Speech Services-frustrated with evaluation testing?

Question

My son is almost 4 and we can only understand (estimate) 65% of what he is saying. When he talks, I have to go through my mental rolodex to match the sentence with his life situation whether that the conversation is about his friends, school, snacks, etc so I can try to understand his wants and thoughts on something. His test scores aren’t suggesting services at this time. Why all the red tape when you can clearly hear there is a problem with his speech? I have to go to a board meeting next week to discuss the tests. Is there anyway, I can get him services through the school district without the test results? Why can’t they just listen to him to see there is a problem?

Both my husband and I had speech problems as children and my husband has dyslexia while I have learning disabilities on my side. I always thought early intervention would be key to a child's success in school and I wouldn't be surprised if he was diagnoised with LD or dyslexia come 2nd grade. Why not start early instead of wasting time that could be spent working on the problem?

He was evaluated last week and his scores were low to moderate. I'm hoping I can get over this hump by adding details to his struggles when we go over the evaluations next week.

Our family doctor is disgusted with all of this and will diagnois him with Hypoplasia of the tongue if he can't get services because he feels there is a definate problem with his speech. I would do it privately, but my insurance won't cover it and most therapist in my area (Long Island) want $90-$110 for 30 minutes.

Answer 1

Like Junebug, i'm going to suggest requesting additional testing. When you have your IEP meeting next week, take a typewritten letter stating that you are formally disagreeing with the results found by the school, and are requesting that an outside professional do testing. Be sure to take your time IN THE MEETING, going over their results, asking as many questions as you can about how they achieved these results.

My son has a speech disorder, and I listened in on their testing. The speech therapist was prompting him, correcting his speech and giving him practice to 'get it right'. Unfortunately his speech disorder is based on muscle weaknesses and neurological links, not on misunderstanding how to say the word. Needless to say when I brought that up during the meeting they were quick to approve his speech therapy.

As the third poster suggested, private speech is also something you want to look into. It's expensive (and our insurance wouldn't cover it, they informed us after building up $6000 bill, because he did not "lose" speech or have a TBI) However, school districts are notoriously underfunded, the STs are overworked and often are new with very little experience.

Answer 2

He was evaluated but it sounds as if the official meeting has yet to happen...or I may be confused.

In any case, a few things to know...for a student to be placed in services through the school, the school must evaluate him. The schools are not legally bound to accept the findings of any testers other than their own, although they may go over the results to support or supplement thier own findings. Once testing is done, there are minimal requirements for qialifying for services. it varies by state and by what your child is tested for. It is possible (especially if the only area is speech at this time) that his scores/delays were not in the range to qualify for services. That is incredably frustrating..and you are right to say earlier services make for more improvements.. However, the schools do have limited services and limited slots so have to use some sort of way to decide who gets what based on need. You can appeal the findings and request the school test him again, using an independent tester/evaluator. This will be paid for by the school, but you generally have to work from a list of professionals they provide. If those results come back recommending services, they will have to reconsider. Otherwise, there is no way to get services from the district.

Answer 3

When I started my young autistic non-verbal boys at our local school system the red tape was unbelievable, to put it nicely. The attitude of the school professionals was... And the resulting therapies through the school was a joke. On the other hand I have run into some people who have their children in special ed programs at their local schools and their experiences are just wonderful. I have worked with a couple of therapists outside of the school system who were just wonderful, and I don't know what I would have done without them. So there is someone out there who can be a great help. If you can, try going through the medical field, and get evaluations and therapy as much as you can through your doctor. Take those evaluations, etc. back to school, and that may help get the appropriate therapy at school for your son. Then again...

Here are two other resources that I like though.

First of all, as far as dealing with the special educations system... are you ready to become a "professional" yourself? As far as information about special education law, how to navigate the spec. ed. system, etc. go to Wrightslaw.com. One of their many wonderful books is From Emotions to Advocacy. Look up any book you want to buy from them on Amazon.com first though.

Second. You can work on speech therapy at home too. One speech therapist, who I did respect, has recommended this to me. It is called Straight Talk, and is a speech therapy program you can use yourself, with your son. It isn't what I would call expensive either. I haven't gotten it yet... cause I just found it, and I still have to pay the electric bill, if you know what I mean. But I will be adding this to our homeschool curriculum.

Hang in there. My 4 year old non-verbal twins are now 5 years old, and talking quite well, all things considered. And improving daily. I would suggest going through the medical field though if you have any questions. If the problem is oral motor functioning... then you will want their help and advise.

Answer 4

School districts are hesitant to offer services for speech/communication disorders at such a young age because the general consensus is that he will grow out of it. If it is an articulation disorder, he may very well grow out of it. I imagine that testing included making sure there weren't any physical reasons for his speech disorder, such as problems with his mouth, tongue, teeth, etc or a hearing loss. According to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) your son needs to met certain criteria in order to receive services based on a variety of evaluations. School districts can't just give services to a child, because the parents think there is something wrong. They must have documentation. Does his teacher believe that something is wrong?

In the meantime, I would work at home with your son on articulation exercises or look into your health insurance. Some insurance plans offer speech therapy.

Answer 5

I'm sure the turned over every stone when they evaluated him. It is entirely possible he scored higher than 2 deviations below the average score on his tests; this is the cut-off for eligibility for school services. In other words, his problems aren't severe enough at this age to qualify for services. The speech sounds at 4 can be quite immature, but still be within normal limits for his age. Average development at his age would exclude the following sounds, or be in the process of developing; sh, s, ch, r, l, f/v, dj, and j.
They will keep an eye on him, particularly if you have shared the family history with the person who tested him. He should be considered to be "high risk" for learning disabilities. Ask about this at the meeting, and ask your other questions, too.

Answer 6

You go t some good advice here so I'm only going to add I wish you would also consider a hearing evaluation. Most kids have inner ear infections up until they are 5 or so and it could contribute to the speech being poor. If he has had colds the fluid fills the ears and makes a temorary hearing loss- just at the time he is learning to speak! Hopefuly his hearing is ok but at least it will give you some more info.

Answer 7

The reason for the red tape is that special ed in public schools is CORRUPT all over the USA.

Schools do NOT get reprimanded, get in trouble, whatever when they do this and they KNOW it, that 's why this crap continues.

Parents don't know this until they learn the special ed laws and see how the schools are lying, cheating, intimidating parents.
The first thing to do is learn the special ed laws -
www.wrightslaw.com

It is a complicated process that you and the school must go thru to get the child the help he needs.
Schools WON"T tell you this because they don't want to help.

According to sped law, they DO have to do an evaluation first. BUT, you have to give 'written' agreement in writing for them to do this eval. Did you do this?

Why are they wanting a meeting if they already told you he doesnt' qualify for services?

Write to district sped director and request 'prior written notice' on their refusal of sped servcies. They have to have legal reason for refusing, and if they don't they will allow the servcies because they will not put illegal reasons in writing.

By law they HAVE to give this to you.

Another thing is to write to district sped director and request 'an independent educational evaluation by public expense because I disagree with the districts evaluation'.

This is where the school will pay for another eval, and YOU choose the dr. This eval will show the true problems because most schools 'rig' the tests they give so they can show the child is ok.

Even though school has said no to services, they are to do this eval if you request it. Then it will be used to determine sped eligibility and services. ANd since it will show the TRUE problems, you are most likely to get the services then.

You do NOT have to give a reason as to WHY you disagree with their eval, only that you do disagree with it.

Schools do not tell parents their rights and safeguards because they don't want to help children.

Parents who think their school is doing right are the ones who dont' know the laws and don't know the school is corrupt.

Getting services is half the battle. Then comes the fight all thru to 12th grade to make sure schools DO the services. It's VERY hard to get them to do this without taking them to court. And sometimes even then, they won't do it.

They KNOW they will NEVER get in trouble for what they do.
Thank God for homeschool.

Go to www.schwablearning.org and sign up for free to get help on their parent to parent message board. There are hundreds of parents there who help each other who go thru the same things. They will be glad to help you each step of the way.

Answer 8

If you disagree with the school's test results, you have the right to request an Independent Educational Evaluation (IEE) and the school district (by law) should have notified you of this.

For more information on IEE's you can go here:

http://www.wrightslaw.com/info/test.iee.steedman.htm

Answer 9

We bypassed the school system and went straight to private therapy. Our insurance pays for 80% of speech therapy until he reaches statistically normal levels . . . hopefully yours will as well.

P.S. I hope you read this. Speech therapy is considerably less expensive in the Philadelphia area - $80.00 per hour. Contact me via email for referral . . . I would also try investigating less metropolitan areas for lower fees.