The U.S. Department of Education has issued a “Dear Colleague” letter reminding schools that speech services for students on the autism spectrum should not be overlooked. In the letter to states, officials report that an increasing number of students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) may not be receiving services from speech-language pathologists at school. Moreover, according to the letter, such professionals are frequently left out of the evaluation process, and are often not present at meetings to determine the services a child should receive.
The letter describes some autism programs as including applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapists exclusively without including, or considering input from, speech-language pathologists and other professionals who provide different types of specific therapies that may be appropriate for children with ASD.
Schools have an obligation to fully evaluate all children with disabilities to assess their specific needs. The department underscored that ABA therapy is one of many methodologies used to address the needs of children with ASD, and reminded states and local programs to ensure that decisions regarding services are made based on the unique needs of each child. The “Dear Colleague” letter came in response to inquiries from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and anecdotal evidence from a handful of states.
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