Annie Said:

Speech therapy?

We Answered:

Your child would have to be evaluated by the school (speech pathologist) to see if he/she meets the criteria for speech therapy. They cannot set up an evaluation without getting written permission by you. Students who qualify for therapy may stutter, have a voice disorder, have problems making speech sounds correctly, or be below average in developing language concepts.

If the test results indicate that the student is eligible and would benefit from therapy, an Individual Education Plan (IEP) will be developed. They will ask you to come to the school for the IEP meeting and the set up of the IEP by the IEP team, which will include you. Basically the IEP will state that your child will receive speech therapy. It will say when his/her therapy begins, how long each therapy session will be, how many times per week, it will have short and/or long term goals; such as mastering a certain speech sound within a certain timeframe. You will meet a minimum of 1 time a yr to review the IEP, may be more often depending on what timelines are set for each goal and how he/she does to accomplishing them. For ex. if they are concentraing on a couple of certain speech sounds and they give him/her 6 months to accomplish those sounds and he/she don't have them accomlished they would extend the timeline...or if he/she gets one of the sounds but not the other, they would continue to work on the one sound by extending the timeline and begin to work on a new sound. Either way a new IEP would have to be put into place to show the new goals. It would also inculde any accomadations the speech therapist may use to accomplish those goals. You can also request for an IEP review meeting at anytime if you feel the goals on the IEP are not being met, or if you have any concerns about it in general. A minimum of every 3 years the child must be re-evaluated to see if they still qualify to receive speech therapy. That does not mean they will not be evaluated more often. You will receive a copy of the IEP for yourself. If they don't give you a copy of the speech evaluation/diagnosis, then request one..our school district automactically gives you a copy. The length of time the therapist serves the student is determined by the severity of the speech and/or language handicap and the IEP.

In our school district, new students entering the school system, kindergarten students, and first grade students are screened each year to determine if a student needs to be referred for testing for speech/language therapy. Students at other grade levels may be referred by school staff or parent/guardian.

My son was referred for an evaulation in kindergarten due to the screening his school did. I'm glad they did it, neither my husband or I could hear the difficulty he had with speech. It's like when you have a child and you can understand everything they say , but someone else who is not around them as often as you are have a hard time understanding them and usually have to ask you what they said. He had a hard time with certain speech sounds. He began therapy in kindergarten ..going 3 times a week for 30 minutes each...1st grade he went 2 times a week for 30 minutes, 1st half of 2nd grade he did the same, 2nd semester they put him to 1 time a week for 30 minutes..3rd grade 1 time a week 30 minutes, 2nd semester of 3rd grade he had accomplished all of his goals and graduated from speech therapy. My son is now in the 5th grade and has no other problems with his speech since.

You may want to take a look at your health insurance and see if they cover outpatient services for speech/language therapy. That way you can get him/her therapy on the outside of what he/she will receive through the school. Hopefully they can correct the speech problem sooner.

EDIT: In our state (FL) yes medicaid does cover unlimited outpatient services for speech therapy. They should have it listed in your covergae book, if not call your local office. You can call your schoolboard and see what their timeline is to get your child evaluated. According the US Dept of Education, "an evaluation must be conducted within 60 days of receiving parental consent for the evaluation or, if the State establishes a timeframe within which the evaluation must be conducted, within that timeframe". and "A meeting to write the IEP must be held within 30 calendar days of deciding that the child is eligible for speech therapy" . You can push the evaluation to be earlier, you may want to take into consideration how many other parents may be waiting for their child to be evaluated as well. Perhaps your school district only has 1 or 2 people to do the evaulations for all of the schools.

Patsy Said:

speech therapy schools in boston?

We Answered:

Information is below.

Ruth Said:

What are graduate schools for speech therapy with low GPA requirements?

We Answered:

asha.org has a listing of all graduate programs. Sorry I do not know which ones have low GPA requirements.

Catherine Said:

My child is 3 and we are being told she can no longer receive speech therapy unless she in school or daycare?

We Answered:

I live in Delaware and the school district took over my son's speech and Occupational therapy at 3, well after he was 3. He was born on the 19th of December and did not start until after the Christmas holidays. He is not "in" school but the district sends someone to my house once a week. Talk to your coordinator and ask about transition. They should have talked to you about it before she was 3. Talk to your school district and get some info. they should be able to help.

Carolyn Said:

Are classroom teachers providing speech therapy at your school?

We Answered:

Classroom teachers are not speech pathologists (who actually have a separate credential).
Teachers do work with kids in the classroom on "carryover" activities recommended, and monitored by, the school speech pathologist.
"Carryover" means the incorporation of what the student learned in therapy into the wider educational environment (and thus into the greater world). It is essential for the habituation of speech/language improvements into the child's everyday life.

Randall Said:

Anyone know any good schools in Chicago, for a Masters Degree in Developmental therapy, Speech Therapy or OT?

We Answered:

Northwestern is consistently in the top 5 speech pathology programs in the country.
You can Google "top (speech pathology, occupational therapy) schools in US".
Alternatively, find a program at either asha.org or aota.org

Eugene Said:

Are speech therapy and speech pathology the same thing?

We Answered:

Speech therapy is the process of correcting disorders of speech, language, voice, cognition, and swallowing.
Speech pathology is the study of the above classes of disorders (the subject matter and theory).
The practitioner is called a "speech pathologist".