We are in NJ and my son is in a self contained autistic classroom with seven boys full day five days a week. His IEP states 2x15 individual and 2x15 group sessions per week. This may seem like very little but the speech therapist is in the room two full days a week working with the children all day including meal time and I am confident that he is getting the attention he needs.
If my son was to go back to an in district classroom(which we are seeking appropiate placement at this time) and the ST was not in the room two full days then I would fight for alot more. I am curious to hear what the other children are getting.
By the way my son is 3.5
In NYS, the minimum for speech for any child deemed in need of speech is 2x 30 min. There is also a section in the state regulations here that GUARANTEES 5x 30 individual speech therapy per week or 5x 60 group if a child is autistic and is being educated in a classroom that is not especially for the autistic. Your son sounds as though he IS being educated with other autistic kids and having the ST there so much is probably the BEST.
The real truth is that ALL states offer ALL things. Whether a child gets what he needs or not depends to a LARGE extent on how vigorously the parents advocate for the child and how knowledgeable the parents become about their and their child's rights. Not all parents want to do this -- or are able to. That's what lawyers and professional advocates are for. All states offer some free advocacy help, but you often get what you pay for. So it usually boils down to the parents going to the laws and learning them themselves or finding the big bucks to pay someone else to do that for them. In the end, the child suffers if he is not properly advocated for.
MN also assumes SPL is a need- an ASD diagnosis is an automatic qualifier for speech. Though it is amazing, many case managers are not aware of this, and for sure the administrators don't know.
Just to offer input on your question- most of the kids in my self contained ASD classroom get 90 minutes of speech per week- and they are all at least somewhat verbal.
The ABA and other ASD interventions are given by me and I typically give about 220 minutes per day, tho often this is in small groups of 2, 3, or 4 kids. So the speech/ language time is more specifically speech and language, I do the autism teaching, then there is also OT- usually about 60 minutes per week per child, more or less depending on need, and all of us often combine in different ways when teaching social skills.
gotta bumpThanks Tzoya!
Texas absolutely BLOWS when it comes to special needs. (if anyone disagrees please let me know what you are doing lol.) I wish I could afford to move to NY and if I could I would be on a plane there right now. :)
I am about to join an ASA chapter and hopefully I can get some help there. I just dont know how to do this all alone. (I know none of us do). This is a lot to take on but, Im getting stronger everyday.
Kolby was diagnosed this past August and I have felt like all I have done is moped around and now it is time for me to fight no matter what I have to do.
My wish is to hear his voice one day, I just hope I can make it come true.
K before I start this I just want to say that since the new semester will be coming up in the next few short months. I have really been thinking about having them review his IEP to change some things on it.
Kolby is only recieving 60 mins of speech every 9 wks. and he is NON-Verbal. Is there anyway I can get him more speech through the school district. Other then this Kolby has sensory problems and he is not seeing an OT through the school district either.
The question is how much speech therapy should my NON-verbal soon to be 4 yr old be recieving through the school system? He is recieving OT and ST outside of school but, you would think they would be providing him with more then that in an educational setting right?
How much speech is your child recieving through the school?
TIA... I really appreciate it.
Get an advocate. That is WAY too little. Your son should be receiving tons of ABA and lots and lots of speech, especially since he is still nonverbal at 4. I know that some people on this board hate it when I mention what NY guarantees our kids because not all states do, but I want to mention our law here just to give you some idea how much speech you really should be fighting for. Outside of ABA -- speech therapy only -- NY requires that AT LEAST two sessions be given each week (this is to ANY child who qualifies for even one minute of speech). Beyond that, if a child is classified under "autism" (which can only happen in NY starting at kindergarten), that child is GUARANTEED DAILY speech therapy. Either half an hour of individual therapy or an hour of group if the group is larger than two kids, total. Parents have to ASK for this, but it cannot be denied. An autistic child does not have to fail any test to qualify. Of course, speech evals are always given, but the score cannot disqualify an autistic student from speech, no matter how high the score is. NYS ASSUMES that the language of an autistic child is disordered since communication issues are a part of the diagnosis.
I mention this not to brag but to show you what ONE state thinks is appropriate even for school age autistic kids. Your child is in preschool and should be getting at least that. Ask about PECS and ABA, too. Do whatever you have to do to get your child verbal by kindergarten. It's possible for a child to learn to talk after the age of 5, but it's much, much harder.