MEMORANDUM

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
BETTY COXE
CHARLIE CRISTDEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR
COMMISSIONEREDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

CHARLIE CRIST

District School Superintendents

DEPUTY COMMISSIONER FOR

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

CONTACT PERSONS

goffs@mail.doe.state.fl.us

amye@mail.doe.state.fl.us

Provision of Speech/Language Services to Students with Disabilities

The purpose of this memorandum is to inform you of an issue that has been raised by the U.S. Department of

Education, Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) regarding

the provision of speech/language services to students with disabilities in Florida.

In 2000-2001, OSEP conducted on-site monitoring visits to seven school districts for the purpose of

determining Florida’s compliance with the requirements of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

(IDEA). As part of the monitoring activities, OSEP staff visited schools and conducted interviews with both

school and district-level staff. Information gathered as a result of these interviews lead OSEP to determine

that some students with disabilities were denied access to speech/language services. Given their conclusion,

OSEP cited a finding of noncompliance related to the provision of speech/language services to students with

disabilities in the state’s 2001 monitoring report.

To address this area of noncompliance, staff from the

Bureau of Instructional Support and Community Services worked with members of our state’s Advisory

Committee for the Education of Exceptional Students to propose appropriate corrective actions as part of the

State’s Improvement Plan required under the IDEA.

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District School Superintendents

Subsequent to this monitoring finding, in October 2001 a complaint was filed with OCR against the Florida

Department of Education which alleged that the Department has engaged, “...in a pattern and practice of

denial of speech/language therapy services to students with disabilities.” The Department responded to this

complaint. Excerpts from our response are summarized below.

“Consistent with the provisions of 34 CFR 300.26(a)(2)(i), since 1977, Florida has defined speech

and language services as “...special education rather than a related service under State standards.

“Specifically, Florida’s definition of “exceptional student,” at section 228.041(18), Florida Statutes,

includes “...students who are...speech and language impaired...” Consistent with this law, the criteria

for eligibility for this program is prescribed in rules adopted by the State Board of Education (Rule

6A-6.03012, FAC)...

As stated in our response..., in addition to the availability of speech and language services as “special

education,” consistent with the requirements of 34 CFR 300.346(a)(2)(iv), individual educational

plan (IEP) teams are required to consider the communication needs of each student with a disability.

Based on the needs identified, the IEP must address these needs through appropriate goals,

objectives, benchmarks and the provision of appropriate services.

As a first step in the development of the specific actions for inclusion in Florida’s State Improvement

Plan to address OSEP’s “Noncompliance” finding in this area, the Bureau conducted a review of

pertinent statewide student data. The results of this review are summarized below...

Of the 373,715 students identified as students with disabilities in Florida (Survey 9, December 2001)

89,581 students or 24% of the state’s total population of students with disabilities are identified

pri

disability of speech impaired or language impaired.

o

55,316 or 62% of these students have a primary disability of speech impairment

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34,265 or 38% of these students have a primary disability of language impairment

83,392 students or 22% of the state’s total population of students with disabilities are identified

disability of speech impaired or language impaired in addition to their

primary disability.

74,500 or 89% of these students have primary disabilities identified other than speech or

language impairments including

17,812 or 64% of the 27,698 total number of students with a primary disability of

trainable mentally handicapped, deaf or hard-of-hearing, dual sensory impairments,

autism, and development delay

15,069 or 33% of the 45,836 total number of students with a primary disability of

educable mentally handicapped, orthopedically impaired, profoundly mentally

handicapped, traumatic brain injury, or other health impaired

District School Superintendents

Based on the above data, 164,081 or 44% of all students with disabilities in Florida are

eligible for speech and language services, as a special education program, through the

identification of speech or language impairments as either a primary or secondary area of

In our response to OCR and in our State Improvement Plan, we have committed to the following

Conduct a review of the data for all 67 school districts regarding the number of students

identified as having a primary or secondary disability of speech or language impairments.

Provide the data, as described above, to all districts with information regarding their

responsibility to ensure that the communication needs of all students with disabilities are

addressed through the IEP process.

Develop and provide additional technical assistance materials for districts, schools, and

families regarding access to appropriate speech/language services.

Conduct training for exceptional student education and general education teachers regarding

access to speech/language services.

Implement a method to monitor school districts’ provision of speech/language services to

students with disabilities.

Review and revise the State Board of Education rule governing speech/language services to

ensure inclusion of appropriate eligibility criteria.

Explore the creation of the category of “developmental delay” through age nine and the

provision of speech therapy as a related service.

For your information, enclosed is a copy of the state’s data regarding the number of students

identified as having a primary or secondary disability of speech or language impairments along

with your district’s data. Please share this information with appropriate staff.

To continue our implementation of these actions, listed below is an overview of information

regarding provision of speech/language services to students with disabilities. We are requesting

that you share this information with your district and school-based staff.

Federal regulation, 34 CFR 300.532(2)(g), states that a student being evaluated to determine

eligibility as a student with a disability must be “assessed in all areas related to the suspected

disability, including, if appropriate, health, vision, hearing, social and emotional status, general

intelligence, academic performance,

communicative status

[emphasis added], and motor abilities.

The corresponding requirement can be found on page 20 of the 2000-2003 Special Programs and

Procedures for Exceptional Students Document (SP&P) which has been adopted by your school

board. It is critical that staff conducting evaluations of students are aware that, as appropriate, the

communication needs of students must be considered when conducting evaluations.

District School Superintendents

Federal regulation, 34 CFR 300.346(a)(2)(iv), states that the Individual Educational Plan (IEP) team

must consider, when developing each IEP, the “communication needs of the child.”

corresponding requirement can be found on page 24 of the SP&P document.

Your district has

ensured that at every IEP meeting, the communication needs of the student have been considered by

State Board of Education Rule 6A-6.03012, FAC, contains the requirements for determining

eligibility for speech/language services.

While therapy services by a speech/language pathologist

may not be provided unless a student meets the criteria as established in the rule, these criteria must

be individually applied based on a student’s evaluation.

Categorical decisions of ineligibility for

speech or language services based on a student’s eligibility for another program must not occur.

Speech/language pathologists can provide consultation services to general and special education

teachers to support classroom instruction to an individual child regardless of a child’s eligibility for

services based on Rule 6A-6.03012, FAC.

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please contact Shan Goff, Chief, Bureau of Instructional

Support and Community Services, or Eileen Amy, Administrator, at 850/488-1570 (SC 278-1570) or via

email at goffs@mail.doe.state.fl.us or amye@mail.doe.state.fl.us.

Thank you for your ongoing support and assistance in the provision of services to students with disabilities.

Student Services Directors

Coordinators, Speech/Language Services

State Advisory Committee Members

Coordinators, Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System