Frustrated with public speech therapy

[Deleted]

I am trying to be patient, I know the public schools have a lot going on and no funding. But the bureaucracy is very frustrating.

DS is 3.5 and has a speech delay for articulation. Our insurance rejected private speech therapy, and we can't afford it OOP. I started the process through the school system 3 months ago, and there so much bureaucracy and time lost. We've had FOUR meetings before actually starting therapy today. The evaluation, eligibility meeting, pre-IEP planning meeting, and IEP discussion meeting. All at times dictated by the school, and we're just expected to make it work.

After getting all that done, the one weekly time the therapist has available is very inconvenient. But I dealt with that, woke DD from her nap, tore DS away from his activity, and was actually 5 minutes early! We wait for twenty minutes (?!) and the therapist comes out tsk tsk-ing me that our appointment is an hour later. I'm like "I have the email right here where we agreed to a time...." And she's all "oh it's okay I can fit you in early today only" and whisks DS away. It was YOUR inconvenient time lady! And I know I'm right about the time, I have your email right here.

I know the therapy is free, and I'm super glad it's available to us. I am grateful, and being very polite to the therapist and staff. I'm just frustrated internally.

[MamaMaui24]

Hopefully the hard part is over and now you can get into a routine with his therapy. I hope he likes it and does well!

[abs]

Preach on. We get private speech, too, and I'm tempted to let our IEP go because it's a scheduling nightmare. We are at the end of needing therapy anyway.

Now I'm too smart to say eff it but I want to.

[VillainV]

I'm sorry, it sounds really frustrating. I really hate it when I make a HUGE effort to be at an appointment on-time, and ready, and the provider screws up the time or told us the wrong time to show up. I also hate it when people refuse to admit that THEY are the ones who got the time wrong (and WTF is up with making it sound like she's doing you a HUGE favor by seeing you at the time -- sorry, make that 20 minutes AFTER the time -- she originally told you she'd see you??).

[longtimenopost]

I'm sorry

[Deleted]

Aug 28, 2015 11:46:28 GMT -5 VillainV said:

I'm sorry, it sounds really frustrating. I really hate it when I make a HUGE effort to be at an appointment on-time, and ready, and the provider screws up the time or told us the wrong time to show up. I also hate it when people refuse to admit that THEY are the ones who got the time wrong (and WTF is up with making it sound like she's doing you a HUGE favor by seeing you at the time -- sorry, make that 20 minutes AFTER the time -- she originally told you she'd see you??).

I know right?! When she came back with DS I said "I'm sorry there was confusion about the time, I have the email right here.." And started to pull out my phone. She said "oh my schedule's been crazy, who knows. But I can do 11-11:30." I didn't want to be a pill, so I didn't push it further. But dang, don't blame me for your scheduling issues.

[lilac05]

Free or not, there's no excuse for being rude. Unless you scheduled directly with the therapist, the time mix-up may not have been her fault. When I did therapy, I had a schedule in my box every Monday morning that gave me my schedule for the week. I had nothing to do with it.

I agree with @barefootbarista, the red tape is plentiful, and ridiculous. I'm sorry you got caught up in it.

Hopefully the scheduling won't get messed up next time, you'll end up loving the therapist, and things will get better from here. Sorry it was a rough start!

[Ashley&Scott]

I'm sorry it got off to a rough start, I would have been frustrated too. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing for future appointments.

How did it go? How often will he get therapy?

[redheadk]

It's free for you but she's getting paid because it's her job. Just like school is free K-12 but parents still have a right to speak up about the education and services their children receive, you can, too!

[Deleted]

Aug 28, 2015 16:06:34 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

I'm sorry it got off to a rough start, I would have been frustrated too. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing for future appointments.

How did it go? How often will he get therapy?

Thanks, I hope so. He gets 30 minutes once a week. It went okay. He was back with her for about 15 mins. She said she'll work on getting him to go longer. She said he was "cooperative but bossy." He wants to do things when he wants to do them. She was trying to do a work-reward system. He works with her to say (today for example) B words, and THEN he gets to play with bubbles. He of course wanted bubbles first. I asked about things to work on at home, and she said we'll "get to that in a few weeks." That annoyed me. This process took so long already!

[Deleted]

lilac05 I was communicating with her directly for scheduling. I have the email right here where she offering me 3 time slots, me responding with a choice of the first offered slot, and her replying "great I'll see you then."

[undecidedowl]

Sorry it's been so hard to get it scheduled. Hopefully he sees good progress soon. I'll be interested to hear how he does.

[redwino]

I know it's frustrating but hopefully things will smooth out. I know the process is long but that's the nature of sped and definitely early childhood referrals. Related specialists are assigned to schools based on enrollment. EC referrals are basically extra kids that you have to squeeze into your schedule. It's always a balancing dance to keep your schools happy while keeping your EC parents happy. She was wrong for messing up the schedule and I hope she apologizes for that.

[bronxgirl]

It's so frustrating. Hopefully things will start to run smoothly soon. I remember when I was trying to arrange a speech therapy eval for DD through EI. It was so hard to get in contact with people from the agency and het them to follow through.

[Ashley&Scott]

Aug 28, 2015 18:20:37 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

Aug 28, 2015 16:06:34 GMT -5 Ashley&Scott said:

I'm sorry it got off to a rough start, I would have been frustrated too. Hopefully it will be smooth sailing for future appointments.

How did it go? How often will he get therapy?

Thanks, I hope so. He gets 30 minutes once a week. It went okay. He was back with her for about 15 mins. She said she'll work on getting him to go longer. She said he was "cooperative but bossy." He wants to do things when he wants to do them. She was trying to do a work-reward system. He works with her to say (today for example) B words, and THEN he gets to play with bubbles. He of course wanted bubbles first. I asked about things to work on at home, and she said we'll "get to that in a few weeks." That annoyed me. This process took so long already!

Hmm, why I'm not sure how I would feel about that. On the one hand I get the reward thing, but since he just met her I would think she would be a little more receptive to him & follow his lead a bit more. I would be annoyed that she's not giving you any pointers for home.

Why can't you go back with him? We've only had the evaluation, but we were present the whole time. And while the SLP guided the interaction she also let M take the lead. It was very much play based, but amazing to watch because she explained it as she went with tips. Then a recap of tips at the end.

[julygal]

For people wondering why you don't get to observe the session, our school SLP explained that since it is in a school setting it is often a group session. She could not have me in the room on another kid's therapy session. My DD was often with other preschool kids and kindergartners. The group changed throughout the year, as different kids started and ended services or classroom schedules changed. OP, I completely understand your frustration. The system isn't perfect and it's not the same as private therapy, but give it time as it does help.

[hausmaus]

It took us six months until DS finally got his IEP and speech services. Then, we moved and had to start all over. The amount of paperwork is insane.

It's a trying process and the system can be so overloaded. I'm sorry you had a not so great first appointment and hope things go more smoothly next time!

[origami]

"Frustrated" is the best word I could use to describe our experience with EI and the school district's speech program. I have twins who need it for different reasons and no amount of me insisting/begging/crying could get anyone to give us more than 30min of GROUP therapy once a week at an inconvenient location. The only "extra" we ever got was the semester the SLP cancelled more than half of the sessions. She agreed to 2 makeup sessions. 2. Still group therapy.

[auntie]

If your child is going to be receiving special education services, I highly recommend this book-

www.amazon.com/Wrightslaw-Emotions-Advocacy-Education-Survival/dp/1892320096

This will outline the process and what rights you and your child have in this setting under IDEA. I get that this is frustrating, but it's a tough time of year in schools right now. The SLPs are setting up schedules for their current IEPs as well as any of kids who moved into the district with an IEP. She'll be juggling scheduling around older kids who can't be pulled from certain subjects and those who need their services delivered in small groups.

I'm sorry she flaked on you, that wasn't very professional. But I'll cut anyone working in a school this time of year an enormous amount of slack. She's going to want to get to know your LO before assigning homework. I would not expect you to participate or observe his sessions- that's not generally done in a school setting. Was your child in EI? I find a lot of people find it quite the adjustment to transition to IDEA Part B from EI; the philosophies are very different and can take getting used to.

I'm very impressed that you went from a request for an eval to service delivery in so short a time. And over the summer even. It sounds like you live in an excellent district. Federal mandates are 60 instructional days for the eval once you sign consent and receive a copy of the procedural safeguards. And then another 30 instructional days to write the IEP. In many places that's half a school year. I'm also impressed that they actually did a development meeting rather than just tossing out a cookie cutter version and having you sign.

I hope things improve once you fall into a groove. If you remain unhappy, you can always pay OOP for services. We always did DS's speech in school, but paid OOP for his therapy. If you live near a college that has an SLP masters program, you may be able to get very reasonably priced services from students doing their clinical practice hours.

[Deleted]

Aug 29, 2015 5:31:53 GMT -5 @mama2b said:

Aug 28, 2015 22:38:41 GMT -5 julygal said:

For people wondering why you don't get to observe the session, our school SLP explained that since it is in a school setting it is often a group session. She could not have me in the room on another kid's therapy session. My DD was often with other preschool kids and kindergartners. The group changed throughout the year, as different kids started and ended services or classroom schedules changed. OP, I completely understand your frustration. The system isn't perfect and it's not the same as private therapy, but give it time as it does help.

Absolutely if it is group, but her description and how she got to pick the time and then the therapist getting the time wrong and indicating she could see him early more indicated an individual session.

Yes they're individual sessions. I am not allowed to observe. She said earlier in the process that "kids do better without their parents around."

[origami]

Aug 29, 2015 6:51:03 GMT -5 @supergreen said:

Aug 29, 2015 5:31:53 GMT -5 @mama2b said:

Absolutely if it is group, but her description and how she got to pick the time and then the therapist getting the time wrong and indicating she could see him early more indicated an individual session.

Yes they're individual sessions. I am not allowed to observe. She said earlier in the process that "kids do better without their parents around."

i agree kids do better when a parent isn't present. But is there a way to observe without being in the room? Maybe sit outside the room with the door open so you can listen? Maybe the SLP can record the session on your phone?

[abs]

Not observing speech sessions in a public school is the norm IME. Rooms aren't set up for observation and they are usually group sessions so parental observation would violate privacy laws. Also, even for individual settings the parent would need to submit to a background check to be allowed into a classroom. You won't be present at all starting in K so it's good practice to let the SLP do their job without out.

30 minutes one time a week is also the norm, atleast where I am. More would be better of course but with the little amount of funding special education gets more just isn't possible. I'm sure exceptions have been made but most kids do make progress with the one time a week schedule so therefore they don't need to offer more unless regression is noted.

Hang in there! As frustrating as the whole process is school speech has been a positive thing for us. I think we will be done with our lingering articulation issues by Kindergarten next year.