Speech therapy in FCPS?

[Anonymous]

My child has an issue saying her S's and Z's correctly, and although we are working on it at home, it isn't getting much better. I had the same problem as a child, and I was sent to speech therapy during school hours (I attended a FCPS). Do they still do this? If so, what grade does it begin? My child is in 3rd grade. It seems like it was 3rd or 4th when I started) I was thinking about taking her to see someone about it, as it is starting to affect her confidence, but I wanted to see if the schools still dealt with such things as well?

[Anonymous]

I would talk to her teacher about having the speech therapist at school do an observation. Unfortunately, to qualify for services, her speech will have to be outside of the "normal" range. You can also do an outside evaluation by a speech therapist if you have concerns.

[Anonymous]

Just tell the teacher (or the front office at school) that you want her evaluated for speech. They pretty much have to do it if you ask (especially if ask in writing).
My 3rd grader is in speech- but he has been in speech since he was 18 months old. Your child has to be out of "normal" range though and having trouble with just a couple of sounds might not put him there- but it is definitely worth looking into.

[Anonymous]

I'm in Arlington and my second grade DD has slight issues with some R sounds. But it doesn't affect her academically (she's above grade level in both reading and math) so she doesn't qualify for speech therapy through the school. Definitely check with the school, but from everything I've heard and seen, the problem needs to affect her academics for them to do anything. I had my DD privately evaluated and work with her at home instead because I could only get mid-day appts privately, and that is ridiculous for a grade-schooler to miss school for speech appts!