook (Writing Clear Functional Goals), with the cases, scripts, and documentation to match.
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