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Special Education Blog

Jan 28, 2010

Posted in: Blog

As we plan for our transition meetings in a few months, I usually begin to think of the various needs of our incoming kindergarteners. It is not unusual for the majority of our CDS students to have speech and language needs. Yet I am always surprised at the number of new referrals I receive for students with significant speech needs when students start school in September, students who are difficult to understand but have never received any speech services.  When I ask parents about their child’s needs they tell me their child has had regular appointments with their pediatricians but no one had suggested a referral for early intervention services. In asking more questions, I sometimes find that doctors or the nurse will ask if a child can talk and often the parent will answer for the child or the child will answer yes or no to the questions. It sounds so simple, but it does happen every year and children miss out on some early help. If parents suspect their child’s language development is delayed or have difficulty understanding simple speech, I would encourage parents to ask their pediatricians if they think their child’s speech is developing normally and to engage the child in simple conversation that help everyone identify language problems early on.

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