Speech therapy for my 3yo through the school district

[Pink Fairy]

Can anyone tell me what this looks like? We've been doing speech therapy with a speech language pathologist in her office since August. It's once a week for 45 minutes, and it's one-on-one.

 

In May he'll be three and we will transition to receiving services through the school district. It's supposed to be at a preschool located in a strip mall, which just sounds weird to me. I'll be finding out more soon, but I'd love to hear from anyone who's farther along in the process. :bigear:

[momtoboys]

I'm sure that everyone has different experiences w/ this, but to be honest, I had friends tell me that if your insurance covers it, private speech therapy is the way to go.

[Tap]

Ds took sp at the elementary school years ago. He had two therapists who alternated days but it was always one of them (or sometimes both). There were 2 other kids who were supposed to be there at the same time (group lesson) but they rarely showed up so his sessions were almost always private. They weren't supposed to let the parent sit in the room, but I insisted saying "how am I supposed to work with him if I don't know what I am doing"..they relented and allowed me to stay. They were fine with it, it was just the 'rule'. He loved it! They played card games most days, and that was about it. They would target a certain sound and work on that for a week or two, and then move on. It wasn't stressful and they felt he would outgrow most of his issues by school age...he did. Since I took him to the room where the therapists were working, there was very, very little time loss daily. The thereapists were excelent and very nice/happy.

 

Based on my experience...I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

[MyLittleWonders]

I am in CA and my middle son did speech through the school district for 2 school years (the first one was a bit shortened as he didn't qualify until he turned 3 in November). They suggested a preschool program, but I did not want that, so instead I drove him to the school 3x a week, and sat in the car with my other two while he had 30 minutes of speech therapy. It wasn't fun, but it was better for dh and I than having him in a preschool setting. In our experience, we actually liked his speech teachers through the district over the private pathologist we were seeing prior to his transition to the school district.

[gingersmom]

I would not give up your private speech therapist. When it comes to speech therapy, the more the merrier.

 

In addition, you do not know if you will even be happy with the public school therapists. Will your son have the same therapists all year? How long has she been with the school district for?

 

My son had private speech therapy for years in addition to public school therapy. 95% of the school therapy was a waste of time. In my experience they do not take the time to work with the individual child, its kinda like one size fits all.

 

I could go on and on about how awful it was. Hope you have a better experience.

[gardening momma]

This is dd4's second year of speech at the ps preschool. She has a different speech teacher this year than last, but hasn't had a problem with the change. Last year the speech teacher said dd's appointments would start out just the teacher & dd, but that later in the year there were usually more students added and that dd would probably be joined by another kid, but that never happened.

 

What we do is just go to the preschool building (where we are, there's the K building and then two pre-K modular buildings on either side), and dd6 and I sit in the hall during dd4's appointment. I don't have to sign in because the preK doors are locked except for the pick-up & drop-off times for the regular students. So I knock and someone comes to open the door. They recognize us because we come every week.

 

Dd's speech teacher usually plays games, does crafts, reads books, etc... all the while engaging dd in speech focusing on a particular sound, usually. Sometimes she needs work on beginning sounds, sometimes ending sounds (she used to drop all ending consonants), sometimes a particular letter sound anywhere in a word.

 

Last year's speech teacher always gave us a worksheet-type page to take home with words using a particular sound written in. It was not so much a page for dd to do, but a reminder for me to work on those particular sounds with her. I'd have her color the page, and when we went back the following week she'd get a sticker for it. This year's speech teacher rarely sends stuff home, but they both always come out and talk to me about how dd is doing, what we should work on, any concerns I might have, etc...

 

Where I sit in the hall I can see them in the room and hear them as well.

[gardening momma]

95% of the school therapy was a waste of time. In my experience they do not take the time to work with the individual child, its kinda like one size fits all.

It must vary widely, then, because dd4's speech therapists always focus on her particular needs.

[Pink Fairy]

Is it standard that parents aren't in the room during the session? I am in there for the sessions he's in now, and it really helps me know how to work with him at home. My older kids even take turns going with me to observe so that they can also work with him (we set aside 15 minutes per day per kid to work with him--part of our homeschooling :001_smile:).

 

Private speech therapy isn't covered by our insurance, and I have no idea how we would pay for it ourselves. My dh, like so many others, is getting ready to take a significant pay cut due to the California budget debacle.

[Mommyof4ks]

I would start checking now to see if you child will even qualify for services at school. Our school district told me that since he was making sounds at 3, then there was nothing they could do for him. It was a funding issue. :001_rolleyes:

 

If your ins. pays for private speech therapy, then you might want to look into that also. The wait times can be long to get into a good one, so start looking now.

[Tidbits of Learning]

Having had 3 kids need speech, I would recommend staying with your private speech therapist if you like them and your insurance will pay for their services. We had a very bad experience with services at the school and they came to our house.

[gardening momma]

Is it standard that parents aren't in the room during the session?

Last year dd's speech teacher invited me in a couple of times for a particular session (special reason, but I can't remember why just now). This year's teacher hasn't done that (yet). Since I can see/hear everything, I don't feel I need to go in. I really like the time I have with dd6 in the hall. I bring a bag of homeschooling stuff to do with her, although lately she just wants to color, so I always bring a book for myself. I bought a lap desk for her at a thrift store, and I bring that each week. Dd4's teacher does a good job of informing me of what they're working on and suggestions of what to help dd4 with at home.

[gardening momma]

I would start checking now to see if you child will even qualify for services at school. Our school district told me that since he was making sounds at 3, then there was nothing they could do for him. It was a funding issue. :001_rolleyes:

Dd4 had a referral from our family doctor for speech services through our county (available to children up to age 3). When she was approaching the age of 3, her speech therapist arranged for a ps evaluation to see if she'd be eligible for services at the ps preschool beginning at age 3. They evaluated her both for speech and fine motor skills. She qualified for both. Last year we didn't do any fine motor skills therapy, but at the end of last year when they did a brief summary/evaluation and suggested fine motor skills for this year (and mentioned teaching her to use scissors as part of it), I decided to do it, as the thought of her with scissors was kinda scary! ;) Better to have someone else deal with it, eh? [btw, today I took scissors away from her because she cut her hair :001_rolleyes: -- at least it was just a tiny bit she cut].

 

Because she qualified for ps preschool, she could attend as either a preschool student (and go everyday half days), or as an itinerant student, which is what we chose.

[ChristusG]

DD5 has taken speech through the public school system this year and last year when she was four.

 

Eh, it's so-so.

 

Her teacher is really nice and my DD likes her. She's had the same teacher both years. DD attends two days a week for 30 minutes each time.

 

I guess I just don't see the point. We arrive at 1 PM and the teacher is waiting for us. They have about a 5 minute walk to the portable at the very back of the school. By the time they actually get started on therapy it is probably 1:10. And then they arrive back at the front office, where I am waiting, at 1:30. So they probably only do about 15 minutes of real speech therapy. She communicates with me well and always sends home a notebook of things for us to work on during the week. I have seen some improvement but nothing drastic.

 

I really wish we could do private therapy. However, it would cost us a pretty penny (through the school it is free) and it would be less convenient as the drive would be much further (the local PS is only about 2 miles away).

[Laurie]

Our first experience with speech therapy was private therapy at a local hospital. The therapist was a big disappointment. She would even call me at the last minute in the morning to tell me that the appointment before my ds's had been cancelled because she wanted us to come to that one instead (so she could leave early since his was the last appt.) There was also no accountability with her (for therapy goals) because , unlike the public schools, an IEP wasn't required.

 

I was unhappy with her so I chose to drive to another clinic to get a different therapist. She was wonderful but she left to go work in the public schools.

 

Both of my dc ended up in speech therapy through our school district and they had an excellent therapist. She had no problem with me staying in the room, although I often took my (noisier) younger one out while she worked with my older. They had back-to-back 30 minute appointments, once a week, and both had a notebook with homework.

 

The quality of the therapy is going to depend on the therapist. :001_smile:

[Tidbits of Learning]

The quality of the therapy is going to depend on the therapist. :001_smile:

 

I agree with this totally. It truly depends on the therapist how well and how beneficial therapy truly is going to turn out. I think you said that your insurance doesn't pay for private speech therapy earlier.

With my last child, our insurance didn't pay and I decided to try and help him at home b/c the not so great therapist was still at the public school where other ds had therapy. I would have definitely tried public school therapy again if I would have been able to get a different therapist.

[joannqn]

My son had private speech therapy through the children's hospital, attended a publicly-funded program (not school-related), went to a private therapist, went to preschool through the special ed program with our school district, and had one-on-one therapy with the school therapist. I was most happy with the school.

 

The private therapist irritated me. She had a negative, condescending attitude. I gave up our spot knowing full well it would take 1/2 a year to get back in (minimum) if I changed my mind. I didn't like her so I didn't expect to change my mind.

 

The preschool, which he attended 2 1/2 hours a week, was the best. Busing was provided to and from our front door because the preschool wasn't at our home school, and they installed a carseat at my request. I had to teach each bus driver how to properly buckle a child in :glare: but they did it. The teacher, assistant, and speech therapist were all excellent. They worked directly with his IEP, which included more than just speech because he had delays in almost every area. Class focused on academic, social, life, speech, and other skills. They learned table manners, personal hygiene, taking turns, sitting still, transitioning, etc. They learned colors, numbers, letters, etc. The teacher used both life skills and preschool skills to model and practice speech needs. In addition to that, the speech therapist pulled him out of class once a week for one-on-one therapy and visited the class each week to work with kids in that setting. By the time he was out of there, he was just beginning to read and almost caught up with speech. They wrote his IEP for his kindy year to say he was transitioning to home school but would continue speech therapy one hour a week at our local school.

 

His kindy year, we just walked to our local elementary each week so he could get his hour of therapy. She worked with him on individual sounds and played games to give him opportunities to work on speech in context. She was always supportive of our homeschooling and allowed both me and my other kids to sit with them if I wanted. She even included my daughter in their games sometimes. When he "graduated" from speech therapy, she told me to bring him back if he didn't get his r sounds by 8 or if she backtracked.

[DawnL]

my ds is 6 and is in his 2nd year having speech at the public school. He would have started kindergarten there this year, but I kept him home to homeschool.

 

He loves his speech teachers and they are very nice. Last year he was alone with his teachers, this year he has one buddy. I would prefer not to stay, as I learned from private therapy a few years ago, I am his favorite person to show off for. If I'm in there with him, he is not very productive.

 

He has progressed so far, that he doesn't actually need speech anymore. He still qualifies through the end of this year, though, and he loves it, so I will let him finish the year. Oh! And he goes 30 minutes, twice per week.

[sixglides]

Our experience with the ps therapy was very positive. Even when dd went to private school for kindergarten, the therapist scheduled 2 follow ups to make certain everything was staying on track.