Speech Therapy in FCPS schools

[Anonymous]

My son is a rising kindergartner with moderate to severe speech issues entering a FCPS school, and we have been exploring the process of getting an IEP and therapy within school.

I've heard some conflicting accounts of kids getting therapy once a week, and other kids getting 1 hour of therapy a month (or less in a group setting).

Obviously the process is need-based, but I would appreciate hearing from parents what the baseline expectation from the school is, and how we should approach trying to advocate for more therapy for my child who has a real need.

[Anonymous]

My kid gets it once a week for half an hour as a pull out with the school speech therapist. It’s a small group setting with usually 3 kids total of similar age who have similar goals (so kids with speech production errors like my kid are with other kids with speech errors, and kids who stutter are usually together, and so are kids who are device users, etc.) Our school has a very nice and competent speech therapist and my DS enjoys seeing her. I thought once a week for 30 minutes at a time was pretty typical. They don’t like to go above 30 minutes in a session due to little kid attention issues. If they’re getting less maybe it’s because they are older and don’t want to be taken out of class so often or their classroom teacher can work on their goals as well.

[Anonymous]

OP—You need to know that speech services in the school setting are very different than in the medical setting. They are much less intensive than what you would get with a provider using a medical model.

[Anonymous]

Thank you to both of you!

I did understand that the therapy provided is solely focussed on preparing the child to keep up with the academic participation rather than improving speech more generally.

But I heard from a parent with an older kid that it was once a week so wanted to see if I could request an increase to 30 minutes each week (2 hours over a month).

Should I ask? Or should I not rock the boat?

[Anonymous]

I had three kids get Speech through school. I learned after Kid 1 that you have to consider it as icing on the cake. The cake being a private speech therapist 1:1 and practicing at home. Even if you get once a week, they meet in a large group and just don't really get much individual attention, and the sessions get canceled at school very frequently.

[Anonymous]

DS had ST all though school, for articulation issues (anecdotally, I hear articulation is one of the few speech related things FCPS seems willingly address). It was probably the only thing in his IEP that was consistently done well (addressed the issue well and in a timely, appropriate fashion, by professionals who seemed to know what they were doing). We were lucky that his issues were not severe enough to necessitate an outside provider, and that he had a series of good therapists at school.

I would see no harm in asking for more for your rising K, but be prepared for them to say no, or at least "not now". You might be in a better position to advocate for an increase after some initial data is collected next fall. (If issues are severe though, don't wait for school if you are able to use outside resources too.) Once he is in school, his needs may become more obvious to the team.

[Anonymous]

I have had students that got speech two ce a week. It depends on how severe the issues are. You should do all you can to have private speech, though, because at school it can be canceled if the therapist is out, there’s a late opening, a holiday, an assembly, or the therapist is pulled for something else. If the school small group has behavior problems, that’s more time lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have had students that got speech two ce a week. It depends on how severe the issues are. You should do all you can to have private speech, though, because at school it can be canceled if the therapist is out, there’s a late opening, a holiday, an assembly, or the therapist is pulled for something else. If the school small group has behavior problems, that’s more time lost.

Years ago I learned the hard way to do everything possible to see if your child's school speech sessions can be scheduled on a day other than Monday. When my daughter was in K she had a full school year of Monday speech, which resulted in large number of cancellations due to all the school holidays/work days that fell on Mondays, and the policy was no make-ups. (And she REALLY needed speech therapy, although she did have private as well.) I was so frustrated that I convinced the IEP team to write something in for the following year that Mondays would be avoided if possible.

[Anonymous]

Yes, OP, tell them you expect to have doctors appointments or something on Mondays so get that in the IEP