Do kids with global developmental delays attend UMD LEAP?
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Anonymous
| Or can you only attend if speech is the only developmental issue? I’m having trouble finding a clear answer on this, as I have heard both that children with autism can attend and that only those with speech delays can attend. Anyone know? |
Anonymous
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My son is now 10 but attended years ago. I don’t recall them accepting kids with autism but I do know my son had global delays as he had apraxia and had speech, fine and gross motor issues.
We loved LEAP! |
Anonymous
| Yes, the accept autism, Yes, they accept global delays. I assume it's case by case. It is worth looking at-absolutely. |
Anonymous
| Loved leap - the kids can have global delays but the primary is speech issues. Many of the kids had delays due to the speech like the poster said that has the 10 year old. We only had one kid in our two years that clearly had ASD and the director only kept him as parents resisted any other services. They are not meant for ASD but they will take very mild kids. There is a new director since we and the other poster so you'd have to speak to the director as things have probably changed a lot. It is a fantastic program. It greatly helped my child who went on to other schools and was very successful at them too. Most families supplemented with private speech and ot. |
Anonymous
Yes, it is case by case. You fill out the application, and if they think your child could be served by the program, they will ask you to bring the child in so the director (maybe other staff too) can see your child in action and make a final decision on whether the program is a good fit. |
Anonymous
They want evaluations. |
Anonymous
| Yes, I think that evaluations etc. are requested in the application. |
Anonymous
| OP here: thanks for this information. It sounds like it is worth applying and that someone will screen the child to see if he is a good fit. I just wasn’t sure if this was a program for speech only or if they also worked on broader communication challenges (nonverbal as well as verbal.). I’ll get an application in! |
Anonymous
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Good plan OP.
Keep in mind that one of the primary reasons LEAP exists is to train student SLPs. They need a range of students so the practitioners in training will get needed clinical hours, so they will ‘build a class’ if children with varying speech and language issues to extent they can. It won’t help the college students prepare for their careers if every kid has the same diagnosis or challenges. |
Anonymous
They don't care if a child is verbal or non-verbal/pre-verbal but they care that the primary diagnosis is speech and language (they work with a variety so when we went there was apraxia, receptive, expressive, stuttering and articulation mainly). They are not equip to really handle ASD in less its very mild. I'd call the director and ask what he's ok with and will he consider your child. The other issue is will there be a slot. They only take 16 kids. You'd have to talk to a current parent to see what profiles that the director is taking. My child pretty much got offered on the spot and it was a great fit/really good experience but different director. Its (or was) a great program and many of our kids really benefitted from it. Like PP said its for training future SLP's so they are looking for very specific kids to make it work. What's nice is kids get 30 minutes 1-1 speech per session (3 1/2 sessions per week) and when we went they did a lot of literacy and other skills. We always got lucky with great students but some other parents bitterly complained (but it may have been the child too, not sure). Most of us also supplemented with private as it goes by the college calendar with long breaks. |