“Communication is the Essence of Human Life”
-Janice Light
What is Speech Therapy?
School Speech Therapy is a subset of Special Education. It is provided to students who are below grade-level in their academic performance and are being negatively impacted by their communication skills in one or more of the areas listed below.
Articulation
-Producing speech sounds so others can understand you better
-Learning tools to help talk more fluently if you are a stutterer.
Language
-Expressive Language: having difficulty sharing your ideas and getting your wants/needs met
-Receptive Language: not understanding how to answer questions and/or follow directions
Pragmatics
Learning how to problem solve through social situations and understand/communicate using body language
Everyone deserves a voice.
Who needs Speech Therapy?
If your child currently DOES have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) for speech therapy…
Contact their general education teacher and me so we can get that document from you and/or their previous school to continue their services where they left off.
If you have concerns about your child in any of the above described areas (and they DON’T have an IEP)…
Let their general education teacher know your concerns first. They can describe what they are seeing in the classroom and you can discuss if a referral process needs to be started. You can reach out to me with questions about atypical communication development after the general education teacher has been initially contacted.
If your child is between 3-5 years old (is NOT in kindergarten YET) and you have concerns…
Contact TUSD’s Childfind department
If your child is younger than 3 years old and you have concerns…
Contact the Arizona Early Intervention Program (AzEIP)