Re: frequency and duration of therapy

[Guest guest]

I would push very hard on anything you can get for your son. We are getting

free speech twice weekly and preschool for four mornings a week starting in

Jan. 2001. The government should have some programs for your son also. Our

grandchild will be three in January.

[Guest guest]

my son is 6 yrs old and he has been getting speech 1:1 5xweek for 30 mins a

day since he was 4 yrs old. I called an IEP meeting and made this demand as

it was appropriate considering his needs. I brought with me lots of info

from the Apraxia-Kids website on frequency of speech (i will attach something

i just found in my harddrive files for you). He still gets 1:1 4 x week with

one session for small group (my request - for pragmatic language). The key

is that the sessions need to be geared towards APRAXIA and this is different

in approach from articulation which is 99% of the school speech case load.

Make sure they are using an approach that is Appropriate for Apraxia . I

would write a letter to the IEP team, requesting a meeting to be held as soon

as possible to revise your son's IEP. The purpose being to address an

appropriate speech and language educational program for your son's defined

needs. Say you will be sending in information in advance, so that all parties

can become familiar with the information and be ready to discuss an

appropriate program for speech for your son at the IEP meeting. I did just

this. That was the meeting where they said' well, i am only here 2 1/2 days a

week, so i can only offer speech a maximum of 3 x week " ...i said " your

schedule doesn't define my son's needs - if you are only available to work

with 3x week, then who will be the other SLP working with james on the

other two days?? " They just folded and said, " OK, 5 x week, 30 mins a

session " - exactly what i had written in the letter saying his needs were

(supported by professional SLP statements saying " daily " ).

good luck. All fights with the school are winnable if you have the data

supporting your request --- just don't accept " no " until they have said it 4

times (its the " let's see who folds - regardless if we are right or wrong "

approach used byt he schools)

sharon

[Guest guest]

It is not unreasonable to ask for speech-language therapy daily.

Communication therapy is not only about speech....as in the spoken word, but

daily practice with an augmentative system is very important too.

[Guest guest]

Is your son currently getting services from the district? I was just wondering

because an IEP meeting would be the place to find out what services are

available. 5 days a week for a ten year old seems appropriate to me. However

at our small school the speech therapist is only there 2 X a week so if I was in

your situation I would have to either use longer sessions those 2 days or see if

I could drive him to an available therapist. Is speech your sons only

disability? Dawn On Mon, 06

November 2000, sharonswartwout@... wrote:

>

>

> 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?

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

no it would not . We asked for 3 hours a week..they gave us 2 which is good

in our area. We also told them it was to be one on one not group, or with a

peer. We also get 1 hour outside the school system we pay for out of our

pocket. It has made a world of difference in the speech of our grandaughter.

ninnaterry