Growing Concerns

Parents, educators worried about Pre-K speech changes

By MICHAEL ERB, merb@newsandsentinel.com
PARKERSBURG — Changes to Wood County Schools’ prekindergarten speech therapy services have raised concerns among some area parents and educators.

Proponents of the current program say it is a wonderful tool to help young children prepare for school and overcome delays in speech, but officials say the half-day program should be combined with Wood County Schools’ growing pre-kindergarten program.

For more than 20 years the district has provided half-day speech therapy classes for 3-4 year olds. The service has proven invaluable for providing early intervention for children with speech delays.

This fall the school system plans to reduce the number of speech pre-k classes from six to five, eliminating one of the classes at Franklin Elementary Center. Karen Brunicardi, director of elementary schools and the district’s pre-k programs, said students will continue to receive speech therapy, but in a different form.

“We are not doing away with speech pre-k classes,” Brunicardi said. “We are reducing the number of classes by one. We are providing more options for children who need speech therapy as a preschooler.”

Brunicardi said the change is being made to both better use the school system’s resources and to meet each student’s specific needs.

“When we first began offering speech services as a pre-k class, we had no preschool classes for children not eligible for other special education services,” Brunicardi said. “Now we do have pre-k classes available.”

The idea is to have speech therapy offered through the district’s existing pre-kindergarten program, she said, either as a pull-out program or a supplemental program, depending on the student’s individual needs.

Currently the speech pre-k is a half-day program, but does not count as universal pre-kindergarten, which the district is required by state law to offer to qualifying students. Some students enrolled in pre-kindergarten classes may still be able to take half-day speech therapy, but only if required under the students individual education plan (IEP).

“Our plan, based on each child’s speech needs, is to encourage parents to enroll in universal pre-k, if that is appropriate for their child. A child may attend a regular universal pre-k class and a speech therapist will come to their classroom for group therapy, pull them out to do individual therapy ... whatever is dictated in their IEP,” Brunicardi said. “If a child requires intensive language therapy, they could attend a speech pre-k class for a half-day, and then go to regular pre-k for the rest of the day. This model provides more variety of options for speech services, allowing a child to receive 30 minutes a day of therapy or up to 2.5 hours of speech services a day, based on need.”

But some educators and parents worry the services will come too late to help younger children who might flounder in pre-kindergarten. They say the half-day, intensive speech therapy program as it stands now is more effective program for early recognition of problems and for dealing with severe speech delays and handicaps in a more friendly environment.

“It is just an outstanding program,” said Ann Emrick, one of two pre-k speech therapists at Franklin Elementary Center. “I can’t find a negative about the program.”

Lisa Montgomery, the second pre-k speech therapist at Franklin, said some of the children she works with come into the program unable to speak.

“No words. We are still pointing to objects and working on that,” she said. “To have them go into a regular pre-k classroom, it just wouldn’t work.”

Montgomery also worries pre-kindergarten teachers may be overwhelmed in trying to help students with severe speech problems acclimate to the rest of the class. Children who already find it difficult to communicate could potentially develop more fears and problems with speech, as well.

“You want the first year of school to be positive, not terrifying,” she said.

Both teachers stressed they were not opposed to speech therapy becoming a part of or being used with existing pre-kindergarten classes, but said they believe the existing speech pre-k program serves a valuable role in the community and is effective.

Misty Casto, the mother of a 3-year-old enrolled in the Franklin pre-k speech therapy class, said she fears fewer children will receive the early attention they need because of the classroom reduction.

“There is definitely a need,” she said. “My question is simply, is it fair to the children, because they are going to suffer,” without the program.

Casto said the pre-k speech classes at Franklin have helped not only with her child’s speech development, but also with fine and gross motor skills, and earlier this year teachers were able to catch a potentially devastating medical problem while working with her child.

Her son, Caleb, has a shunt in his head that helps drain excess fluid off his brain, Casto said. The shunt stopped functioning properly, and teachers alerted her they were seeing some movement and motor control problems in her son, allowing her to get him medical attention and catching the problem before it caused damage.

Casto said she believes the pre-k speech program has given her son more confidence and the ability to succeed once he does enroll in pre-kindergarten.

“There is no way he would have been ready for pre-k without this program,” she said.

The speech therapists are scheduled to meet with Brunicardi and Yvonne Santin, director of special education for Wood County Schools, sometime next week to review the planned changes to the program. Those changes are scheduled to be in place this fall.