Re: How do I request more speech services from school?

[Guest guest]

Hi Birgit,

I don't have an answer really but I wanted to comment that every time Dawson is assessed by a Ph.D. for progress every couple of years that I hear the same thing about skills I feel he has mastered but the tester doesn't see the same level of mastery. They say it's a failure to "generalize" the skill in all environments.

R.

How do I request more speech services from school?

I feel that the amount of speech my son receives currently is not enough and would like to ask for more at our upcoming ARD even he is meeting all his IEP speech goals. I know that he masters these speech goals because speech is either 1:1 or in a very small group (typically just him and 2 other kiddos) and it is very prompted. He doesn't carry the learned skills over into the class room or his daily life at home. So how do I argue for an increase in services?! I know that they will show me the data and point out that goals have always been mastered...I've been wrecking my brain as to what my response could be!

[Guest guest]

My child is 14 I have never met one single parent who ever said that their child received enough speech therapy in school to be able to use expressive language in a meaningful way. Please someone correct me if I am wrong.

From: kgreeceman@...

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy

Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 7:40 PM

Subject: Re: How do I request more speech services from school?

Hi Birgit,

I don't have an answer really but I wanted to comment that every time Dawson is assessed by a Ph.D. for progress every couple of years that I hear the same thing about skills I feel he has mastered but the tester doesn't see the same level of mastery. They say it's a failure to "generalize" the skill in all environments.

R. How do I request more speech services from school?

I feel that the amount of speech my son receives currently is not enough and would like to ask for more at our upcoming ARD even he is meeting all his IEP speech goals. I know that he masters these speech goals because speech is either 1:1 or in a very small group (typically just him and 2 other kiddos) and it is very prompted. He doesn't carry the learned skills over into the class room or his daily life at home. So how do I argue for an increase in services?! I know that they will show me the data and point out that goals have always been mastered...I've been wrecking my brain as to what my response could be!

[Guest guest]

Your goals will drive services you will need aggressive goals to have any chance of receiving more speech therapy time. Likely you will meet resistance here, if you have a copy of the ABLLS you might consider using some of those goals. Additionally your speech goals should include that your son will be able to for instance "Say Hello when meeting a new person across 3 environments and 3 different unknown people"/ Still you have the issue of who is tracking the progress and recording the data. If what you want is speech at home you might be able to get in home services where they come to show you how to implement what they are doing at school. All IEP goals should be measurable and measured not by observation only.

But if speech is really what you want your better off doing it privately or getting a book and dedicating yourself to doing it several hours a week. I spent way too much time waiting for the school and there are hundreds of kids both on and off the spectrum fighting for the same speech therapy time. There just are not enough speech therapists to go around, but they will never tell you that because they have to offer it if he needs it. So, what to do? They will claim he doesn't need it, it's a nasty cycle.

How do I request more speech services from school?

I feel that the amount of speech my son receives currently is not enough and would like to ask for more at our upcoming ARD even he is meeting all his IEP speech goals. I know that he masters these speech goals because speech is either 1:1 or in a very small group (typically just him and 2 other kiddos) and it is very prompted. He doesn't carry the learned skills over into the class room or his daily life at home. So how do I argue for an increase in services?! I know that they will show me the data and point out that goals have always been mastered...I've been wrecking my brain as to what my response could be!

[Guest guest]

>

> Your goals will drive services you will need aggressive goals to have any

chance of receiving more speech therapy time. Likely you will meet resistance

here, if you have a copy of the ABLLS you might consider using some of those

goals. Additionally your speech goals should include that your son will be able

to for instance " Say Hello when meeting a new person across 3 environments and 3

different unknown people " / Still you have the issue of who is tracking the

progress and recording the data.

Going along with this, what my son (14yo Asperger) has in his IEP is that he has

to perform the speech goals in a general ed classroom and lunch room settings

also, not just in special ed. And for that to happen, he has to do them with

other staff other than special ed staff. If you can just change the placement

of some of the goals like that, it will help force generalizing, and the general

ed teachers have to track/record it just like they do the other goals. If he is

meeting his goals in the " laboratory " setting of speech class, it is time to

start generalizing into the real world, not drop the goals. The idea of needing

to generalize in " real life " is well known, you shouldn't really have to argue

this too hard. If the people you are talking to don't know about it, I would

start moving the issue up the ladder until you hit more knowledgeable people.

Of course, then you will have the additional problem of getting the general ed

staff to understand what to do, but what else is new.

It is very difficult to find speech therapists, or anyone for that matter, that

knows how to teach pragmatic language to autistic kids. That goes for schools

or yourself. Not that the speech is totally useless, but you'll probably want

to supplement. In a good pragmatic speech program, you should be doing a lot of

" homework " anyway to generalize across environments. I agree that you might

want to think about training yourself to do speech with your own child and see

the " professionals " or school speech therapist more as support than the main

source of speech therapy. At least, in my geographic area, there just is not

much out there. And yes, I know, you are already way overworked and really

would like some help.

[Guest guest]

Trina's reply was excellent.  I don't know of any parent who has received enough speech or OT for theri child through the districts.  I know we always supplemented speech at our own expense.  I know this is unfair.  If your child has medicaid you can get outside speech and OT this way.

If you want to get the school to do it, you will have to have an amount recommended by an outside agency.  A developmental pediatrician, speech pathologist, Easter Seals, or your local MHMR organization can do testing and make recommendations.  If they do not grant it on this basis, then you need to write a follow up letter to create a paper trail to eventually show the district did not follow any outside recommendation for your child.

Perhaps your child is " mastering " all objectives becasue the objectives are not challenging enough.  This is what most districts do to our children.  They dummy down the expectations so they can master easily and it makes the school district look good, but actually hurts the child.

Be sure the goals are SMART: specific, measurable, use action words, realistic, and time-limited (child must be able to master it in a school-year period [from yearly ARD to yearly ARD]).You do this by writing down what YOU want your child to be able to do and what you want your child to know, in this case regarding speech.  Then you take what you have written and you turn it into SMART IEP goals.  Then you break these goals down into small, measurable steps.  You require these goals to be obsevered in a variety of settings.  Focus on the speech behavior or action that you can count or observe. Your child should be assessed objectively and often across home and school settings.  If the skill is measurable, you will observe the behavior.

If you do not agree with any othe the goals or objectives THEY have listed, if they are not written in a SMART manner, disagree and do not sign the document.  Deliberate and negotiate for services.  You can agree with the parts of the IEP you agree with and continue to disagree with those parts you don't.  You by law have a right to be an ACTIVE participant in the development of goals.

Haven

[Guest guest]

Thank you guys! This was exactly the type of info I was looking for.

[Guest guest]

Are the goals truly annual and measurable? What is the criteria mastery, 100%? Maybe the goals need to increase in difficulty and the mastery criteria upped to 100%. When is the last time he had a full speech/language eval, especially in the areas of syntax and social/pragmatic skills.

MG

[Guest guest]

Mark and Brigit:We have our son tested yearly by a psychologist who specializes in education.  At least once every year or two we have a complete speech and OT evaluation done outside the school.  The school can and should do a complete FIE once every three years, but you do not have to accept their evaluations as fact.  You can disagree and request the school pay for the outside evaluation.  You do not have to accept who they pick to do the outside evaluation.  Come up with several choices you feel comfortable with and present them at ARD.

I believe the key to getting a FAPE for your child has much to do with preparation and mostly PERSEVERANCE.For the last two summers, our district pushed the ESY issue to the last day of school telling me " We told you what it was.  You either want it or you don't. " (This statement is a clear violation of federal law).  I wrote letters and clearly defined how their program failed to meet my son's " unique " needs.  I also picked out goals from his IEP in which he was likely to regress and stated how theri program would fail to addrewss these issues.   They would keep saying, " We think our program is appropriate. "   The principal tried to appeal to my " sympathy " by saying, " I'm so disappointed that you don't want our program. "    I reassured her that this was ot " personal. "   The principal and teachers are all " likable " people, but the issue was FAPE for my son, and I explained to her that I would do whatever I had to do to protect him and his right to FAPE.  (This is a very polite way of saying you will take it to due process if you have to without sounding threatening).

By refusing to back down, they paid for my son's outside program for two summers.  It doesn't matter what the issue is.  This will work for whatever you beleive is needed to meet FAPE for your child,  If you would like a copy of one of the letters to the district.  Email me off list and I will send it to you.

Whether they agree or deny, be SURE to always follow up with letters.  This creates paper trails.Hope this helps.Haven

[Guest guest]

I think you are right. We had speech in school and also twice a week with a private therapist in order to make progress. In defense of the schools, they just do not have enough therapists to meet the needs of everyone in the school that needs speech therapy. If your child is showing any progress, I don't believe the school has to do anymore than that.

To: Texas-Autism-Advocacy Sent: Tue, October 6, 2009 5:24:31 AMSubject: Re: How do I request more speech services from school?

My child is 14 I have never met one single parent who ever said that their child received enough speech therapy in school to be able to use expressive language in a meaningful way. Please someone correct me if I am wrong.

From: kgreecemanaol (DOT) com

To: Texas-Autism- Advocacy@ yahoogroups. com

Sent: Monday, October 05, 2009 7:40 PM

Subject: Re: [Texas-Autism- Advocacy] How do I request more speech services from school?

Hi Birgit,

I don't have an answer really but I wanted to comment that every time Dawson is assessed by a Ph.D. for progress every couple of years that I hear the same thing about skills I feel he has mastered but the tester doesn't see the same level of mastery. They say it's a failure to "generalize" the skill in all environments.

R. [Texas-Autism- Advocacy] How do I request more speech services from school?

I feel that the amount of speech my son receives currently is not enough and would like to ask for more at our upcoming ARD even he is meeting all his IEP speech goals. I know that he masters these speech goals because speech is either 1:1 or in a very small group (typically just him and 2 other kiddos) and it is very prompted. He doesn't carry the learned skills over into the class room or his daily life at home. So how do I argue for an increase in services?! I know that they will show me the data and point out that goals have always been mastered...I' ve been wrecking my brain as to what my response could be!