Services question (6 y/o)

My DS is 6 years old and has autism, OCD, and ADHD. He has a functional IQ of 58.
Now he has speech 4 times a week, o/t twice and p/t twice.
I was recently told by his doctor that did his neropsy exval. that speech is the key and try to get as many times a week that you can.
So I want to go back to committee and ask for 5 times a week. I was hoping to find out if I'm asking for too much?
I just got a call from the social worker at his school trying to stop me from asking for another speech. She is claiming that its too much of a distraction from his learning/routine.
Would you suggest asking for more speech and OT/PT and then be happy when you got the extra speech or just ask for the extra speech?
If anyone is in a similar situation could you please tell me what services your DC is getting?

Here is a little speech background

He is verbal, knows his words but doesn't use them all the time. He doesn't enunciate - we can understand him but outsiders have trouble. When he doesn't know a word or for whatever reason chooses not to use it, he makes a noise "a-ba-ta". We feel the extra speech might help get rid of that "word". He has minimal spontaneous speech, and only speaks in 3 to 4 word utterances.

TIA

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

Do not back down because the social workersaid so. What does a social worker know?
They will say anything so the district doesn't have to pay. You fight what is best for your child. I ama special ed rescue I my own district myson is in, and still am fighting. Get a letter from this dr. And bring it with you to your childsmeeting. Is your child due for a speech evaluation? Try to see if you can do that before the meeting.
good luck. Don't back down. You have to fight for your. Child, because no one else will.

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

I would ask for the other day for speech and not bother asking for extra ot/pt if you don't think he needs it. You aren't asking for too much by asking for more speech. As for it being a disruption in his day, If he goes to speech everyday than that makes the service more routine. i.e. he goes to speech everyday at 2

Message edited 1/26/2011 8:21:31 PM.

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

Does pulling him out and missing class time benefit him more than being in class? If you think so fight for it. I probably wouldn't because too many pull out's is a hinderance in the social/learning aspect. The speech teacher is likely employed by the district and works at the school full time, and not employed by an outside company like most OT and PT are, so I really doubt it's a money issue at this point, since he/she is already there.

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

I wouldn't give up ot/pt because your child's vestibular system may need assistance. This could be one of the reasons why your ds can not communicate effectively. I would however, make sure that the OT and the PT assigned to your ds is trained in sensory integration. Remember if your ds qualifies for OT doesn't mean they are giving you one that works with the entire sensory system. If the sensory system can't integrate, your child's motor planning will be "off" (oral,verbal etc etc etc)

As far as speech, if they don't want to add on another session, start asking for a PROMPT certified therapist to work with him !

SPD (sensory processing disorder can mask ADHD). Gosh when I was teaching ADHD was the label any child that didn't sit still received.

Also how on earth could a child who is not grounded by the correct sensory integration be able to perform on an IQ test...

Btw, I think your ds is very clever to come up with a sound/utterance that conveys his inability to stay what he wants. He is obviously communicating that he is struggling to find the correct words.

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

As far as NYS law goes a child dx'd with ASD should "technically" be receiving speech 5 times per week....However, that said most school districts do get away with 4 times being the max individual # of speech sessions because if your child is in a self contained class or in an inclusion classroom that has a special educator in it, then they can say that the classroom curriculum covers that last session of speech and language and therefore your child is getting the recommended 5 days of speech/language training per week....

That said it can't hurt to try to see if your school district is one of the few that may give that extra day...but don't be shocked to see them say no as many LI school districts do.

I agree with sapphire, in that if you can get more OT sessions per week than take them, but ONLY if the school OT is well versed in sensory integration, this may have alot to do with attention deficits and hyperactivity...

I would strongly recommend that you look into what your insurance will cover and seek out a PROMPT trained/certified SLP to work specifically on the speech goals that you have...I think this would probably have the biggest impact...It sounds as if there is a motor planning piece going on here, and this will give you the opportunity to learn more about how to deal with it. HTH

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

I would NOT give up anything you child needs to get more speech. I am assuming your child gets OT/PT for a reason. If DC does not need it then by all mean stop, why continue? I am not for wasteful use of services not needed. But I am not for compromising on the uncompromisable.

But do NOT listen to a social worker or even the CPSE Chairman tell you no.

Prepare your case, why your child will need the services and go for it.

They will argue, You will counter argue of why your child needs services.

Prepare your case very well.

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

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Message edited 4/12/2011 2:03:34 PM.

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

My DS has only just transitioned to CPSE, but I do have a little experience with how the districts will try to manipulate where they can. We had 4x speech in EI. When he started in a full day EI class, we were dropped to 2x, since he was previously getting the other 2x at home (daycare). I didn't know enough to ask to maintain the 4x and my EI coordinator was amazing - I think we all just forgot about it because we were so worried about the upcoming CPSE transition. We delayed transitioning until December, since he has a late birthday. When I started talking to school staff, I discovered that almost all the kids get 4x speech at his school, yet the district did not offer that or approve him for it. When we went back for the second CPSE meeting, I asked for 4x and got it.

I would NOT drop the OT/PT if you think he needs it. We had some delays in finding an OT for my DS when he first started ABA. He had ABA for about 2-3 months before he started OT (he was also getting speech and PT). I can tell you we were shocked at the huge improvements we saw immediately once the OT started. His OT was doing a lot of work with sensory integration and for my DS, it made a tremendous difference in his attention span, focus and ability to sit still. I don't know how it all fits together, but we even saw improvement in his speech. My point is, if you are already approved for those OT and PT services, I would keep them, unless YOU think he can't handle all of it. But from how you are describing the situation, I don't think adding one additional session of speech to his day is going to hurt him and may help him.

I also think the things that helped me in committe were tape recording the meeting and reading a prepared statement of what I wanted. The difference in the tone of the meeting was very different when I recorded it, vs. when I didn't.

Good luck!

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

Re: Services question (6 y/o)

I'm an OT (been working for 10 years)who started out working with the under 5 y/o population for 5 years doing Sp ed preschool and homebased services. I have tons of experience with SI, I had 3 months of specialty training in addition to all of my OT schooling and clinical experience. For the last 5 years I have been working for a school district here on LI. I am not a contract therapist, but an employee of the district. My district does not pressure us to decrease services. We (OT, PT, Speech & Social Work) are respected as professionals and our recommendations are usually not questioned. The team I work with is amazing. We bust our butts to help all of our students make gains and reach their potential. It's tough to make recommendations regarding frequency of services. Most therapists who have been working with the same population for a while get a feel for how much time they would need per week with a student in order for them to make gains. It's a delicate balance between pulling the out of class to work on a specific developmental area vs. Keeping them in class so they can learn academics/life skills, socialize with peers and maintain a structured routine. The frequency and duration of services are determined by the severity of the students weaknesses, their rate of progress, potential to make gains and the nature of the students overall academic program. More services isn't always better for a student. I feel (as does the team I work with) that for students who present similarly to your child, what would benefit them most is a interdisciplinary approach. We are always meeting to discuss strategies to use with certain students or if another professional wants everyone to target something during their session we discuss that.

I'm not sure why a social worker would call you to discuss speech services It sounds like your child has a well rounded program that includes OT/PT/Speech. If you had concerns regarding the frequency of speech, I would just call the speech therapist and tell her the Dr. Mention that your child might need Speech everyday and that you just wanted to touch based with her/him to she what she/he thought. Everyone is probably starting to test for annual reviews now so it would be a great time to call her/him. What kind of academic program does your child have?