Following are a few sample questions we have selected - you can use the category listing to the left to find more questions and answers relating to your areas of interest. Click on a question to see the answer.

When a parent is told by their preschool school coordinator that a

This question was answered by SLPs and members of the WATCH Project. Response #1. "To my knowledge, children in Preschool are eligible for speech/language services and if they qualify under the guidelines should receive the services. The key is QUALIFY - a child may be in need but may not qualify for it to be a public school service but could benefit from private therapy. We have a number of children who get the service in addition to special education services. It is also a stand alone service. I would challenge this statement. The parent can call ECAC or FSN for support and counsel or the ARC. I would assume the parent can also call the Director of all Special Education Services and /or the Superintendent for clarification or call the NC Public Schools in Raleigh." Response number 2: "Children are able to get speech therapy before the age of 5 and certainly someone can get it through a private speech therapy agency. But, through the school system, 3-5 yr. olds have to qualify for school speech therapy by showing enough delays. If the parents wants just a screening they can call Project Enlightenment in Wake County at 856-7774 and ask for a free speech screening." Response number 3: "The family in this situation can always be referred to a private SLP - most will offer a free screening before recommending evaluation. If formal evalaution is necessary, the family would have to work with the private provider regarding insurance or other payment methods. This kind of situation happens often in which a child may have articulation errors or very mild language issues that don't cause the kinds of testing scores that make them eligible for preschool services. Private practices follow more "medically" based guidelines instead of "educationally" based, and although a child may not score 1.5 or 2 standard deviations below the norm on testing, they may still have delays for which therapy would be beneficial."