Will school districts in california pay for private speech therapy?

Question

I have all the assessments and documentation, but the IEP team still wont reach the decision,.

Answer 1

The school and you have to follow the legal special ed process for this.

Did the school give you prior written notice for refusing this?

They have to by law. THey have to have LEGAL reasons for refusing this and put  their reasons in writing to you.

It's not too late. Even if they say NO now,  if they did not follow the legal process in deciding this you can back up and start the process.

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Answer 2

Has the school done their own speech eval?

Unless a district is unable to find their own speech therapist they will not pay for private speech therapy.

Most districts have their own SLPs on staff or contract with specific agencies to provide speech therapists. It would be highly unusual in my experience for a district to pay for private speech therapy.

Answer 3

They only have 90 days to make a final decision from the time you give them something IN WRITING.  Has it been that long?  If you are nearing the end of it, I would contact them via writing again and remind them of the first day you gave them the reports in writing.

Answer 4

they could contract with teh therapy agency to provide additonal services-

but if the district pays-they choose the therapist-may hire someone in house-

if they determine it is educationally necessary through a 504 plan or IEP or Basic Skills-then they need toprovide it....

if it is only medically necessary tahn tehy don't

Answer 5

Every state has specific criteria to be eligible for services.  If your child did not meet that criteria - they are not obligated to provide services.  Sometimes you can get some pragmatic language services if you are under Autism Spectrum but many times those services are part of a whole plan and are typically delivered by a special education teacher.

They are very unlikely to pay for outside therapy.

Answer 6

This is not regulated by state law.

The school district is mandated by federal law to pay for private services ONLY if they are unable to provide the service with reasonable accomodations within the district.

Schools do not accept "outside" evaluations as demonstration of the need for services unless the district has a contract with an outside provider to assess children in the district.

As the special ed teacher said, the IEP team has 90 days to get their act together and call a meeting, which you attend to give feedback about your expectations and to approve the IEP.

Answer 7

If it is determined that the child qualifies for speech services (by educational criteria, not the criteria of an outside agency), then the school either has to provide services or pay for outside services.