Stephanie: My son is one month shy of five years of age. He meets the eligibility criteria under the state’s ed code where we live. The school says his errors are “not severe enough.” It seems more like they run a specific special education classroom – only for moderate to severe disabilities. So that’s it? They can exclude him because they don’t have a mild to moderate speech and language teacher? When I mentioned RTI, they agreed! They offered 1 day a week for 3 weeks for speech group. I don’t understand.
This typically occurs because the therapist feels speech will improve as the child matures, &/or because there is a shortage of therapists. You can have an independent evaluation done at your expense or ask the school to pay for it, to get a second opinion.