SPEECHTHERAPY REFERRAL INFORMATION GUIDELINES

Please review the information below on sound acquisition, language problems, and various other disorders SLP’s treat. The new special education guidelines do not allow SLP’s to qualify a student for speech services if you, as their teacher, cannot provide documentationof negative impact either academically or functionally (i.e., socially, emotionally etc.). I have checklists for every disorder to make it easier. I have attached the most common checklists to this email. Please see me if you cannot access these documents or need a different one. Teachers must make the first contact with the parent before referring a student to SST. Please see the attached form for directions on how to refer children for articulation, voice, and fluency (stuttering).

ARTICULATION--SOUND ACQUISITION

Refer to the chart below for age ranges for various sounds.

Note: PK children should be 90% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners.

Kindergarten children should be 90-95% intelligible to unfamiliar listeners.

By 3.5 years / p, m, n, w, h, f, b, d, t
Between 3-5.5 years / k, f, g
Between 4-7 years / r, l, s, ch, sh, v, j, blends
Between 5-8 years / Voiced/voiceless th
Between 6-8 years / Three consonant blends

Please remember acquisition of sounds is variable from child to child, which is why there is a large range for some sounds. If a child does not have /k/ or /g/ at the beginning of Kindergarten, it will most likely develop naturally IF there are no other sounds errors. Please be aware of some of the following red flags for articulation that require immediate referral:

1) Child is hard to understand when context is not known.

2) Child has more than one sound in error (i.e., w for r, w for l, lisp for s etc.)

that makes the child difficult to understand.

3) Child is deleting 1 or more sounds at the beginning of words (i.e., sat = at).

4) Child is deleting many sounds at the end of words decreasing intelligibility.

5) Child has a "slushy" (mouth full of marbles) sounding /s, z/ or "sh" sound.

6) Child has atypical sound substitutions or abnormal sounding speech based on your experience.

LANGUAGE

While articulation problems are sometimes obvious, language problems make take a little longer to identify. These are some red flags to look for requiring referral SST for possible language delay:

1) Child is having difficulty learning colors, numbers, letters even after adequate instruction time.

2) Child cannot follow 2-step directions.

3) Child does not use correct pronouns even after correction.

4) Child appears to function well below grade level in most areas (not related to environmental deprivation).

OTHER

Some additional areas of concern may include:

1) Stuttering: repeating or prolonging words or using a lot of fillers (um, um, um etc.)

2) Voice:breathy, hoarse, or have an unusual nasal quality. Speaks too loud or too soft.

3) Hearing:doesn't appear to hear, asks to have information repeated, constantly sick (runny nose etc.).