My child's IEP says speech therapy once a week, but my child needs more. The district says, "That's all we can provide. All students get speech once a week." What should I do?

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Start with your child's individual needs — not the district's standard service schedule. IDEA requires an IEP to be developed around the individual needs of the child. A district may have a typical service model or scheduling practice, but the IEP team must consider the individual student's needs and determine the services and supports appropriate for that student.

Speech-language services can also play different roles in an IEP. For some students, Speech or Language Impairment (SLI) is the primary area of eligibility. For other students, speech-language therapy is provided as a related service because it is necessary for the child to benefit from special education. In either situation, the services should be based on the child's individual needs.

First, understand why you believe your child needs more. Before asking for a specific number of sessions, build the picture of what your child needs and why. Consider:

• What does your child's evaluation show?

• What are your child's specific speech or language needs?

• What progress is your child making toward their goals?

• Is your child making expected progress with the current service?

• How does the speech or language need affect learning, communication, participation, reading, writing, behavior, or other areas of education?

• What does the speech-language pathologist's data show?

• What are teachers observing?

• What are you seeing at home?

• Is there a pattern that suggests the current level of service is not adequately addressing the need?

The stronger the documentation connecting the speech/language need to your child's education, the more meaningful the conversation can be.

What if the district says, "Everyone gets speech once a week"? Bring the conversation back to your child. You might say:

> "I understand that once a week may be the district's typical service model. I'm concerned that my child's individual needs may require something different. Can we look at my child's evaluation, goals, progress data, and current needs together and determine what level of speech-language support is appropriate for my child?"

You can also ask: "Is the team determining that once a week is appropriate based on my child's individual needs, or is the frequency based on the district's standard service model?" That distinction matters. The question should not be "How much speech does the district normally provide?" It should be: "What does this child need to address the identified disability-related need and make meaningful educational progress?"

What if the team says once a week is enough? Ask the team to explain the decision using the information available: "What information supports the decision that once-weekly services are sufficient for my child, and how will we measure whether the current level of service is working?" If your child is not making expected progress, or if there is new information about your child's needs, the IEP team can consider whether the IEP should be reviewed or revised. If the team doesn't have enough current information, you can ask whether additional assessment or data collection would help clarify your child's needs.

*How Same Team can help:* understand whether SLI is the primary area of eligibility or speech is a related service; review the IEP, evaluations, goals, and progress data; identify gaps in the information; organize documentation demonstrating the educational impact and substantial nature of the need; turn your observations into clear parent input; prepare questions for the team; formulate a collaborative request to reconsider the level of support; and understand your procedural safeguards and options if the concern cannot be resolved.

*The Same Team approach:* We don't tell you to walk in demanding "more speech." We help you walk in prepared to explain: "Here is what we're seeing. Here is the information that supports our concern. Here is how this is affecting our child's education. Can we look at this together and determine what support is appropriate?" That is stronger advocacy than simply requesting more services. The right support isn't determined by what everyone else receives — it's determined by what this child needs to learn, participate, communicate, and make progress.

My child's IEP says speech therapy once a week, but my child needs more. The district says, "That's all we can provide. All students get speech once a week." What should I do?

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