Re: How much individual speech therapy will my daughter...

[Guest guest]

First of all they don't want you get outside evaluations so that you have no

one to " back you up. " They can say and do what they want and you will have no

recourse. Many pre-schools that offer therapies (in NY at least) do

evaluations and you should check your options. As for the apraxia diagnosis,

my current prompt therapist does not even like to use that word. I don't know

why. I do know, however, I went to my IEP with the following:

1) Letter from previous speech therapist of apraxia diagnosis and in the

letter was a request for " prompt " therapy. You can research at

thepromptinstitue.com and apraxia-kids.org and print out appropriate info for

proof that the therapy works and DEMAND nicely that your child get 4x30 (the

min amount recommended for apraxic kids) and some extra time with oral motor

or prompt specialist. Gets names of prompt certified therapists in your area

and call them! Pick people brains. (so to speak) I must have called 50-60

people, prompt instructors too- trying to get information and names of good

therapists. I was told that my letter would be too old to count- dated sept,

2001, but the adminstrator from the school district was also remined that the

SLP who wrote the letter was not only an EI SLP but also was a Board of Ed

SLP in good standing and it did count.

2) Letter from currently speech therapist recommending services that you/and

SLP feel necessary.My therapist gave me a hassle told me they should call her

on her cell phone during the meeting for her .02. I was not comfortable with

that. She once told me never to call her on her cell phone as she usually

has it turned off and does not know how to retreive her messages. I strongly

told her that I was not comfortable doing that-contacting her via cell phone

for IEP. She told me that I was asking for a ton of speech that I would not

get, amongst other things. Asked her if what she was doing was unnecessary,

as her hour/week that she works with my child was really the time in

jeopardy. She gave me run around until she finally told me the faxed letter

would be sent to me shortly! P.S. Although she is a great SLP and trained in

prompt, she is moving and has already informed me that she cannot continue to

see my son. Possibly why she did not want to stick her neck out for Dylan,

but too bad; he is my son and I am going to decided what is best for him!

3) Seek out someone in your community who can help you as a parent advocate,

possibly thru local autustic/apraxia organizations. You can get a lot of

little pointers eg. I was going to waive the transportation portion as I plan

on driving Dylan to and from school. My friend/Dylan's special ed teacher

stopped me and told me to accept so that transportation is already approved

and I can just call the bus company come sept to cancel - but it will

already be approved. I never know if i will need to use it but now i can,

more easily if necessary.

Of course all school districts do not operate the same but, when you walk in

the meeting armed with information and know what you want, you will have your

best shot at getting it. I know my son needs alot of therapy - he was

getting speech for over a year and he is only now starting to make small step

progress saying a few simple words or syllables. I cannot understand maybe

80-90% that he is now babbling. It is very frustrating when he keeps

repeating the same thing I don't have a clue unless he brings me and shows

me, so I know the speech is a necessity.

Hope this helps,

Randi

mom to Tyler 9/5/95 my currently toothless wonder and Dylan 7/4/99 my Yankee

Doodle Toddler