Special education services?

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jfair

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My daughter was recently denied special education services through our school district. She would be in the early childhood development program, the reasoning behind being denied for services was that she is above par in language development with her peers. We work with our daughter daily and she presently receives speech therapy privately twice a week or about 8 times a month. Are we not being penalized for being proactive? Based on the fact that most kids diagnosed late with hearing loss are often thought to have a low level of intelligence, can we not make the same argument for receiving speech therapy services? Has anyone else had any experiences with something similar?
 
Tell us again about your daughter's hearing loss. How severe is it? If it's severe enough, she should qualify anyway for interpreters or other special education services, regardless of her language development. I was well advanced in my language skills at a very early age, but I do have a profound loss (and at that time, just severe - this is based of db loss) and I still qualified for special ed services all the way to graduation from high school.
 
Moderate hearing loss in her left ear and mild in her right ear, I think people, even within education often look at special education as someone that needs an academic need fulfilled and the threshold on the need is typically low. She just turned three, I know it may seem overzealous, but I would rather turn over every stone in order for her to be as successful as possible.
 
I would have testing done at a specialists office and submit to the school.
Some schools are different as well, can always put her in a different school and move her later? I went to 2 different grade schools and 2 different high schools.
 
jfair said:
Moderate hearing loss in her left ear and mild in her right ear, I think people, even within education often look at special education as someone that needs an academic need fulfilled and the threshold on the need is typically low. She just turned three, I know it may seem overzealous, but I would rather turn over every stone in order for her to be as successful as possible.
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Ooooo..... This is tricky. It's AWESOME you want to be proactive with stuff, and it's good that she's above average with spoken language. But it's tricky b/c they think that if your kid is REALLY smart, they shouldn't "need" this or that right?
She does qualify for speech, but the overwhelming majority of dhh kids will probaly not have "like hearing" perfect speech. That's just a fact. Don't freak out about that....they can get her speech decent, but most dhh as kids people will probaly not have perfect speech. It's just like the way you could speak French pretty well but not like a native French speaker.
You know..... One way to try to get more services/build more of a safety net is to look into dhh education. It's probaly not a realistic idea to try to get her in full time at a School for the Deaf (unless by some amazing stroke of luck you live near a school for the Deaf and are also in a state that allows for parental choice regarding educational placement at a deaf school)
However, a dhh program school or a school that's a magnet program for dhh kids might be a really good placement, since that way she would get the dhh support services she NEEDS, already built in, without having to fight for them. The problem is that when a dhh child is bright, the public school system automaticly thinks that they can get away with providing little to no accomondations. That means usually that you will have a fight about things like an FM device, notetakers etc etc etc
One way to argue for a placement at a deaf program, might be that you want the safety net of dhh services......Hearing aids are expensive and imperfect. So it's probaly a good idea to give her services and programming and tools so that she can function both with and without her hearing aids. A really big part of the issue with the high unemployment level with dhh people is that they're priced out of the job market, since so many hoh kids are taught to exclusively depend on their hearing technology, rather then given a lot of different tools to help them deal with their being HOH.
There are many different pieces to the puzzle. Even hoh kids can strongly benefit from the safety net of ASL and deaf ed (if it's good and available)
Also, a dhh program will have speech therapists who are experianced with working with dhh kids. One of the problems with a mainstream school is that virtually all of their support systems are targeted towards hearing and or more classicly/higher incidence disabilties. So for example you'll get a speech therapist who may have worked with a dhh kid 15 years ago.
Keep an open mind and look into every and anything. There are many many different pieces to the puzzle......Speech and hearing is awesome, but it's only a part of the puzzle. If it was THE ANSWER, then all hearing kids would be incredibily sucessful.
Have you contacted your state's School for the deaf's outreach? They may be able to help you with suggestions, accomodnations etc etc etc.
Oh, and just as an aside....I do think that there are some kids who might be able to do quite well in the mainstream with appropreate accomondations (ie good dhh specific supports, deaf camps in the summer, exposure to other dhh peers) Look into every and anything...... Realize that there is value in specialized educational placements, and that what is right for a child at one point in time, can and does change drasticly as a child gets older.
 
jfair said:
My daughter was recently denied special education services through our school district. She would be in the early childhood development program, the reasoning behind being denied for services was that she is above par in language development with her peers. We work with our daughter daily and she presently receives speech therapy privately twice a week or about 8 times a month. Are we not being penalized for being proactive? Based on the fact that most kids diagnosed late with hearing loss are often thought to have a low level of intelligence, can we not make the same argument for receiving speech therapy services? Has anyone else had any experiences with something similar?
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Is the early childhood development program a general specialized special ed program? Good on you for trying to fight for a place there! Yes, most of the time a HOH kid would fit in very well there, but she's doing really well. Which is good and all.....
 
deafdyke said:
Ooooo..... This is tricky. It's AWESOME you want to be proactive with stuff, and it's good that she's above average with spoken language. But it's tricky b/c they think that if your kid is REALLY smart, they shouldn't "need" this or that right?
She does qualify for speech, but the overwhelming majority of dhh kids will probaly not have "like hearing" perfect speech. That's just a fact. Don't freak out about that....they can get her speech decent, but most dhh as kids people will probaly not have perfect speech. It's just like the way you could speak French pretty well but not like a native French speaker.
You know..... One way to try to get more services/build more of a safety net is to look into dhh education. It's probaly not a realistic idea to try to get her in full time at a School for the Deaf (unless by some amazing stroke of luck you live near a school for the Deaf and are also in a state that allows for parental choice regarding educational placement at a deaf school)
However, a dhh program school or a school that's a magnet program for dhh kids might be a really good placement, since that way she would get the dhh support services she NEEDS, already built in, without having to fight for them. The problem is that when a dhh child is bright, the public school system automaticly thinks that they can get away with providing little to no accomondations. That means usually that you will have a fight about things like an FM device, notetakers etc etc etc
One way to argue for a placement at a deaf program, might be that you want the safety net of dhh services......Hearing aids are expensive and imperfect. So it's probaly a good idea to give her services and programming and tools so that she can function both with and without her hearing aids. A really big part of the issue with the high unemployment level with dhh people is that they're priced out of the job market, since so many hoh kids are taught to exclusively depend on their hearing technology, rather then given a lot of different tools to help them deal with their being HOH.
There are many different pieces to the puzzle. Even hoh kids can strongly benefit from the safety net of ASL and deaf ed (if it's good and available)
Also, a dhh program will have speech therapists who are experianced with working with dhh kids. One of the problems with a mainstream school is that virtually all of their support systems are targeted towards hearing and or more classicly/higher incidence disabilties. So for example you'll get a speech therapist who may have worked with a dhh kid 15 years ago.
Keep an open mind and look into every and anything. There are many many different pieces to the puzzle......Speech and hearing is awesome, but it's only a part of the puzzle. If it was THE ANSWER, then all hearing kids would be incredibily sucessful.
Have you contacted your state's School for the deaf's outreach? They may be able to help you with suggestions, accomodnations etc etc etc.
Oh, and just as an aside....I do think that there are some kids who might be able to do quite well in the mainstream with appropreate accomondations (ie good dhh specific supports, deaf camps in the summer, exposure to other dhh peers) Look into every and anything...... Realize that there is value in specialized educational placements, and that what is right for a child at one point in time, can and does change drasticly as a child gets older.
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I will have to disagree with this ! I would love to have prefect speech and hearing. I hate having a speech defect . I knew women that was hoh and she had 'hearing' speech and I saw how easer it made her life.
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I will have to disagree with this ! I would love to have prefect speech and hearing. I hate having a speech defect . I knew women that was hoh and she had 'hearing' speech and I saw how easer it made her life.
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How so? I do not have perfect hearing speech, but it's still understandable. And it not being perfect has never had a negative effect for me. What does your "speech defect" as you call it, do to negatively impact you?
 
AlleyCat said:
How so? I do not have perfect hearing speech, but it's still understandable. And it not being perfect has never had a negative effect for me. What does your "speech defect" as you call it, do to negatively impact you?
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This forum is the only place that I know anything about WDYS from. So I do not know what she sounds like. I do notice differences in how she writes from the standard English that I grew up with and is still the natural way to say things for me. So I wonder if it is as much a matter of grammar as pronunciation?
 
Jane B. said:
This forum is the only place that I know anything about WDYS from. So I do not know what she sounds like. I do notice differences in how she writes from the standard English that I grew up with and is still the natural way to say things for me. So I wonder if it is as much a matter of grammar as pronunciation?
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I'm going to assume she was referring to pronunciation as she wrote "speech defect" - as that is usually verbal, not written. I can understand how poor written English is hard for some to comprehend, but just simply speaking a *little* different than the normal hearing person does should not be life-altering.

Don't get me wrong. I'm very defensive of the d/Deaf and understanding all walks of d/Deaf life because I've so been there and done all that myself, but maybe because I've experienced it that helps me understand that a slight speech defect should not make a negative impact on a life, overall. I don't understand the whole "I saw how easier it made her life." How ?
 
whatdidyousay! said:
I will have to disagree with this ! I would love to have prefect speech and hearing. I hate having a speech defect . I knew women that was hoh and she had 'hearing' speech and I saw how easer it made her life.
Click to expand...

Life easier? How? My speech has been considered "perfect" (whatever that means and my life still isn't that easy. I don't hate anything about my life because my deafness and whatever speech issues I may have (I do tend to slur sometimes) IS a part of my life. When one's speech is deemed 'perfect' the person doing so then doesn't believe you when you say you are deaf/HOH thus making your life hell. So in an ironic twist I'd almost rather have some imperfection so I could get people to BELIEVE ME when I say I am deaf and my hearing sucks donkey balls!

Jane B. said:
This forum is the only place that I know anything about WDYS from. So I do not know what she sounds like. I do notice differences in how she writes from the standard English that I grew up with and is still the natural way to say things for me. So I wonder if it is as much a matter of grammar as pronunciation?
Click to expand...

How good a person's speech is has nothing to do with how good someone writes/their grammar. I know many deaf from either mainstream or deaf schools who has "deaf speech" or don't use their voice yet their English writing skills are far better than many hearing people I know. I know a few deaf/HOH whose speech could be termed as 'perfect' or 'near perfect' regardless of where they went to school- deaf school or total mainstream whose English writing skills are not very good at all- maybe at a grade school level and have trouble comprehending when they read.

I agree with AlleyCat and her view. Been there myself (throw in low vision and you've got a circus...:P).
 
For me, I tend to mix up words. I transpose some words (sometimes words outright, sometimes parts of words - makes me feel like I'm dyslexic, but I'm not.) I recognize this as a result of all my speech being LEARNED speech, and not from natural hearing.
 
AlleyCat said:
How so? I do not have perfect hearing speech, but it's still understandable. And it not being perfect has never had a negative effect for me. What does your "speech defect" as you call it, do to negatively impact you?
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Same here. Used to want perfect speech so badly that it would get me so upset. I have learned a long time ago that it will never happen and have let it go. It has been almost 20 years since then and it has been freeing.
 
DeafDucky said:
. . .
How good a person's speech is has nothing to do with how good someone writes/their grammar. . .
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True dat. Good speech means, well, good speech and nothing else. Good speech doesn't necessarily mean good word choice and use. Sometimes it just means the garbage coming out of the mouth is easier to comprehend.
 
You're in San Antonio, TX, right?

try https://www.saisd.net/main/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5586&Itemid=0/

and ask for a Child Find testing evaluation. usually under assessments.

and make sure the IEP reports is deaf. Not HOH or hearing impaired. Make getting services easier.



jfair said:
Moderate hearing loss in her left ear and mild in her right ear, I think people, even within education often look at special education as someone that needs an academic need fulfilled and the threshold on the need is typically low. She just turned three, I know it may seem overzealous, but I would rather turn over every stone in order for her to be as successful as possible.
Click to expand...
 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/e...on-programs-brace-for-possible-cuts.html?_r=0



I found this web site that said there could be a budget cut for students with special needs , this could be part of the reason your child not getting the help they need. This happen all the place and in my state too. You may want to check into this story and see what is going on b/c this is from 2013 . Special Ed is always the one of the first thing to get cut in school budget . :(
 
DeafDucky said:
Life easier? How? My speech has been considered "perfect" (whatever that means and my life still isn't that easy. I don't hate anything about my life because my deafness and whatever speech issues I may have (I do tend to slur sometimes) IS a part of my life. When one's speech is deemed 'perfect' the person doing so then doesn't believe you when you say you are deaf/HOH thus making your life hell. So in an ironic twist I'd almost rather have some imperfection so I could get people to BELIEVE ME when I say I am deaf and my hearing sucks donkey balls!



How good a person's speech is has nothing to do with how good someone writes/their grammar. I know many deaf from either mainstream or deaf schools who has "deaf speech" or don't use their voice yet their English writing skills are far better than many hearing people I know. I know a few deaf/HOH whose speech could be termed as 'perfect' or 'near perfect' regardless of where they went to school- deaf school or total mainstream whose English writing skills are not very good at all- maybe at a grade school level and have trouble comprehending when they read.

I agree with AlleyCat and her view. Been there myself (throw in low vision and you've got a circus...:P).
Click to expand...

Where's the LOVE button? THIS! THIS to the max!
 
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