What is Speech & Language Therapy?
Speech/Language Therapy is provided by teachers of speech improvement. It is designed to address deficits in a student's auditory processing, articulation/phonological skills, comprehension and use of semantics, syntax, pragmatics, voice production and fluency.
Speech/language therapy may be recommended for a student with a communication problem, including problems of language comprehension and expressive language which adversely affect school performance. In addition, it may be recommended for students with speech production skills whose speech is unintelligible or not commensurate with the student's total profile, including cognitive development which adversely affect his or her educational performance. Students who function below a six month old cognitive level may not be ready for speech/language therapy as a related service but rather should receive sensory or language stimulation as part of their primary program.
The IEP team must take care in differentiating for ELL students a language difference as opposed to a speech/language impairment. If an ELL student is encountering only language differences, ESL services not speech/language therapy should be provided.
© 2015 The New York City Department of Education