Answers to frequency and duration of therapy for nonverbal 10 yr old

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,

If I send out any question emails, please answer to that person's email

directly, I'm still trying to keep the amount of emails sent out down. I'm

sending Sharon an answer to her question from me, a few from others, and

because of some of the responses sent through this list, passing these

answers on to the list in hopes it may help others.

If you have questions about your child's IEP (Individual Education Program,)

Children's Apraxia Network's Vice President, and Educational Consultant is

Cheryl , an " Award Winning Teacher. " Her email is cheryljo@...

Cheryl was one of the 3 teachers nominated and then selected for TV

commercials by the NJ Educational System out of the entire state of NJ!

If you want to, please answer Sharon's question directly at

sharonswartwout@...

From: <sharonswartwout@...>

Date: Mon Nov 6, 2000 6:51am

Subject: frequency and duration of therapy

" We have a 10 year old son that is completely non-verbal. He has been

getting speech therapy since he was 3, although not very intense. Would it

be unreasonabe to ask for half hour a day, 5 days a week from the school? "

Hi Sharon!

The fact that you are looking to learn more for your son is wonderful.

Knowledge is the most important thing we can have as parents.

There are so many unknowns to directly answer your question. For example,

has your son ever had a diagnosis that explains why he is nonverbal? If so,

who diagnosed him, and when? Was he ever diagnosed or misdiagnosed as

having cognitive issues/autistic/mentally retarded, etc.? Have you taken

him privately to a developmental pediatrician, neurologist or speech and

language pathologist that is knowledgeable about apraxia and other

disorders? Does you child use picture exchange communication, sign

language, or augmentative devices to communicate now? Is he mainstreamed,

and if so, how does he perform in school both academically and socially?

Does he play appropriately, with friends, or alone?

Your son's school is required to provide him with appropriate therapy,

either in district or out of district. They aren't necessarily going to

tell you this of course. What this means is that once you know what your

child requires (even if that is 5 days a week, intensive one on one

" appropriate " therapy) if that's what experts evaluate that he needs (again,

seek diagnosis and therapy outside the school) because of his diagnosis,

then they need to provide " appropriate " therapy. If they can't within their

own program, then they are required by law to find alternative situations.

Again, this can include paying for you to take your son to an outside

therapist, paying for an expert to work with your son in the school and give

direction to the school based SLP to follow, or even out of district

placement. This means of course that a private school could be paid for by

your school system if they are not providing appropriate therapy.

Of course your son's school system will most likely say they are providing

him with appropriate therapy, have done so for the past 7 years, and that he

is not responding. If however, your child is severe apraxic, the type of

therapy he has received does not sound appropriate according to the experts,

but without knowing what he receives, that's hard to say. This is again why

it's so important to have some experts outside of the school overseeing your

child, It's important to have a hero for your child on the outside of the

school, especially since your child is 10 years old and non verbal.

These same " outside the school " experts on apraxia and other disorders,

(developmental pediatrician, neurologist, SLP, OT, etc.) can diagnosis the

reason for him being nonverbal, watch over your child, provide therapy as

often as you can afford, and make sure your child is meeting the IEP

(individual education program) goals that he/she helped to set. I believe

you will need to pay for these second opinions or therapy sessions

(hopefully through your insurance,) because if they are on the school's

salary, I don't believe results are always going to be unbiased, which is

what your child deserves/needs. Know that you can have it written into the

IEP that you want evaluations (from now on) every 3 weeks, 2 months, 6

months, whatever your son's (private) therapist believes is necessary. Many

people, like me and my husband, thought IEPs are yearly, they are contracts

between the school and you and your child. Just like any contract, it's

negotionable. In your child's case, you've given the school 7 years to

help, and perhaps they have done " everything that is appropriate, " but why

wait another day if they are not.

Again, it's a federal law that they are required to provide your child with

appropriate therapy. And also again, please find out what that appropriate

therapy is for your child from outside experts, and then fight to have them

offer that to him. Of course you can use information found on the internet,

but that's once you have a diagnosis. Squeaky wheels do get the grease!

It's good to look into other town's programs, out of district, or paying for

your private therapy. I noticed some of the responses to your question from

other parents said their child's therapist was only in the school for 2 days

a week, so they couldn't receive any more therapy. If you show they are not

providing appropriate therapy, then you can have them pay for your private

therapy sessions, or pay for your private therapist, or another expert on

apraxia, to come to your son's school as a consultant once or more a week.

With some creativity and willingness, things can be worked out in most cases

without having to go to a special ed attorney (another option of course.)

If your school tells you things that make you uncomfortable or that you

believe are not accurate, tell them, " That's interesting. Could you put

that in writing for me? " (For example if they say they can't provide more

than two or three days of therapy a week) Also know that you don't need to

sign the IEP right away. You can take it home and show it to others, even

before that, you can take others with you to the IEP meeting, including your

child's private SLP, or a parent advocate, or even a tape recorder!

Use the severity/Intervention matrix link found as a link on our website-

http://www.shopinservice.com/latetalker.htm and if your son is apraxic, the

page and links which show the importance of one on one therapy for apraxia

stated by various experts-one after another, there are numerous links to

apraxia-kids.org which has a wealth of information if your child is apraxic.

You are an expert on your child, and you can back that up with your

knowledge/experts on apraxia, or whatever the reason your child is

nonverbal. Together, you are a powerful team that will find appropriate

therapy for your child. Have you seen " Ask the Dr.? " Dr. Agin is

brilliant, and can probably help as well.

Well I hope that helps, please let me know how it goes.

Regards,