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11 <br />This best practice is achieved through in-class group instruction for intensive need populations, with the <br />participation of the classroom teacher and a speech and language therapist. This reflects the importance <br />of speech and language, allows the classroom teacher to reinforce the lessons all day long, increases the <br />frequency of service, provide a more “real world” setting for the student, and increases communication <br />with peers. This model provides quite a few benefits for students and it is also cost effective. <br />The following hypothetical example compares serving 8 high needs students in two classrooms. Group <br />push-in provides 50% more instructional time per student at 63% less FTE. <br />Example: High Needs Classrooms <br />Whole class <br /> Pull-out push-in Comparison <br />8 8 <br />Students <br />2 2 <br />Classrooms <br />2 3 <br />Sessions/ week <br />Service for each student <br />2 3 50% <br />(per week) <br />Therapist hours required <br />16 6 -63% <br />(per week) <br />Note: assumes each session is 1 hour <br />ͽ¸»¼«´·²¹¿²¼¹®±«°­·¦» <br />Scheduling considerations can decrease average group size. Generally speaking, speech and language <br />therapists do not pull students from math, English, and reading. Many buildings do not have a <br />coordinated master schedule so there isn’t a plan for when math and language arts are taught. Each <br />therapist must create their own schedule from limited available slots, negotiate student availability with <br />other special education staff and at times beg general education teachers for some flexibility. This does <br />not optimize speech and language groupings. A more centralized (building or district level) approach to <br />scheduling, aided by software could be very beneficial in achieving optimal groupings. <br />ïºòß³±«²¬±º­»®ª·½» <br />Like many aspects of speech and language, the district does not have guidelines for how much service is <br />warranted for a given level of need. <br />In Lexington only 50% of students receive an hour or less of speech and language service each <br />week. <br />1/3 of students receive more than 90 minutes of service a week. <br />During our interviews, some staff indicated that speech and language therapists play an expanded <br />role in written language and reading and are concerned that they may have strayed beyond their <br />core role. <br />The District Management Council <br />7 Harcourt Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02116 <br />- <br />Tel:1877-DMC-3500 | Fax:617-491-5266 |www.dmcouncil.org <br /> <br />