How to Access Free Preschool & School Age Speech Therapy Assessment

Preschool and School-Aged Assessment

If your child is between the ages of 3 and 21 your local school district should be able to help with a speech and language assessment. In the United States, all public schools are required to provide special education and related services to all eligible students (speech therapy is under this umbrella!).

How Do I Request a Speech Assessment for my Preschooler From the School District?

A parent should request an assessment (“referral for assessment”) to their child’s local school district in writing. The letter requesting an assessment should include the following pieces of information:

• Your child’s full name
• Your child’s date of birth
• The parent or legal guardian’s name, home address, and phone number
• Whether your child is currently enrolled in school, and if so the name of the school
• Your concerns about your child that you think might require special education or speech therapy

Here is a sample referral for the assessment letter:

Dear Director of Special Education,

My name is Mom Tiger, and I’m reaching out because I have concerns about my child Daniel’s communication development. I’ve noticed that his speech isn’t as clear as other kids his age, and he’s having trouble with sentences and understanding more complex directions at preschool. I want to make sure he’s getting the support he needs, so I am requesting a speech assessment through the school district.

Just to give you a little more info, Daniel’s full name is Daniel Tiger, his birthday is April 5th, 2019, and we live at 100 Main Street, Jungle Beach, CA 12345. If you could let me know the next steps and supply an assessment plan, that would be great.

Thanks so much for your help, and I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Mom Tiger

For a more formal letter, you can write something like this:

January 20, 2023

From:
Mom Tiger and Dad Tiger
100 Main St.
Jungle Beach, CA 12345
Daniel Tiger
DOB April 5, 2019

To:
Director of Special Education
Jungle Beach School District
800 Jungle Beach Rd.
Jungle Beach, CA 12345

I am writing to you about my child Daniel Tiger. Daniel’s birthdate is April 5, 2019. My name is Mom Tiger and we live at 100 Main Street, Jungle Beach, CA 12345.

Daniel has not been functioning well in preschool, and I am concerned about his communication development as it relates to his educational progress. I am writing to make a referral for an assessment for special education services. We believe Daniel may be eligible for special education. I request that Daniel be given a comprehensive assessment by the school district in all areas of suspected disability. Below are some of my concerns related to Daniel’s educational progress:

• Daniel’s speech is unclear. Some people only understand 50% of what he says.
• Daniel does not use long sentences. He uses short phrases.
• Daniel sometimes has trouble following complex directions and can get lost within the large classroom environment.
• I am concerned his language weaknesses are impacting him academically, especially as it relates to his literacy and social development.

I look forward to receiving an Assessment Plan within 15 calendar days for my review and consent so that the evaluation and IEP meeting can be completed promptly within 60 calendar days of my consent to the Assessment Plan to discuss results and plan for Daniel’s education.

Sincerely,
Mom Tiger

Deliver the request for assessment to your school district’s director of special education. If you don’t find anything called Special Education on your school district’s website, look for other terms such as “Student Support Services,” “Student Services,” or “Programs for Exceptional Children.” We recommend you email this letter so it is easy to keep track of. Once you have sent the letter requesting the assessment, the school district is bound to the following timelines:

Within 15 Days: Once the district has received your request for an assessment, they must respond by giving you an assessment plan within 15 days. The plan will tell you what areas they plan to assess and who will be involved in the assessment. By signing the assessment plan (AP), you agree to allow the school district to assess your child, not to services.

Within 60 Days: Once you have signed and returned the assessment plan, the school district has 60 calendar days to complete the evaluation and hold an individualized education program (IEP) meeting to discuss the results with you. If a school break is longer than 5 days within this window, those days do not count toward the timeline.

How Do I Request a Speech Assessment for My School-Aged Child?

If you have concerns about your elementary/middle/or high school-aged child the process is a little bit different. Start by discussing your concerns with your child's teacher. They can provide information to you about the school's assessment process and guide you through the steps. You can request an assessment at any time similar to how you would request for a preschooler to be assessed. You can address this letter to your school's principal and copy the teacher. Include your child's name, age, grade, and a clear statement that you are requesting a special education assessment for speech therapy due to your concerns. Some schools would prefer you complete a Student Study Team (SST) meeting and interventions or a special education assessment.

What Is a Student Study Team (SST) Meeting?

The purpose of the SST meeting is to address your child's challenges within the general education program. The SST is a team of educators, specialists, administrators, and you as parents who work together to develop interventions outside of special education to support your child's learning and behavior. This team aims to exhaust all possible resources within the general education setting before considering special education services.

The school will implement a first-level intervention plan based on the recommendations generated during the SST meeting. This plan involves targeted interventions and strategies designed to address your child's specific needs within the classroom environment. The school will monitor your child's progress closely to determine if the first-level intervention plan is successful in addressing their challenges. If your child demonstrates significant progress and the concerns are resolved, the need for further action may be eliminated.

If the SST team determines that your child has not responded to the interventions put in place, or if you request an assessment and they provide you with an assessment plan, the assessment process will start. The same timelines that apply to preschoolers also apply here; the school must finalize the assessment and convene a meeting to review the evaluation results within 60 days of the IEP being signed.

The Assessment Process

For a preschool-aged child, will be scheduled to bring your child in for the assessment during the school day. It is important you schedule the appointment at a good time for your child. Just say no to nap time assessments! As part of the evaluation, you will be asked questions about your child’s developmental and health history. You can prep for this meeting by thinking about the following milestones (some may not apply to your child yet):

When did your child…?

• Roll over
• Sit independently
• Crawl
• Walk with assistance
• Walk independently
• Finger feed self
• Use a spoon and/or fork
• Drink from an open cup
• Wave bye-bye
• Say their first word
• Follow one-step commands
• Point to request
• Combine two words

Plan to share your child’s developmental milestones and return the requested paperwork as quickly as possible so the information can help the team understand your child and that information can be included in the report. A fair warning, there can be a lot of forms to fill out, and it will probably take you an entire evening after your kid has gone to bed! As a parent, you may be asked to participate in testing by playing with your child, reading to your child, recording videos of your child talking or playing at home, recording words you hear, and filling out any forms requested. Most assessments are between 1-2 hours, some more and some less depending, so plan ahead with your child’s favorite snacks.

If you are only concerned about speech and language you will meet with a speech-language pathologist and the school nurse. The school nurse will complete a hearing screening and a health history and report. If you have other concerns, such as with academics, motor, behavior, etc. other team members may also assess your child. 

Deciding on Eligibility

Once your child has been assessed the school district will schedule an individualized education program (IEP) meeting with you to discuss the results. You should receive the written results before the meeting so you can review them. It is reasonable to ask for a written report 24-48 hours in advance of the meeting.

During this initial IEP meeting, you will be asked to provide input about your child’s strengths and areas of potential growth. If you decide as a team at this meeting that your child does meet eligibility for special education, you will identify your child’s areas of need.

For a child with a speech/language delay or disorder, these needs are typically under the categories of expressive language, receptive language, pragmatic language, stuttering, or articulation. Needs are specific to your child’s areas of growth. There should be a goal attached to every area of need.

What Are IEP Goals?

There should be a goal written in every area of need identified in the assessment process. Goals may look something like this for Daniel Tiger, who has areas of need identified with his expressive language, receptive language, and articulation development:

Expressive Language

Daniel will verbally label 10 items from within the same semantic category (e.g., body parts, animals, clothing) with 80% accuracy, given visual cues, across 3 consecutive sessions, as measured by SLP’s data collection/observation.

Receptive Language

Daniel will follow two-step directions with a targeted concept (e.g., in, on, next to, under, top, bottom, first, last, big, little, then), given no more than one prompt, with 80% accuracy, across 3 consecutive sessions, as measured by the SLP’s data/observation.

Articulation

Daniel will reduce the occurrence of the phonological process of initial consonant deletion, by producing age-appropriate initial consonants in single words with 80% accuracy, across 3 consecutive sessions, as measured by SLP’s data collection/observation. 

Services Offered If Your Child is Eligible

The areas of need identified by the assessment and by the team in the IEP meeting should drive the goals for your child. These goals will also help dictate what services are appropriate to help your child meet their goals.

It is important to note that if your child is eligible for special education under the category of speech-language impairment, they may receive services beyond just speech therapy if their disability impacts other aspects of their progress in school. For example, you may find that your child also has difficulty in language arts and is falling behind in reading. The team may find it appropriate also to provide academic intervention through the school resource specialist (a teacher who specializes in working with kids with learning disabilities).

Finalizing Paperwork and Starting Speech Therapy

If the school district believes your child is eligible for special education, you agree to the goals and the services proposed, you can then sign the IEP document. Services should begin as soon as they can be scheduled.

Should the school district find that your child is not eligible for special education services based on its assessment, you can agree with the school district that no special education services will be offered, OR you can disagree (to all or just part of the document).

If you disagree with the assessment results and determination that your child is ineligible for special education, you have the right to request an independent assessment from qualified specialists. This request should be made in writing and directed to the school district. 

A Final Note About Public Speech & Language Assessments

Not all children who struggle with communication are eligible for special education services. There are very strict eligibility criteria for a child with a speech or language impairment to be eligible for school-based speech therapy.

Private speech therapy is a great option for families with children who may not meet the strict eligibility criteria for school-based services, but there are still very real and impactful communication delays that would benefit from treatment.

Please contact us if you have concerns with your child’s language development despite a recent school-based or early intervention assessment finding your child ineligible for services.