Cher: During my son’s group speech therapy session their are aides for other children that sit through the half hour session and it makes my son uncomfortable is this legal?
Speech: SPEECH THERAPY SESSIONS INCLUDE AIDES
Special Education Law and Advocacy
I suggest you document specifics about how this modality of providing the service is not helpful for your child, and bring that to the IEP meeting to request INDIVIDUAL services.
I have a great deal of trust in a parent’s intuition about what his or child needs in order to succeed in school.
(Of course, convincing the school will be more difficult.)
Step One is to read the IEP very carefully. Sometimes the IEP says “individual” but the school provides “small group” or “integrated”. If the IEP already says “individual”, then politely point this out and they will have to provide individual services.
(In this case, they might pressure you to agree to a quick change to “group”, but you are the parent and you don’t have to agree to that.)
Cher, sounds like the aides are present during the speech therapy session so they can help other children. Why would the presence of aides be illegal?
The school requires a doctor signed prescription for these service. When I go to the doctor for a visit the person sitting next to me in the waiting room does not go in the examination room with me. I think my child has a right for privacy during a doctor prescribed therapy, is their not any confidentially? Perhaps his civil rights of doctor/ patient confidentiality are in question rather then a legality?
Your child is however being provided Speech therapy in a school setting. The doctor may have prescribed the therapy, but the school had to actually decide that it was necessary and they are the ones providing the service. Small group speech therapy is not comparable to a medical appointment.
Also, I have had doctors prescribe physical therapy for me and there are a lot of people all over the place at the physical therapy center. My right to privacy is not being denied, nobody is reading my chart. I am pretty sure that the aides are not reading your child’s records. In fact, the aide’s presence likely benefits your child. The group likely runs smoother and there are additional adults to provide everyone support. The aides are all over school all day long.