Anonymous
Post 08/09/2023 16:32     Subject: Re:APS Speech Therapy
Re: quality I think its just the amount of time offered in school vs. what private offers. My child has 30 minutes of speech therapy per week in school, in a group of other kids all with different speech needs. This summer we paid for 1 hour a week of speech therapy for my child. Its pretty easy to see where they were getting more intervention.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2023 11:12     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
Anonymous wrote:What a crazy thing to say that APS has the worst speech when they give almost double the service hours Fairfax and Alexandria do

I just want to say I’ve worked with several APS SLPs and they were great collaborators who worked very hard with the kids on their caseload.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2023 11:07     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
Anonymous wrote:I disagree about the quality. As in any career, you are going to find people who are great, some that are so so and some that are not great. The school based SLP's are stretched thin with their caseloads and for artic stuff your child will be pulled from the classroom (usually during science or social studies) and with 2-3 other kids. I would go private if your insurance covers. You will be done faster. And depending on the sounds errors, your child might not qualify for school based whereas for private they usually will. Not every school team will give services based on how it effects a child socially.

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m the PT who responded above. I don’t mean to imply the therapists aren’t as good. They just don’t have the time and resources to offer what someone in a private clinic can. There’s a big difference in overall quality.


This. Also speech therapy delivered in public schools simply has a lower standard required of it. That's not a knock on good speech therapists in public schools, it's the reality that schools don't provide more than federal law requires.


It's not about the quality, it's about the standard that public schools have to meet under federal law. As you say, some students will not qualify for speech in a public school setting but will in a private setting. Because of scarce resources, public schools provide the standard that the law provides and not more.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2023 10:46     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
I disagree about the quality. As in any career, you are going to find people who are great, some that are so so and some that are not great. The school based SLP's are stretched thin with their caseloads and for artic stuff your child will be pulled from the classroom (usually during science or social studies) and with 2-3 other kids. I would go private if your insurance covers. You will be done faster. And depending on the sounds errors, your child might not qualify for school based whereas for private they usually will. Not every school team will give services based on how it effects a child socially.

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I’m the PT who responded above. I don’t mean to imply the therapists aren’t as good. They just don’t have the time and resources to offer what someone in a private clinic can. There’s a big difference in overall quality.


This. Also speech therapy delivered in public schools simply has a lower standard required of it. That's not a knock on good speech therapists in public schools, it's the reality that schools don't provide more than federal law requires.
Anonymous
Post 08/08/2023 10:34     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
Anonymous wrote:I’m the PT who responded above. I don’t mean to imply the therapists aren’t as good. They just don’t have the time and resources to offer what someone in a private clinic can. There’s a big difference in overall quality.


This. Also speech therapy delivered in public schools simply has a lower standard required of it. That's not a knock on good speech therapists in public schools, it's the reality that schools don't provide more than federal law requires.
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2023 23:03     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
(Also, I’m not the one who wrote the other replies.)
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2023 23:02     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
I’m the PT who responded above. I don’t mean to imply the therapists aren’t as good. They just don’t have the time and resources to offer what someone in a private clinic can. There’s a big difference in overall quality.
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2023 22:58     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
What a crazy thing to say that APS has the worst speech when they give almost double the service hours Fairfax and Alexandria do
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2023 22:41     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
Speech at school was almost useless for us. Check out private therapy at OWLS - they will come to you.
Anonymous
Post 08/07/2023 22:40     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
Anonymous wrote:If the teacher mentioned it as a social concern he likely will qualify. Request an evaluation from an administrator and they need to meet with you within 10 days. It's unfortunate that you didn't have this meeting in the spring when the teacher mentioned it, because it's likely they will say they need time to get to know your child before evaluating and this could take awhile.

[/b]There is absolutely no difference in the quality of service you receive in the private or public school sector. [b]The only difference is the time it takes to obtain services. It is a much quicker process if you go private, but also much more costly.

-SLP


Yes there is a HUGE difference. APS has some of the worst


Anonymous
Post 08/07/2023 22:10     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
If the teacher mentioned it as a social concern he likely will qualify. Request an evaluation from an administrator and they need to meet with you within 10 days. It's unfortunate that you didn't have this meeting in the spring when the teacher mentioned it, because it's likely they will say they need time to get to know your child before evaluating and this could take awhile.

There is absolutely no difference in the quality of service you receive in the private or public school sector. The only difference is the time it takes to obtain services. It is a much quicker process if you go private, but also much more costly.

-SLP
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2023 11:14     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
School is for academic and social learning, so if it could affects or could affect your child socially it’s just as legitimate a concern as something effecting academics.

-a parent who didn’t realize this for a long time until an occupational therapist APS SPED pointed this out.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2023 11:08     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
There’s a big difference in quality of services in schools compared to private sessions. If you can afford it, find a clinic that accepts your insurance and go there.

— Physical Therapist
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2023 11:07     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
I would wait until after the new school has a few weeks to settle in, and then send an email to the teacher and principal stating your concerns and asking that he be assessed for services. That should kick off the process.

I think technically you can request the assessment over the summer and that starts the clock ticking for the process, but it wouldn’t be with your school based staff. Because there isn’t a lot of urgency, if it were me, I’d wait.

You can also see if your health insurance will cover speech with a private therapist.
Anonymous
Post 08/02/2023 10:03     Subject: APS Speech Therapy
I have a rising 2nd grader who still can't say certain sounds. It doesn't seem to affect him academically, but his teacher brought it up at his spring conference as something that may affect him socially. Is there any chance he'd qualify for speech therapy through APS? What's the standard?