Seeking Moms - Houston,TX

No, it will not affect his school record, and if he is just behind in speech development and no other problems he is not considered a disability child. My son was also behind in speech, my doctor had it documented, but never mentioned it to me until after he started school and the school informed me. I wish I had known early enough to have him worked with prior to starting school. We ended up having to hold him back one year of school that could have been avoided if my doctor had told me ahead of time that he need therapy. He is now in 3rd grade, doing normal studies and making average grades and better. If the doctor recommend therapy now, do it and maybe you can avoid the frustration later that I had to deal with.

No it won't. You will be giving him a start that will make starting big school on equal footing with other students, that is the whole basis for head start/ppcd. The school record will indicate that he went to ppcd/head start but it is only there in case he has difficulties later on as historical data of what they worked on.
Principal in an Elementary School

My boys had a speech development delay; we went through ECI, the PPCD program and, for the one who needed it, special education. Please get the speech therapy your child needs and think, first, of his needs.

Don't worry about his school record. (It's not like having a criminal record.) It's just a file of information, and, in my experience, extremely valuable recording of my child's education history. The school administrators are obliged, by state and federal laws, to inform you of whether they consider your boy a child with a disability. (Speech delay, in itself, is not a disability!)

I do not think that needing speech is considered a disability...lots of kids require speech therapy...even if it is considered a disability, if your child needs it, you should do it!

I just recently had my 4yr old (almost 5) evaluated and he too needs speech therapy...I am excited that he will be getting the help he needs...I want him to be understood and not feel frustrated because he can not communicate with others about what he wants/needs or even what he thinks is cool to talk about ;)

Most likely yes he would be stated as a disability child. I know it is hard to hear I have the same issue with my son. He is now five and will start kindergarden next year and he started speech in ppcd last year.

The first time they said disability I about jumped out of my skin. However, I realized that this is what he needed it is free through the school system and kids are much more cruel to a child who talks "funny" than they are to one that has a "disability". For my son this is what he needs so he will not struggle as much when he starts school. I will say the bonus is that he LOVES to go and he will be familiar with his school when he starts kindergarten there next year!

He needs to get tested first, to see if he qualifies for PPCD. He just might qualify for speech only, and be seen as an outpatient. We had to do this, for our son.

You need to contact the school, he will be attending to get more information.
Good Luck.

my son has been in speech therapy ONLY at the local elementary since he was 3. He is now in 2nd grade. He took speech class 2 times a week for 30 minutes a day from age 3 till now. He did not go to PPCD because he has only a motor skill issue, not a learning disability. PPCD would put him in something called the 504 category: that means Special Education with Learning Disabilities. That is what my elementary told us. It is harder to remove them from the 504 classification than it is to get them in. I only know this because I thought Pre-K would help him by being around other kids. In his testing, he showed no delay in his learning so they said not to put him in. I have a longer informative post in my Answers on here about the process we went through (and are still going through since he still needs Speech Therapy). If you find it is a motor skill problem with your son (knows the words and can give the meaning of words but just can't pronounce them), keep in mind his reading will suffer. I learned the hard way that he could read the words in his head but couldn't say them. I now model how the mouth shapes itself to say the words. He jumped from a "B"-level-non-reading-Kinder-repeat-First-Grade-level in Feb 2010 to an "F-almost-G"-graduate-to-Second-Grade-level in April 2010 with this method working at home with just me on his reading.

I posted on your similarly stated question today, but I also want to reinforce what D. H. of San Antonio had to say. My son is a speech therapist in a public school which offers PPCD, however he does have preschoolers come in to the school only for the speech therapy who are not enrolled in PPCD. Your son does not have to attend PPCD in order to receive speech therapy as a preschooler. Although, I must say, having substituted in PPCD myself, it is a fabulous preschool program. Contact your local elementary school for a speech evaluation, it requires a ton of paperwork to get started and can take several weeks before he is placed in the program- whether PPCD or only the speech therapy.

Any decisions regarding therapy, disability, or Special Education (should it come to that) will be made with you involved. If you are uncomforatble at any step of the way you can deny services and have a say in what is happening with your child.

He would be receiving special education services, but this is evaluated on a yearly basis and can be refused at any time. My 3 yr old son is currently in the program for the same reason. I have noticed great improvement in his speech in the few weeks he's been in school. I have no doubt that by Kindergarten he will be on track and will enter regular kindergarten.

No, it I have a child that had speech delay we started with the head start program and it was Great! He's now because of them the Big Fish in 4th grade in spelling, reading it was hard work for him but so well worth it. Age 24 months are ped did the same we had speech until kindergarten.

Also please don't be concerned about school we at his age of 3 enrolled him in a public school prek for special needs since well it was called then babies Can't Wait (head start same thing) anyway.......he went to special needs prek k a few days a week and a church prek a few days a week it was the best experience he could have had...the public prek offered many things to the church prek in assisting him in learning.

Also if you choose to later if he needs special needs prek in a public school all records are separate and private due to like HIPPA same deal, I can say this they are separate from the records up front in Admin at the school promise.

If you do this and never enroll him into anything with a public school with special needs no one will ever know in less you tell them.

First of all you do qualify with your local school to receive speech therapy. This does not have to be done in the ppcd classroom. They can come to your home or his own daycare and provide those services. Often ppcd classrooms are not an appropriate setting for a typically developing child.

He needs to be with children who are also typically developing....don't take no for answer.

Good luck,
DH

The Head Start Program/PPCD is a wonderful program. The benefits outweigh all the risks. If your child is determined to have a speech delay by your local school system (3 or over), it would mean just that-he had a speech delay and would receive services to make it better. Having a Speech Impairment does qualify the child for special education, but if speech is the only problem, that will be the only area of his education that is different. The earlier a child gets help the better. Do it! And good luck.

My answer comes from the heart and I understand your concerns. My 5 yr old son has a speech problem. He has been receiving speech therapy since he was 2 yrs old. Easter Seals came to my house and provided him with speech till he turned 3. When he turned 3 he was turn over to PPCD till this past school year. He started kindergarten and he loves it. His speech has improved significantly and people understand him. Your son will be labeled as special education child because of his speech. It took me several yrs to digest this type of labeling. Now I understand my son is special in every way. Having a speech disorder DOES NOT mean he is mentally challenged. Every child is special in their own way. Please don't worry about minor things. Love and help your child and get involved with his teacher so the T. of you can help him better. One mom at this site told me that his son also had a speech problem and he is now a Doctor. One more thing when your son graduates form speech therapy he will no longer be labeled as special education. If I can help you in any way send me a private messege and I will be more than happy to reply.

God bless and good luck!

Ask the school.
But no, I would think not.
It is good, he is getting early intervention for it.
My son had speech therapy, but before he was 3 years old.
It helps a TON.
My son LOVED it.

all the best,
Susan

My youngest son received home therapies starting at 18 mos, then attended a state-funded special ed preschool from age 3-5. He was mainstreamed no problems into kindergarten. His files just helped the school and his teacher know where he was coming from, and it's never been an issue. Do whatever your child needs now; it can only better his future.
Good luck!