My school system is horrible. My son needs speech therapy.Should I go with a private speech therapist?

Question

My son is 4, he has good sentence structure but poor word structure. We are having his hearing checked this week and he will be evaluated by a school speech therapist. My concern is the school can't put in the time that a private therapist can. also to get help through the school the gap must be pretty large. We are still trying for a private therapist should we just go with a private one and take the help from the school while we wait?

Answer 1

Find out how often the school Speech Therapist will meet with your son at school. Every school is required to have one( at least in my state), and set up a time to meet with them. The chances are your schools therapist is overloaded because public schools lag behind in staffing for therapy and special ed.,but if not, good. If your therapist can make enough time to see your child on a weekly basis, there should be no reason to have to pay out of pocket for private therapist. Private speech therapy can cost around 150.oo/hr. Also, let your childs teacher know that it is OK for the therapist to see your child no matter what subject they are in. A lot of time the therapist has free time, but is restricted by teachers and parents who do not want the student to be pulled from a certain subject. The therapist can also give you at home work so you can give him extra therapy and practice to increase his speech capacity.

Answer 2

My son needed speech therapy and received in school, (the school must provide it) but I also had him go to a private speech, occupational therapist and that really helped him more that the school therapist.

Have him attend both.

Good luck, speech therapy makes a big difference.

Answer 3

Jersey Style is right about the insurance wih her response saying insurance will likely not cover services. Read the fine print on your contract; most won't pay for therapy for an articulation disorder unless it is due to a medical condition, such as cleft palate, hearing loss, or a neurological problem (like developmental apraxia or cerebral palsy). It must be congenital, not developmental.

That being said, If you can afford it, take advantage of BOTH the school therapy and the school therapy, but make sure both providers are working on the same or complimentary goals.

Group therapy in school IS a good idea, as kids learn to detect each others' errors and you child will learn to hear his own sooner. There's also the element of healthy competition between the kids, too.

You don't mention what sounds are difficult for him. If the production of certain sounds lags by between 6 months to a year behind the "norm", he should be able to get help through Head Start, which is the program in which kids get speech therapy before the age of 5. When I was employed by Head Start, the groups were never larger than 3 students, and I saw them for 2, one-half hour sessions 2/x week. They made amazing progress simply because they had no "therapy burnout".

Answer 4

Maybe your insurance will cover this therapy.  Schools have to offer certain things, but there is usually a great demand for these services.  It's hard to say how much time the school's therapist can devote to your son, since it depends on how many other kids there are to see.  If you can get coverage, I would try to find a private practitioner.  At the very least this might be easier to schedule time.

Answer 5

I would get a private speech therapist because you can't rely on the school for every thing and you want to get him help before it's to hard for him to learn anything.

Answer 6

Hi, I work in a speech therapy and audiology office and I would say yes, it's worth the time (usually 30 to 45 miniute sessions 3 times per week).  He will get the individual attention he needs and the therapist can give you at home exercises to do with your son as well.  School systems usually do group therapy with the children and there is usually little benefit and your child will be referred for speech tx anyway.  Chances are your insurance company will not cover therapy and you will have to pay out of pocket and before he starts private therapy he will have to have another speech-language evaluation so the therapist knows what he/she is dealing with. He should be better within 6 months to a year of solid therapy. Nothing really to worry about. Best of luck to you both :)