Hi all, I am having trouble in my sons school. My son is 8 and is suppose to be receiving Speech therapy. He is suppose to be getting it 2 times a week, but since school started I think he has gotten it 2 a month. I have went to the school spoke to the principal who assured me that they were going to do something about this. I have went and spoke to the superintendent for this district and she also spoke to the principal, and still nothing. I have no idea what to do next, Can someone who maybe knows about this give me some info. I am doing research right now to see what I can accomplish, I have found a few leads but noting to big. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for the advice everyone.. Sorry didnt get to come on and tell what happened I have just been so busy.. I went to the school with no success.. Well the psychiatrist at the school loves me.. so I explained what was going on to him and he gave me the supervisors number for both the speech therapy and the assistant principal.. I called this morning, and he took all the information.. he is going to give me a call either tomorrow or Thursday at around 12 to let me know how everything is going.. He was highly upset as this is the third parent calling about the same speech therapist.. I will update further when I know for sure what is going on.. in the mean time I called around to see if I can get a speech therapist come to the house instead of me having to go through all this in the school.. I am waiting on some calls from them as well.. Thanks again to everyone!
Does your son have an IEP and is speech therapy one on the services? If so, this is mandated and you would need to speak with the CSE coordinator for your district.
As a disabled adult that was horribly messed with by my school and refused accommodations that I was legally entitled to- which put my life on the wrong track and gave me a LOT to overcome as an adult...
You've spent enough time trying to convince them to do the right thing, to no avail. They have been given ample opportunity to do right by your child. And they have not lived up to their responsibilities. They are paid employees of the town/state. You are paying their salaries with your taxes. They are NOT DOING THEIR JOBS.
Draft a press release. Your school is ignoring their responsibility to your son. They are refusing-- through negligence-- to provide him something that (I think) he's legally entitled to. Draft a press release to this effect. Provide copies to the principal, your son's case worker, the board of education for your town/city/township, and let them know that you are giving them the press release in advance as a consideration so that they can come up with their response before the media is knocking at their doors.
If they do not immediately offer to make things right, and if they do not follow up by MAKING THINGS RIGHT, send the press release to every single media outlet you can find. The media eats this stuff up. Send it to local newspapers, news stations, etc.
You do not have to have your identity made public- just state that you don't want your identity or your son's identity disclosed.
Chances are it will never get to the point of involving the media. The school knows that they are not doing their job. They are just playing a procrastinator's game by shrugging off responsibility.
The added bonus is that- if they take it out on your child or your family in any way shape or form you have an instant lawsuit for harassment.
Schools NEED to do their job. The future of innocent children depends on them doing their job. And yet I ended up going to *7* different high schools as a child because NO ONE was doing their job and providing me with the simple accommodation that I needed. This is common. Most children with disabilities will encounter this issue. And a painful number of them will never have the issue resolved. Plain and simple: The school system loves getting state/federal funding for disabled kids but hates actually providing them the services that they need.
I wish I had known then what I know now- which is that you need to be prepared to fight in any way that is available to you.
Another option- if you have the money- is to hire a lawyer and bring them to court. I only suggest the press option as the first option because it's free and it's fast.
hi N.,well,u have to see the speech theripist,set up i ep meetin,always make copys of those papers,on them itll tell u how many times a week ,45 min per session,n so on,find out from his teacher y hes only going 2 times a month n not 2 times a week,this is gona hold up ur son,and someone there isnt doing there job,or just dont care going back to his teacher,n also y havent they told u anything about this,stand up for wat is rightfully there for ur son,just get copys of everything,if ur not satisfied tell them ull call,7 on ur side if nothing happens,but dont give up,let them all no u mean bussness,b as loud as u can with them,somebody will hear u,good luck to u n ur son.
I had the same thing happen at my son's school in brooklyn. He was supposed to get speech twice and counseling twice. The speech person went on maternity leave for 3 month and he never got it. Even before that, it was very random. I started working on techniques with him myself so he would not be behind. You should write a letter to the school based support team requesting better services. Tell the district office that you either want him placed in a school with a postiive track record in that area or ask for reccommendations for private schools. the DOE has to do everything possible to get your child the services. If that means it is through a private school, they will have to pay for it.
I am in the process of having the school based support team make some suggestions that will work.
good luck
