Experiences: Getting speech therapy through the PS

[lisamarie]

My DS7 needs speech therapy and I am going to try to get it through the school system so we don't have to pay the hefty copays for every visit. In order to do that, I would have to register as a homeschooler in Michigan. Are there any negatives to registering? I've never even heard of there being a homeschool registry in our state.

[TheReader]

No experience with registering as a homeschooler (we were in Texas when we used the ps for speech) but our experience in Texas was a positive one. This was years ago -- my oldest son was 5 at the time (he's 13 now) and just barely diagnosed with speech problems. We did therapy at the public schools for about 6 months if I recall.

 

The therapist was very good also at giving me things to do with him at home; so much so that when my youngest was speech delayed I was able to give him a headstart on things before we started him in therapy (much younger for him) and keep working with him when we moved to Brazil and his therapy ended.

 

Just wanted to share a positive, and also give you a bump so maybe someone with specific info for your region can see this and chime in.

[lisamarie]

My DS had ST through the school when he was younger (3-4 yrs). I wanted to try to get him into the school since he'd be with the same therapist and she knows him, still has all his info on file, etc. But I'm just concerned about registering. It appears that by registering, I would be inviting the state into my home and that they could start poking their noses in my business.

 

It would be a lot more inconvenient and possibly more expensive (if I have a copay per visit) to go through our insurance to get ST, but I would rather do it that way than invite the state's scrutiny into our lives. I just don't understand the law well enough to know what I would be opening us up to by registering.

[athena1277]

Dh and I researched long and hard before deciding to put ds (3yo) in speech therapy with the ps. In VA, we already had to send in a letter of intent for dd, so they knew we were hs'ers. What changed my mind was talking to a friend who also hs's. Her ds had started speech therapy at 2yo. When he started K, his IEP was given another name (I forget) and he still 3 years later is getting therapy, even though he has been hs'ed since K. My friend told me how great the teachers and school personnel have been to them. Granted, you may come up against some who have pre-conceived notions about hs, but you may be pleasantly surprised.

 

If you really want him in therapy with the ps, the sooner you start the process, the better. It takes months to get and IEP. It took 5 months from my first phone call until we got ds's IEP, and then had to wait another month til school started for him to receive services.

[Hen]

I'm in Ca- my bonus student was tested in full time public school, had a speech therapist and other pull out services. The services her received were not quality, in my opinion..

 

He was pulled out to homeschool. A year later, he was put into a homeschool charter and they worked with his ISP and started services, the services are much better in quality and he is progressing.

 

I think it just differs among school districts. You can try it and leave if it doesn't work for your family.

[redsquirrel]

I live in NY and my son gets speech, OT and PT through the public school system. I am registered but in NY all homeschoolers are supposed to register anyway. I have to jump through a bunch of hoops to get the therapies through the school system and I have to bring my son to the school for the therapies.

 

So far, I am very happy with the therapy he gets and the therapists. They have been great. I don't like the paperwork but I have that no matter what. For me, it is not a big deal to go to the school, I live around the corner.

 

It is free and everyone has been really nice to us. It was an adjustment moving from early intervention to school based therapy but we are doing fine.