Speech Therapy

In our state a child must be in public or private school to qualify for the "free" speech therapy. Home schoolers aren't eligible, even though we pay taxes like the other parents. You can find a speech therapist and set up appointments, but I warn you it isn't cheap. By 2nd or 3rd grade these sounds should all be mastered, so the quicker you get him in therapy the better.

My youngest has problems with her r and s sounds, too. Since she attends a private school, she is in speech therapy. Basically, they have to learn to say the sound, then sound blends, then the word, and the sound in different places in the word. Right now my daughter has practiced her sounds at the beginning of the word, but still has to master the sounds at the end.

 

Same in my state. Homeschoolers cant take advantage of the programs offered to private and public school students. You may need to seek out a professional for a short time, it probably wouldnt take long.

 

My wife is a speech therapist and here in MO, as long as the child is school aged and as long as the parent/guardian is able to provide transportation, then the child can get services at a nearby public school.

David

 

Although I have a thorough professional background to understand the need for professional speech therapy (I am in the medical field) let me assure you from my own personal experience-

My child had trouble with the r sound. I was quite concerned because there was no speech therapy offered in the christian school. By second or 3rd grade, the problem had worked itself out, just by my working with her, and just as a normal part of growth and development.

Conversely, I had a slight lisp in kindergarten. They insisted on immediately putting me into speech therapy, instead of waiting to see if this would correct itself on its own. As a result of the therapist trying to teach me how to say the s sound the right way, and my misunderstanding what she was telling me to do, I developed a severe lateral lisp, which took years to correct. My mother was furious but had no say, as this was years and years ago in the public school system when parents didnt really have many rights and couldn't advcate like they can today.

So, my point is, sometimes it's better to just leave a kid alone. And pray.

ETA- my daughter also was very, very late in when she first started talking. And for a long, long time she would barely talk at all.

(Now of course she's a teenager and I can't keep her quiet! )

 

Tater and ABCgrad, someone in your states needs to make a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights.

It does not matter how a child is educated, the public school system in each state is responsible for providing special education services (such as speech therapy) to ANY child within it's jurisdiction. These are federally funded services and it is not up to the state to tell you that you don't qualify simply because you homeschool.

Go to www.edu.gov and do a search for the rights of privately educated students and 504 services. Play around with the key words to find the best information. There are links there for asking questions and making complaints. Another good key word is "Child Find" which will bring up what the states are supposed to do in order to find children who are being privately schooled(homeschools are included in this group) that are in need of special education services.

One caveat: In Alabama, where we homeschool under the "umbrella" of a church school, the church school itself may not allow you to seek services through the government. If you are here, you need to google VAST network (I know VAST is the major part of their name). They are the special education homeschool school umbrella (a church sponsers this ministry) that I know exists in this state and they can tell you how to best access special education services in Alabama. Actually, they might be a good place to go just for infomation that you can then apply to your own state.

 

Thanks for the info, MK. I plan to homeschool again this coming fall and if my dd still needs speech therapy by then, I'll know what to do.