Can any speech language clinicians tell me if my child is being cheated in his services?

Question

My son receives 30 minutes of speech a week. He has been working with the sp- sound for two months. That has been the only sound. Is this normal?

Answer 1

Well, my answer would depend on what your child's problems are, how old he is and what the goals are.

If you have a nonverbal autistic child who's half way through middle school and his goal is functional speech, I'd say you were being cheated.

If you have a child who's in the early part of elementary education, has a slight lisp and his only goals are to achieve phonetic blends, then I'd say it's better.

There really isn't enough information. If you have concerns, you certainly have the right, both legal and ethical to ask the speech pathologist what her plan is. You have the right to request another speech path (which I did do and got, for my child in school). There are a dozen ways to teach language, and it's possible that this speech path doesn't have the key to help your child.

Call an IEP meeting at the very least, and ask what the time line looks like, what the plan is for teaching speech, and why it isn't happening.

Answer 2

It would depend on how old your child is. My guess is that if they are working on 'sp' they are working on 's' blends...maybe 'st' and 'sn' as well for example. S blends are appropriate for kindergarten age kids and older to work on, but if your child is in preschool, and if they are only working on s blends, it may not be appropriate. I'd agree for you to join the speech group or just have a conversation with the speech pathologist about it.

I'm not sure what you mean about being cheated. Do you feel like he should have more goals? More minutes per week? Less minutes per week? 2 months would be 4 hours of speech work. Of course, you spend the most time with your child and have the best relationship with him, so it would be great for you to work on it at home (if you aren't already, that is) as well. If you don't feel like your child is learning fast enough, ask the speech pathologist what kind of activities and games you could do at home to make speech fun and help him learn faster. Whatever, you should talk to your child's speech pathologist, I'm sure they will be happy to help answer any questions or concerns you have.

Answer 3

If your child is recieving speech services, he must have an IEP. Look in the IEP and see what other goals he has. I would also bring your concern to his SLP. He/she is the only one who knows how your son is progressing. Every child progresses differently, and some sounds can be very hard, especially if a child has an oral/motor problem. I once spent an entire semester trying to get a 1st grader to say /l/ properly, and I saw him more than once a week.

Answer 4

I was in speech years ago and the only sound I EVER worked on was the -rrr. It took three years before they finally did some test and admitted it was my Irish accent.

Answer 5

Why not join him for the speech class? See for yourself, dont just trust that he is being helped. Remember, school is meant to be an extension of what he is being taught at home. You are in charge, not them. Ask to sit in.