Questions answered for Parents
At this time of year parents who are being welcomed to the world of IEPs and therapy
for their family members have lots of questions, so let me answer some of the big questions here.
Q: Now that I have the IEP what's next.
A: Once your loved one has an IEP, they are mandated to get services. That means either they will get the services at school or outside of school.
Q: When someone asks me "what's the mandate" what do they mean?
A: The mandate is the number of times per week, the length of the sessions, and how many other students are to be in the sessions. It looks like this: 2x30 1:1 ( twice a week/30 minutes individually) or it can look like this, 2x60 2:1 (twice a week/60 minutes in a group of 2).
Q: How do I know what's happening in therapy?
A: Ask. If your child is in therapy at school the therapist will either give you a daily report, a monthly report or a quarterly report depending on the school and the provider.
Q: How long will the services last?
A: Services last until the end of the IEP. At that time, the therapist will recommend to continue or to discontinue the services based on the progress made. At that time, the therapist will write an evaluation telling you why the services continue or do not.
Q: What if I move?
A: IEps move with you.
Q: What is the difference between Speech therapy and SEIT services?
Speech therapists work on increasing expressive, receptive, pragmatic and articulation language goals toward increasing academic, and social language. We also work on feeding and swallowing skills across a life-span. For more specific ideas visit ASHA.org
SEIT (Special Education Itinerant Teacher) are special education instructors. They help in the classroom to keep students involved in lessons and they help to carryover ST, OT and PT skills in the classroom. for more information about what they do visit the child Mind institute for a good explanation.
If you have more specific questions reach out to your school or therapist and they can explain it. You can also look on line and some of the places we like are:
