Speech Woes

It's not new news when I say Rachel needs Speech Therapy.

It was recommended at last years Craniofacial Team Appointment to get it through the school system. But at that time, we were waiting to see if Rachel would be accepted at the Elementary School that Hannah attends. Once we received word that she was accepted, it was too late in the school year to try and obtain services through the school system. So we waited until the new school year.

On the first day of school (August 4th), I was ready with a letter to the Principal requesting a speech evaluation. It's taken a lot of poking and pushing, but in the last two weeks Rachel is FINALLY being evaluated by the school speech therapist and an IEP is being drafted as to the plan of approach as far as speech therapy is concerned.

However, this morning, I was hit with yet another road block.

Long story short - Rachel attends this school on an inter-district transfer from the school district in which we live in and are supposed to go to. If I continue to seek out help from the school in which she attends, there is the strong possibility that it will affect the decision in whether or not her transfer into the district is accepted next school year.

Sadly, it all boils down to money.

The money that the State gives to the school for attendance follows Rachel no matter what school she goes to. However, the monies for special educational services, such as Speech, does not follow her. And why would the district that we are currently attending fork out the money for special ed services for a child who doesn't really belong in their district anyways??

After being dealt this blow by the Speech Therapist, and having a spontaneous meeting with the principal, and getting more details from him. I decided I would try to obtain therapy through the therapist on the Craniofacial team, rather than jeopardize our placement at this Magnet School.

Thankfully, after contacting the therapist through the team, she has agreed to take on Rachel for therapy, and will see her once a week for an hour. The bummer part of it all is that we will now have to pay for the services, and our insurance doesn't cover any of it until we've met our deductible. But, you get what you pay for! :) And it's all part of the Lord's plan, and the Lord knew this would be better for Rachel.

But on the bright side, the very bright side, Rachel will be receiving one on one speech therapy for an hour every week. In the public school, she would be going to speech therapy in a group setting for half an hour. And like many have said, the caliber of therapy she'll receive through Loma Linda University is far more superior than she would have gotten through the public school system.

The process has been started to obtain authorization from our health insurance. And next week, at the scheduled IEP meeting, we will be formally denying services through the public school system.

It's just a detour on this journey. One of many more to come, I'm sure...