Wanting to decrease our speech therapy time/watch out VB people.

[Guest guest]

Wanted to warn all you who are still in the public getting somewhat of an ABA

program, what might be in store for you. Of course, my first reflex was, I'll

need a full battery of testing then so we can get objective data to back up that

recommendation. I think she got her hand slapped because she said, at the ARD

two important things 1) she read a goal wrong and therefore was teaching it

incorrectly and 2) she didn't think he even could attain 10 signs in a school

year (when I had just given them 3 and they had 1, so we was already at 4 signs

that would count towards this year). Ah, yeah, well, there are SLPs who are

BCBAs, and there are SLPs who do other things -- the kid cannot brush his teeth

(aren't they supposed to be teaching him life skills) because he has oral

defensiveness). Sounds like a run-around to me. I've tried to remove the

names.

But this was the transcript from today's ARD (that portion):

SLP: I'm recommending a change, but before I do, I want to give the grounds on

which I am recommended it. Of course this is a recommendation. First of all,

we all agree that communication one of the highest priorities of CHILD'S day.

It needs to be functional. It needs to be worked on throughout the day. The

second thing I want to make is that speech therapy is a support to what goes on

in the regular classroom, it is what it is designd to do. Thirdly, partly of

the speech therapist's role is to provide techniques and strategies for

accomplishing the communication IEP that are techniques and strategies that the

classroom teacher cannot perform due to lack of experience or because of the

nature of the classroom does provide for it.

Me: Can you say that again because that didn't register in my head.

SLP: I will try.

Me: Just the last paragraph.

SLP: Yeah. That the techniques and strategies that the speech therapist has to

use to implement this IEP are things that the classroom teacher does not have or

else the nature of the classroom does not allow for the performance of those

objectives in the classroom. I think we all talked a lot about ABA as being an

approach that has been effective for CHILD in the past and still remains

effective. It is something requires training that TEACHER has received, I have

received and you have said you wanted even more training of, but it is not a

technique that is specific to a speech therapy. It is used by the aides that

are used it. It is used by TEACHER. It is used by me, and it needs to be used

throughout that day. For that reason, I have recommended that the speech

therapy be decreased to 1080 minutes per 9 weeks, knowing it still needs to be

done throughout the day, but it is not the speech therapist who needs to be

doing 1080 minutes; it is the staff that works with CHILD.

Principal: Does that go back to you saying it is a functional -- put him in a

more functional setting to work on…

SLP: If it is used in his tabletop activities, but he still have table-top

activities I believe in almost every subject and is also used in other settings

as well.

Principal: This goes back to the idea that we need to make what we are doing

with him in a more functional setting. In other words, if you are taking him

out of that functional setting to do it, then he is not getting to perform those

tasks in the setting he will normally be in.

SLP: That is more of a side note.

Principal: I'm sorry.

SLP: You are not that far off. It is the fact that the way it is being

approached by the speech therapist is the same way that it is being approached

by his teacher, in this case, TEACHER, and by any trained paraprofessional that

is working with him. It is not something peculiar that a speech therapist can

only administer or knows how to do.

Principal: But to go from 1080 to 810.

SLP: It is 1080 and I am recommended 810 which would be over a 9-week period,

which would be 90 minutes a week. Right now, he atypically received 120 minutes

a week.

Diag: It is effectively losing 30 minutes a week, but he still can have 1-1/2

hours a week.

Principal: He is losing 30 minutes with SLP, but not minutes of instruction

time, but that 30 minutes of time she would have had him with is then

implemented in the class in that functional setting.

Unknown: It is included all day.

Unknown person: Tt is not losing time, it is just shifting that the speech

therapist is required for as many minutes to do something special that the

teacher and his paraprofessionals can't do.

Me: On that, I'll have to recess because I believe on TEA, the speech therapy

services has to be delivered by a licensed therapist.

Principal: Well, she would. She is still doing that, right.

SLP: Ah ha.

Principal: She is still getting ….

Hilda: But his communication needs have not changed. Actually they have

gotten--the urgency of his communications are even higher now because of all of

his regression.

TOOK BREAK

Principal: We left off talking about related services, speech therapy

specifically, and the number of hours per 9-week grading period we were going to

work with. We had talked about cutting the time from 1080 to 850, 810, 810 as

far as the specific. The rationale once again was to give him that classroom

setting time to work on those functional skills while still getting the services

and Joy says she can still get the job done within that amount of time. Correct

me if I'm wrong. Is that a good summary of what we talked about, SLP?

SLP: Yes, it is.

Principal: Mrs. Bowen, you had some questions?

Me: No, I'm going to have to recess until I can research that. That will be

our ARD recommendation. I cannot sign it yes or no on the ARD until I do

research on it.

Principal: That is fair and that is definitely an option right now, and the

committee is saying that is what we recommend. SLP spent some time....

Me: I probably, before that recommendation is…I would want some kind of testing

to justify that before the 3-year. If the time is going to be changed, then

it's got to be based on objective testing and not just subjective opinion.

Principal: And Joy, that is just a recommendation you came up with by working

with him and still and still thinking.

SLP: My recommendation is based on the fact that the things that are working

for at whatever level, a low level or a high level, or ABA techniques

that are in place and being used by basically all the personally, not just the

speech therapist. The speech therapist is not doing particular to a speech

therapy technique.

Me: Last year, I was told oral motor exercises were being done, there were no

specific goals, but oromotor stuff was being worked on with him. " We are

addressing oromotor. " He is using signs as his primary communication. The

oromotor is related to that, not do we typically work on oral motor. It is more

of an eating skill, not necessarily speech. Last year, I was told it wasn't

necessary to put it in the minutes because it was being done and it was that was

going to be asked to be done, by faith.

SLP: I do not recommend working on oromotor with .

Principal: As far as what we are doing, you said, you are going to look into

that. SLP is recommending the 810, so that is what we will go with right now.

We will proceed forwarding, knowing what your stance is at this point.