Johnsa: my child has unintelligible speech but catches on quickly to sign and makes up his own gestures. he understand most of what is said to him, but others can not understand him and he needs 1:1 interpretation of class instruction.
I’ve requested he be assigned a sign language assistant to be with him through out the day. Can this legally be denied? after 2 years I still do not have an articulation device for the home to help explain his school work.
Is your son on an IEP. If not you need to get him on one. This way you can request appropriate services for him legally. If you do have an IEP than you need to reconvene with your doctor/specialist either there in person or on the phone to discuss what is best for you son. Be prepared to pay for this professional. We had to do this with our son and were able to get a better curriculum for him on the IEP.
Johnsa: Your son will not be able to make it in life if he can’t communicate with other people. I think you know this but the school doesn’t seem to be concerned about his inability to communicate if they haven’t provided services to help him.
You don’t have any more time to waste. Your son needs to have a comprehensive psychoeducational evaluation and speech language evaluation by people in the private sector. Check the psychology departments at local colleges and universities – they are often a great resource.
A few thoughts. One, if there’s any hearing loss whatsoever you have some ground. The law is written very loose in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing department. If so, go after it.
If not, I’ve not found much ground to stand on. Why isn’t the AAC device coming home? I’m guessing it’s needed to do homework.