The Ironton City School District shall have as one of its certified employees, a Speech and Hearing Therapist (also known as a Speech-Language Therapist) who shall be employed by the Ironton City Board of Education, upon the recommendation of the City Superintendent of Schools, and at a salary schedule (teachers) as adopted by this Board of Education.

The primary function of the Speech and Hearing Therapist (Speech-Language Specialist) shall be to provide a comprehensive program for each school, within limits of the personnel, which will emphasize the identification of needs and the provision of remediation for speech and language impaired children. The Speech and Hearing Therapist (Speech-Language Specialist) shall be directly responsible to the Ironton City Superintendent of Schools, as well as to the administrator of each assigned school.

Certification

The Speech Language and Hearing Therapist shall meet all the requirements for certification as established by the State Board of Education for this specialization.

Working Operations

The Speech and Hearing Therapist (Speech-Language Specialist) shall work the 183-day school-calendar year annually. Work hours shall begin when the first school in the District opens for instruction and shall end when the last school in this District closes for instruction, daily, Monday through Friday.

Sick Leave and Other Leave

The Speech and Hearing Therapist (Speech-Language Specialist) shall be entitled to sick leave and other leave as granted by Ohio laws on same and in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The Speech and Hearing Therapist (Speech-Language Therapist) shall be allowed mileage, at a rate as established by the Collective Bargaining Agreement as follows: for travel between office and the schools; between schools, between schools and home visitations; and for travel to meetings within this District (or business) related to this position. For travel outside the Ironton District, the Speech and Hearing Therapist (Speech-Language Specialist) shall formally apply to the Superintendent of Schools for permission (and mileage).

Board Policy 2130.3
Administrative Rules and Regulations

The Speech and Hearing Therapist shall have the following duties, responsibilities, obligations:

(1) Initiate a general screening program:

a. give individual speech, language and hearing screening tests;

b. analyze screening data;

c. disseminate information resulting from screening;

d. secure the written parental permission for extensive, in-depth testing if the child fails the screening test;

e. secure the written parental permission for testing all referrals. (A request for speech and/or language evaluation form may be obtained from the principal's office or from the Speech and Hearing Therapist (Speech-Language Specialist). If a teacher, parent, etc. refers, identification has already been made).

(2) Diagnose the identified children:

a. administers necessary diagnostic instruments;

b. establish criteria for case selection;

c. secure parental permission for placement of student;

d. develop therapy schedule.

(3) Conduct remediation program:

a. establish short-term goals and terminal behavior;

b. plan therapeutic techniques to obtain objectives;

c. develop a system of recording data;

d. evaluate student progress;

e. confer with related individuals;

f. follow-up;

(4) Complete all required reports:

a. parent reports;

b. district reports;

c. state reports;

(5) Serve as liaison to special programs:

a. refer child to other specialists;

b. respond to requests for consultations;

(6) Participate in professional growth activities:

a. attend district inservice meetings;

b. support state and regional professional growth activities;

c. review pertinent publications, as time permits;

d. acquaint district personnel with new tests, trends and techniques. (Equipment and materials acquisitions).

Eligibility, Assessment, and Placement

(1) Any child of legal school age who has speech, language, or hearing problems is eligible.

(2) The basis for selection and placement of children for speech, language and hearing therapy services shall be made by the therapist and include:

a. Diagnostic speech evaluation, including observation of the speech structures; audiometric evaluation within the first six weeks of initiating therapy; language assessment when indicated, and psychological services as required.

b. General examination by the family physician when indicated; and referral of children with voice problems of organic etiology through the physician to the otolaryngologist.

c. Therapy for myofunctional (e.g. tongue thrust) disorders, should be initiated only after all children with identified speech, hearing and language disorders have received necessary intervention.

(3) The bases of selection of children for speech-reading (lip-reading) and auditory training shall be:

a. Individual audiometric evaluation training; otological examination, with a copy of the report filed with the case materials; and assessment of speech-reading ability.

(4) The Speech and Hearing Therapist (Speech-Language Specialist) shall prepare such forms aas will serve as a process for informing parents or guardians of the program prior to placement of any student in speech, language or hearing therapy.

(5) The general organizational for delivery of services to speech, language and hearing handicapped children based upon their assessed needs

a. Class size shall be limited to ten (10) students or less.

b. Class periods shall ordinarily not be less than one-half of one regular school period, unless precision therapy is utilized. A minimum of one (1) remedial session per child per week must be provided.

c. Adequate records of all students screened, placed on waiting list, currently on active caseload, and those dismissed from therapy services shall be maintained.

d. Children should not be dismissed from therapy services before terminal criteria based on specific instructional objectives are achieved.

e. Periodic assessment of children dismissed from therapy shall be made over a two-year period.

f. Up to twenty percent of the time of the speech, hearing and language services staff may be assigned to work with regular or special educators and their students for purposes of prevention or remediation of communication problems.

g. Up to one half per week may be allocated for coordination of the program; parent, staff, and agency conferences concerning individual students staff development activities; and related follow-up.

(6) Scheduling of speech, language and hearing services shall be done by the therapist, in cooperation with the school principal and teachers, and should follow accepted, traditional practices and policies as established by State Standards.

Speech_Language Services Eligibility Guidelines

I. FIRST PRIORITY

Students between the ages of 5-21 whose communicative disorder adversely affects their educational performance (interferes in the process of school day, not just grades) as determined by the teacher checklist and speech/language specialist's expertise. Organic difficulties will be considered above functional disorders. Those children who evidence a social/emotional problem which is related to the communicative disorder should receive first priority.

A. Articulation Therapy

Students who demonstrate omission, distorting, substitution and/or addition of standard English phonemes with respect to dialect deviations, resulting in unintelligible speech.

B. Language Therapy

1. Students who demonstrate a rule-based problem in phonology, syntax, or morphology.

2. Students who utilize a reduced mean sentence length in accordance to his/her developmental age.

3. Those students who evidence delays in the pre-linguistic area.

4. Students who evidence auditory processing problems as demonstrated by differences in performance and verbal outputs.

C. Fluency Therapy Students exhibiting an awareness of their dysfluent speech and/or whose educational performance is adversely affected should be given highest priority. Consideration should be given to the student's age, attitude, degree of severity as measured by the "Rating Scale of Severity of Stuttering" and parental/teacher attitude.

D. Voice Therapy

1. All students referred by a physician for remediation of organic anomalies.

2. Students whose verbal intelligibility is adversely affecting communication and/or educational performance.

3. Students whose voice problems seem to be interfering with and adversely affecting, social and emotional adjustment.

4. Students who display anxiety or unusual concern regarding his/her voice problem.

II. SECOND PRIORITY

Students between the ages of 5-21 who demonstrate a moderate communicative disorder which does not adversely affect his/her educational performance or those students who demonstrate a combination of any two communicative disorders, neither of which adversely effects educational performance.

A. Articulation Therapy

Students who demonstrates omission, distortion, substitution and/or addition of one or more standard English phonemes, with respect to dialect deviatons in accordance with:

a. normative data of emergence of sounds;

b. stimulability of the correct sound;

c. frequency of occurrence resulting in fair intelligibility.

B. Language Therapy

1. Students who demonstrates a mild rule-based language problem which does not adversely

affect educational performance.

2. Students who evidence auditory processing problems which do not adversely affect

educational performance.

C. Fluency Therapy

Students exhibiting a fluency disorder in the absence of an awareness of their difficulty and with no adverse affect on their academic performance.

D. Voice Therapy

1. Students who are medically referred without physical anomalies but those whose referrals are due to vocally abusive behaviors.

2. Students whose voice (acoustic signal) indicates inappropriate functioning of the vocal/speech mechanisms in areas of volume, pitch and resonance.

III. THIRD PRIORITY

Students between the ages of 5-21 who demonstrate a mild communicative disorder in a single area that does not adversely affect his/her educational performance.

A. Articulation Therapy

1. Students who demonstrates omission, distortion, substitution and/or addition of one ormore standardized English phonemes, with respect to dialectal deviations, in accordance with:

a. normative data of emergence of sounds;

b. stimulability of the correct sound;

c. frequency of occurrence errors resulting in occasional errors noticeable in continuous speech.

2. Students with poor motivation or for whom the likelihood of significant progress if highly questionable.

3. Students demonstrating a tongue thrust disorder with concurrent speech problems.

4. Students with a tongue thrust disorder without concurrent speech problems

5. Students previously dismissed or at the consultative level who would benefit from supportive work.

6. Students with attributing dental anomalies.

B. Language Therapy

Students who evidence a language vocabulary concept disorder in the absence of a rule-based language disorder or any other communication difficulty.

C. Fluency Therapy

Students who exhibit normal dysfluencies with parent/teacher concern.

D. Voice Therapy

Students with a voice problem which is occasionally observed but does not affect educational performance or physical concern.

Eligibility For Services and Referral Procedures

1. The procedural forms used in the speech, hearing, and language programs are the same as all other programs for the handicapped children.

2. The individuals responsible for implementing all of the procedural safeguard activities are the same for all other special education program areas.

3. The School District has adopted written procedures to determine whether a child's communication disorder adversely affects his/her educational performance.

4. The evaluation procedures require a multi-disciplinary team (at least the child's regular, special teacher, or some other specialist, and the speech language, hearing therapist).

5. If, after an evaluation has been conducted in accordance with Title 45, Sections 121a.530 through 532 and in accordance with Ohio Program Standards 3301-51-05 (N), a child is determined not to be a "speech impaired" child under Federal definition but demonstrates speech, language or hearing problems as defined in State Board of Education Program Standards, the child may be served by a speech, language and hearing therapist only after all identified "speech impaired" children are receiving appropriate speech therapy services. This should be a top priority for the District.

6. All procedures followed in the Speech-Hearing Program will be conducted in a highly professional manner, and all students will be granted the "due process" to which they are entitled.

Legal References: O.A.C. 3301-51-05 (N)