What a week it’s been. Thank you again for taking the time and encouraging me!!!! Love, Jen

Jen, I am an SLP for the public schools…I see only the pre-k aged kids. I live in another state but please don’t give up on the SLPs there.
I have several children on my caseload who sound a lot like Luke. Their parents were less than positive about transition. I can honestly say they are (usually) pleasantly surprised that us “school SLP’s” actually work very well with their children. Yes, some continue private therapy. Some don’t. 1:1 speech therapy is good…but I have found some kids eventually do better with group because they see they are not the only child who struggles-and, as I write below0group therapy addresses some things that 1:1 just can’t. I typically, however, don’t group young 3’s. I am fortunate right now to be able to provide groups as I see fit-and not as a norm. Here are some things i have learned:

1) Ask to be present for each session. You want to continue to see what techniques the therapist uses. If you can’t be there-ask for notes about each session. What they did, what you can do and how to elicit the skills. I write a note home every session. some are detailed and some are (continue what u did last week). Get this put in IEP if you feel the SLP won’t follow through.

2) Ask for a 10 minute phone consult 1 time/ month (on IEP) between private and public SLP’s. if they refuse then require a notebook where each therapist writes what they are working on-and how Luke did and any strategies used.

3) Get them to write Kaufman cards in the IEP-so they must buy and use them. I use them routinely–and my supervisor to bought them for everyone this year.

4) If you think he needs more therapy time-speak up. These meetings are done so often that it is “routine” for the school staff. Don’t be intimidated. Fight for what Luke needs.

5) If Luke is able to recieve private Speech-look at the public school speech as extra therapy or extra practice.

6) If the SLP seeing your child doesn’t seem to do well-ask for a change. We are all human and sometimes our personalities don’t “gel”. I know a fabulous SLP-and this little boy wouldn’t speak to her, play with her-nothing–she tried everything. I started seeing him and he does everything for me. It was a personality conflict-not a level of skill issue.

Finally, sometimes the school SLP focuses on something that the clinical SLP can’t. For example, I work with a boy who sounds so much like your luke. He is apraxic and, at 3, had very little speech. the 1st year I provided 1:1 therapy 2x a week. We started this the 2nd year-but one day I noticed that, despite his ability to form intelligible 2-3 word sentences, he only talked to adults. he would walk away rather than ask a peer to move so he could have a spot at the sand table. he would wait for 10 minutes for someone to drop a toy b/c he wouldn’t ask for it. I switched and started seeing him in the classroom. i encouraged him to talk to the other kids. He received private therapy during this time that focused on sounds. By May, you would have never known that he had that trouble talking to peers. he talked as much as everyone else-and the other kids understood him. This year, we are going out of class speech again-in a group b/c he has met all the classroom goals right now. I feel that I am able to augment and supplement his private therapy-and it is working.

I hope this helps. Luke sounds like a child I would LOVE to work with!