public school speech therapy for the homeschooled?

[Gwenny]

My ds6 is currently getting individual speech therapy 3x/week at the local school. I opted him out of kindergarten this year, so they are considering him a preschooler. Since he will be required to be in kindergarten next year, his speech therapist has told us that he will be taken off an IEP and put on an ISP instead. He will drop down to only 30 sessions/year at 30 minutes each.

 

The therapist says that the ISP (individual service plan?) is what is used for private school and homeschool kids.

 

Anyone have experience getting speech therapy through the school system with school aged kids? Our insurance has very little coverage of speech therapy.

 

We are in VA if that helps.

 

Thanks,

Gwen

[momma aimee]

My ds6 is currently getting individual speech therapy 3x/week at the local school. I opted him out of kindergarten this year, so they are considering him a preschooler. Since he will be required to be in kindergarten next year, his speech therapist has told us that he will be taken off an IEP and put on an ISP instead. He will drop down to only 30 sessions/year at 30 minutes each.

 

The therapist says that the ISP (individual service plan?) is what is used for private school and homeschool kids.

 

Anyone have experience getting speech therapy through the school system with school aged kids? Our insurance has very little coverage of speech therapy.

 

We are in VA if that helps.

 

Thanks,

Gwen

 

it may be state by state -- my son was enrolled in kindy this year as homeschooled and still had his IEP in place and still saw ST 2x a week for 25 minutes (like he did at least the last 2 before this year). he will be in First Grade (according to the school and his papers) this fall, still on an IEP and still set to see ST 2x a week (once alone and once in art for peer interaction).

 

We DO dual enroll him so he can still get services; maybe that is the difference >

[hsmamainva]

I'm in Virginia and my youngest receives speech therapy at the local public school 2 days per week / 30 minutes per session.

 

She also has a service plan, as opposed to an IEP.

 

First, make sure that the speech therapist is at the IEP meeting and that they have a written report, documenting why your child merits having his or her speech reduced. They have to prove that there's a legitimate need for reducing services (i.e., progress made) and that they've assessed your child's speech levels recently (through testing).

 

The way it's been described to me is that services for homeschooled students are paid for through federal funding (vs local or state funding) and the amount of money available depends on how many homeschoolers are taking advantage of said services. (If two homeschoolers are receiving speech services, for example, there's more money available than if six homeschoolers are receiving speech services).

 

So the long and the short of it is...they're required to provide speech services in the state of Virginia to your homeschooled child if your child has a legitimate need for said services.

 

Btw...you can also request an independent speech / language evaluation for your child. We just went through this process. The school system said that our daughter's language skills were in the 4-7 year old range and we disagreed...the private speech therapy practice where we took her for her evaluation -- paid for by the school system -- measured her language skills in the 3-4 year old range.

 

We have an IEP meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the dramatic differences between the school's report and the private evaluation's report.

 

Hope this helps!

Edited June 6, 2012 by hsmamainva

[Heathermomster]

We have an IEP meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the dramatic differences between the school's report and the private evaluation's report.

 

Hope this helps!

Good luck with your meeting. The roadblocks that the PS put up against HSers with SNs irritates me.

[wapiti]

In our district, there are no SN services provided to homeschooled kids.

[Guest jujusmommy]

I'm also curious about this. I know this is an old thread. Our 2 (almost 3) year old is currently going through the evaluations. He meets with the speech lady tomorrow. I'm very nervous as our oldest is 4 and is not enrolled in school (and won't be). They know we homeschool (oldest is doing a kindergarten curriculum). I do NOT plan on enrolling DS1 in the public schools for preschool (which has been hinted at). So what do I do? He definitely needs the help as he dropped off endings and beginnings of words. We also don't vax which throws a whole new aspect into this. Help!

[Guest jujusmommy]

Oh and we are also in Virginia!

[just.me]

My oldest qualified for speech therapy through the school when he was in 3rd grade. His speech therapist came to the house once a week for an hour which is the same amount of time as he would be getting in PS. He had an IEP but he also had other issues which required him to have a one on one LA tutor once he was back in PS. For the vaccines, you just need to fill out a waiver. I'm in Texas and had to order a waiver from the state. I'm not sure about Virginia. Good luck!

[prairiewindmomma]

Our state requires at least half enrollment to receive services. That half enrollment can be through K 12.