Missed Speech Therapy Sessions

i found that most shocking! most people complain about their job, no matter what job it is. but what SOME people need to do is take one step back and see who they are affecting! THE CHILDREN. i’m sure the paperwork involved is tedious, and these teachers would rather be with the students vs. paperwork. but again, it’s part of the job. i cringe to think of the beauracracy i am going to have to go through to get my child the proper education that he, by law, is guaranteed! unfortunately, i also think that it’s important that all parents of LD students learn their legal rights and hold the school districts responsible! if we allow the lackadaisical teaching…..(we’ll teach them when there there, and if they’re not…oh well)….nothing will change! i don’t mean to be hard on the slp teachers. i understand they have a difficult job. and the message board only represents a minute number of teachers, but as a parent (and student working towards my ba in special ed) it’s frightening to hear.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to juggle the demands of being a school based SLP? It is really difficult…Our district has one SLP substitute, Mary Poppins, who is spread out over 50 SLP’s. Mary Poppins is fully licensed and credentialed and is more than qualified to give therapy. She runs around from school to school, popping in for days, weeks, or months at a time…keeping the moral up and the stress level down for the SLP’s that are overworked. The SLP’s that Mary Poppins helps out are usually the best SLP’s in the district, These particular SLP’s get pulled into Due Process cases which take up TONS of their time and take them away from their normal caseload.

That isn’t fair either…and take it from me…I have been on both sides of the fence…I have a kid who hasn’t been seen in over a month by a fellow SLP…why not???? You guessed it…by another Due Process case..You tell me who wins here.. :( :cry:

I have certainly read about situations that were abusive, lots of therapy sessions cancelled. However, when sessions are only missed occasionally, for illness, then I submit that we really should be understanding. For, there are no sub. SLPs and the SLPs we have are fully booked, every day. So, if you really demanded that every single missed session be made up and I am sick 5 days a year, then I would crunch students into larger groups to build in the extra time to a schedule that is already full.

I would further write the IEP to allow for a reasonable number of missed days due to my illness or an occasional continuing education event. I would also write in small-group therapy, but I would NOT limit the size of the group to any specific number. So, if I had to combine two groups of three into a group of six occasionally to accomodate IEPs and other things that pop up, I could manage this.

I know some of you will say that you don’t agree, but (I am not an SLP, but work with them) we are all streched very thin and very well worked in special education. Paperwork demands increase all the time, they never decrease. So, we have to create some way of maintaining our sanity while we try to follow the many laws. And, sessions missed due to the child’s illness are not made up.

Some school systems just do not give a hoot about compliance unless the child has a parent who keeps a careful watch on the situation. Those kids often get the service, while the others get slighted because their parents do not check to see if they are getting their services, or the school system knows nothing will come of their lack of compliance not to provide it.

The school system is still responsible for the service delivery regardless how many meetings, court cases, leaves of abs. occur etc.. They could hire more SLP’s to cover their caseloads and other duties. Sometimes, yes the SLP has not control over it, and sometimes some abuse their management of their caseloads.

Keep a monthly log, ask your child daily, did you have xyz and with who today? After sometime (whatever your comfort level is) call and put in writing to your system about your concern of noncompliance. If they can’t provide the services, then tell them you want services outside and billed to them. It is usually called compensatory services.

Believe me if you keep data, and you appear to them to know what you are talking about they will come up with a solution.

I forgot to add, when writing the I.E.P., always clarify the grouping for service delivery.

When you ready Anitya’s positing you will see how these folks, juggle to get the kid serviced, regardless of the quality of the grouping. They can still put on paper they serviced them even if it means a large group, etc.,etc..

There are a lot of good service delivery providers out there, but never assume anything. ASK, ASK, AND KEEP ASKING.

Please keep in mind that everyone is human.
If my child misses one or two sessions, I don’t expect it to be made up. Sometimes in life, things happen. If several sessions are missed then I question.

I do the sessions, including make-up sessions, I keep data logs, therapy session logs, I even make up sessions that parents don’t know were missed due to teacher’s conflicts, IEP’s or whatever.

I am careful with my groups of students, but maybe I am different because I know what its like to have a kid who isn’t getting proper services so I make sure my speech kids get what is entitled to them, no if’s, and’s, or but’s