IEP Question re: speech

kcisthebombdotcom

So my kiddo is very language delayed with receptive scores being significantly worse than expressive. She also struggles socially--she does great with adults she knows well and will join in play with peers on a highly preferred activity but much prefers self directed play. On Wednesday we have our IEP meeting. I'm struggling with how much I should push private speech for her. The classroom is very language based--the slp aids the special Ed teacher in developing the curriculum. They tend to do speech in small groups of kids with similar needs that they pull out for during the day. There's also the option for an slp to do one on one sessions with the kids. On one hand I do like the idea of her getting speech one on one 3-4 times a week. On the other hand that would take away from classroom time and times she could be in speech group having a bit more social interaction. I'm luckily going to see the neurodevelopmental pedi this week and will have her write a letter for us stating what she prefers, but it would be nice to hear from moms who have btdt. Any insight? I'd also love to hear how much your kiddos improved from starting preschool.

CaptainSerious

I'd find out how many kids would be in the group, and if your daughter is doing better in the group or the private sessions, first.  I found that with some therapists, J actually did better when he had the other kids in a small group speech setting, while with others, one-on-one was more effective.

Also, if you are worried about her missing instructional time, you can specify in your IEP exactly what class time she'll be missing.  In our case, we have the boys missing science and social studies time, because we don't think they are as vital as math and language arts.  We even have one pull-out for each boy during Spanish, since it's their native language and only exasperates some of their speech issues, despite the fact that pull-outs from "specials" Spanish/art/gym/music is typically not allowed.

CaptainSerious

One more thing to consider, depending on how many sessions you are talking about weekly, is a speech push-in.  This would be when the speech teacher comes into the regular classroom and works your daughters speech therapy around the regular classroom work.