IEP Meeting/ Speech Therapy Provided by District?

[Guest guest]

Hi,

We had a pretty contentious IEP meeting today that is actually 'to

be continued' because they only allotted 45 minutes.

Our 3yo daughter is in a self-contained autism classroom. She'll be

4 in a couple of months. While she has made gains over the past

year, she has not progressed in verbal/expressive language. She's

still essentially non-verbal.

The co-op district says " She'll talk when she wants to talk " – the

principal actually said that. When I asked for additional services

to focus on Verbal she said they didn't give anything other

than 'the program'. I don't see how this is individualized. They

also said that many families have private speech therapy but that

they would not fund it. Her program at school is five days per week,

say five hours per day, and about an hour per day of ABA. It is co-

taught by a special ed teacher and a speech therapist. I like the

program in many ways, but it is not resulting in any speech gains.

I had them add a goal for verbal imitation, sign language, and/or an

alternate communication device. I still think we need more hours.

My question for you:

Is your child getting or have you heard of any local district

funding speech therapy or ABA therapy in addition to the classroom

time?

Thanks,

Marie