Receiving speech related services in a private school

[Guest guest]

My son currently 4years old and attends our public school pre-school

disabled program. He has IEP. He has a mild to moderate delay in his

expressive language. Otherwise, all of his developments have been on

target. I am considering placing him in a private school (Sept. 08)

for kindergarten. But, I do not want to lose the speech services that

our local public school is providing. While he did wonderfully last

year and his speech improved tremendously, I would still want him to be

overseen by a professional in a private school. The SLP does not have

to be the one he has now. So, my question is, if he attended a private

school, can he still receive speech that are paid for my a public

school district? Are there any laws stating yes or no?

Thank you.

[Guest guest]

Yes! If my son still qualified for speech services, he would get

speech at the Catholic school he will be attending in the Fall. In

NJ, most school districts outsource this to private companies that do

it in the school. However, the school seemed doubtful that a child

with a severe disorder would get enough services. They seemed to

think that twice per week was about the most that service would do.

Also, they don't have official OT, so I don't know how they handle

non-speech services. If there aren't a lot of people in a private

school that need services, they may make you go to the public school

or some other location to get services.

The law is that they can't refuse to give you one service (e.g.

speech) because you refuse to take another. My impression is that

that includes refusing to take school, not just therapy. If they

don't want to do it for you, they may tell you it's not possible, but

that's not true. Ultimately, something negotiating is involved.

Since we no longer qualify for speech, the school district refused to

evaluated him for OT. Grrr. We're now on the wait list for OT (14+

weeks long at Children's Specialized in Hamilton) and looking into

NACD and other options.

in NJ

>

> My son currently 4years old and attends our public school pre-

school

> disabled program. He has IEP. He has a mild to moderate delay in

his

> expressive language. Otherwise, all of his developments have been

on

> target. I am considering placing him in a private school (Sept.

08)

> for kindergarten. But, I do not want to lose the speech services

that

> our local public school is providing. While he did wonderfully

last

> year and his speech improved tremendously, I would still want him

to be

> overseen by a professional in a private school. The SLP does not

have

> to be the one he has now. So, my question is, if he attended a

private

> school, can he still receive speech that are paid for my a public

> school district? Are there any laws stating yes or no?

>

> Thank you.

>