Federal education officials are reminding schools not to skimp on needed speech and language services for children with autism.
In a letter
to states, officials from the U.S. Department of Education say they’ve
heard that an increasing number of kids on the spectrum may not be
receiving services from speech-language pathologists at school.
Moreover, such professionals are frequently left out of the evaluation
process and are often not present at meetings to determine what services
a child should receive under the Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act, the department said.
“Some IDEA programs may be including applied behavior analysis (ABA)
therapists exclusively without including, or considering input from,
speech-language pathologists and other professionals who provide
different types of specific therapies that may be appropriate for
children with ASD when identifying IDEA services for children with ASD,”
wrote Melody Musgrove, director of the Education Department’s Office of
Special Education Programs, in the guidance sent this month.
Musgrove said her agency is worried that this issue is impacting
students in special education programs serving infants and toddlers as
well as K-12 schools.
Under IDEA, schools have an obligation to fully evaluate children
with disabilities to assess their specific needs. For young kids, the
law requires that the person who conducted the evaluation be included in
the team determining what services a child will receive. Meanwhile, for
school-age children, the individualized education program, or IEP, team
must include a professional who can “interpret the instructional
implications of evaluation results,” the Education Department guidance
said...
http://www.disabilityscoop.com/2015/07/28/schools-warned-speech/20509/
No comments:
Post a Comment
If your comment does not appear in 24 hours, please send your comment directly to our e-mail address:
parentscoalitionmc AT outlook.com