- How does my child enroll in speech?
- How do I know if my child needs speech?
- Once my child is in speech, what do I have to do?
- Is my child in Special Ed now?
- Will being enrolled affect my child's participation in other things, like TAG?
- What will my child miss if they are enrolled in speech?
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How does my child enroll in speech?
The first thing to do is contact your child's classroom teacher to fill out
a referral form. Once the referral form has reached my desk, I will contact
you to set up a meeting. If we decide to have your child's speech evaluated,
I will do so during school hours. Based on the results of that evaluation,
the child is found eligible or ineligible for speech. At that point, an IEP
is written and your child could then start services. For more information on
what an IEP is, check out this handy handout from SuperDuper Publications:
http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/PDFs/77_ABC_IEP.pdf
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How do I know if my child needs speech?
Your child's classroom teacher is a good resource, as are your child's
peers. Certain sounds that are mispronounced are age-appropriate, and
wouldn't qualify the child for speech because they may still grow out of it.
A list of those sounds is in the Articulation (Speech) section of my website.
If you still have questions, contact a speech therapist or the classroom
teacher.
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Once my child is in speech, what do I have to do?
The easiest answer is support your child! Speech class generally meets once
to twice a week, but your child will progress much faster if they are
practicing a little bit every night. I give homework to my students, and the
word lists should be practiced even after the homework has been completed.
Additional activities can be found here:
http://www.speechville.com/helping-at-home/helping-at-home.html
http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/PDFs/74_childrensbooks.pdf
http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/PDFs/12_super_ideas_speech.pdf
http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/PDFs/39_creative_artic_practice.pdf
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Is my child in Special Ed now?
Children who get speech, even if it is just for articulation errors, are
covered under the New Jersey Administrative Code for Special Education.
These children are classified as "Eligible for Speech-Language Services,"
which means that the ONLY services they need are for articulation. Even
though the funding comes from Student Services, or Special Education, all
records of your child's enrollment in the program show that it is only for
speech. Those records are sealed once they are dismissed from speech and do
not show up on transcripts later in their school careers.
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Will being enrolled affect my child's participation in other things, like TAG?
Absolutely not. Having a speech impairment doesn't mean that a child can't
participate in TAG or band or anything else in the school.
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What will my child miss if they are enrolled in speech?
The first answer to this question is that they will never miss their
lunch or recess. They will also never miss out on class trips or
assemblies because they have speech that day or at that time. The second
part of the answer is that I try to work with the teachers so that the
children don't miss a subject that they struggle with. Sometimes it's hard
to work that out, especially once the year has gotten underway and my
schedule has a limited number of open spaces, but the teachers and I try our
best to make sure that the children aren't negatively affected by being
pulled out for speech.
