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Speech therapy assesses and treats speech disorders and communication problems. It helps people develop skills like comprehension, clarity, voice, fluency and sound production. Speech therapy in a special education environment can help students with speech disorders to functionally and socially communicate with others throughout their school day.

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Of the 13 categories of disability outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA, the following may require the speech therapy services:

Speech or Language Impairment-  Student with this disability have difficulty expressing themselves and understanding what others are saying. Speech Therapy is the most common treatment for the disability.

Specific Learning Disability (SLD)- According to IDEA, students with a SLD will have a "disorder in 1 or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written."

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)-People with ASD may have major problems with both speech and nonverbal communication. Speech therapy can play an important role in helping an autistic child learn to communicate and engage with other people.This can include teaching non-verbal communication, speech pragmatics, prosody, and general conversation skills.

Hearing Impairment- Students with hearing impairments may have communication disorders, differences, or delays. Speech therapy can help these students improve speech, communication, listening and language skills.

Deafness- Hearing loss can profoundly impact a child's development of speech, language and social skills so these students can greatly benefit from speech therapy.

Visual impairment, including blindness- Many children who are blind or have visual impairments present with speech sound disorders and can benefit from speech therapy.

Deaf-blindness- Students in this category can benefit from speech therapy in the same ways as children in the individual visual impairment and hearing impairment/blindness categories.

Orthopedic impairment- This is a broad category, but the largest group in this category are students with Cerebral Palsy (CP). Speech disorders are common among those with CP. Speech and language therapy can help improve a child’s speech and communication by strengthening the muscles used for speech and improving oral motor skills.

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A student suffering from stuttering can greatly benefit from Speech Therapy. Stuttering involves the unintentional repetition of words, sounds, and syllables. A stutter can have a profound negative impact on a student's self-esteem and social standing. This can carry over to their learning by making them less willing to participate in class. Working with a speech therapist can have a large positive impact on the student's academic success, social life, and self-esteem.

Treatment will vary depending on the age of the student. School-age children and teenagers will work with their speech therapist to develop techniques to help ease into the sound of words, speak at an appropriate speed, and reduce tension in speech production.

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Lee, A. M. I. (2022, September 13). Idea disability categories. Understood. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.understood.org/en/articles/conditions-covered-under-idea

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2021, June 5). Stuttering. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/stuttering/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20353577

Speech therapy: What is it? types, tests & treatment. Cleveland Clinic. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/22366-speech-therapy

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Occupational therapy is designed to strengthen underlying skills that are imperative in a child's ability to learn, these skills include:

Sensory Processing

Postural stability/control

Motor Planning/Praxis & Bilateral coordination

Fine/Gross Motor Coordination

Visual Motor, Perceptual Motor Skills & Visual Perception

Self Help Skills (appropriate to learning environment)

Social Play/Organization of Behavior

Environmental Adaptations

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Occupational therapy can be beneficial to a variety of students with varying levels of disability.  The most common classifications are:

Autism or sensory processing disorders

Developmental delays or learning disabilities

Birth injuries or defects

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A student with Autism may benefit from a variety of interventions in Occupational Therapy depending on the students' specific needs. If the student has difficulty in fine motor skills, finds it difficult to grip a pencil and buttoning shirts. An occupational therapist can provide services directly in the classroom or pull the student out for services and provide additional exercises or interventions to be administered by classroom staff. Specific interventions for fine motor might include practice with a button board, stringing beads onto string or pipe cleaner. Pushing small items with fingers into playdough. Modified grips or even modified writing utensils may be utilized.

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Cummings, E. (2022, October 13). The role of occupational therapy in special education. Behaviorist. Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.behaviorist.com/the-role-of-occupational-therapy-in-special-education/

Tehama County Department of Education Special Schools and Services. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2022, from https://www.tehamaschools.org/Departments/Special-Education-old/Special-Schools-and-Services/index.html

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Medical services mean medical, surgical, dental, x-ray, ambulance, hospital, professional nursing, and funeral services, and includes the cost of eyeglasses, hearing aids, pharmaceuticals, orthopedics, and prosthetic device

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Disability can be broken down into a number of broad sub-categories, which include the following 8 main types of disability.

Mobility/Physical.

Spinal Cord (SCI)

Head Injuries (TBI)

Vision.

Hearing.

Cognitive/Learning.

Psychological.

Invisible.

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A student that suffers from emotional problems such as Bobby could surely benefit from these services.

An emotional disability is defined as:
“A condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:

A. An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors
B. An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers
C. Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances
D. A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression
E. A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems”

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https://www.mdcoalition.org/what-is-an-emotional-disability
https://www.lawinsider.com
https://www.understood.org

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Counseling in special education is a specialised school of counseling focused on serving the needs of special needs students. It is concerned with ensuring special needs students and their families are able to access supports, and receive appropriate interventions in their school environment to enable improvements in their achievement. It also specialises in assisting a special needs student's social, emotional and behavioural needs to facilitate improved functioning in society.

According to the American School Counselor Association, the top 5 services provided by a Special Education Counsellor are:

Providing individual counseling

Meeting with administrators about programs and services

Using problem-solving and conflict resolution with special-needs students when appropriate

Scheduling classes and programs

Offering career preparation and education

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The range of disabilities students may experience and which would warrant support by a counselor is very large. Children with special needs may experience a number of social obstacles including exclusion and social isolation, discrimination, and stereotyping. These can lead to anxiety, depression, hopelessness and low self-esteem. The treatment of such students is also often complicated by developmental delays that render traditional counseling techniques less effective.

To provide some context, attached is a pie chart developed from data collected by www.IDEAdata.org indicating the ratios of different forms of special needs, as eligible for assistance under IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act), as of 2008.

It is not clear that the proportions of students with particular disabilities who most commonly require the assistance of a special education counselor align well with their population shares, however it is difficult to verify which are the most common forms of disabilities which tend to require the greatest level of counseling support. Statistics outlining the most common forms of disability requiring counseling support are difficult to obtain and may speak to a lack of sufficient empirical research on the matter.

Nevertheless, admittedly somewhat speculatively, it could be expected that of those suffering disabilities, those requiring the most substantial counseling support may roughly match the most common forms of disability. These include:

-Emotional Disturbance
-Autism
-Intellectual Disability
-Specific Learning Disability
-Speech or Language Impairment

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A high school student preparing to graduate and move on to university, but who is classified as having HASD, High Functioning Autistm Disorder, is likely to require the assistance of a special education counselor in order to manage the transition.

Such a student is likely to face three problem areas:

-Poor executive functioning (the skill to plan, focus, remember instructions, multitask, prioritise tasks, control impulses, filter distractions).

-Poor communication and self advocacy (the ability to understand and communicate your needs to others).

-Poor social skills (The skills to interact and communicate with others, including both verbal and non-verbal forms of communication such as speech, facial expressions, gestures and body language).

These sorts of deficiencies are best addressed by a special education counselor. Some of the ways counselors can facilitate improvement in these areas are:

Executive function: Develop a list of important life skills, eg money management, doing the laundry - and organise modeling of these in small group settings. Lists and timelines might supplement this, and training in the use of smartphone calendars, alarms and reminders etc. Coordination with parents to ensure that these are reinforced in the home environment will also help with this.

Communication/Self advocacy: Counselors can help prepare a HASD student for university life by working with students to increase their understanding of what they need to be successful in their tertiary studies. They should be educated about their IEPs and what services and accommodations their university can provide them. One-on-one or in small groups, the counselor can reinforce advocacy skills to encourage them to identify and request supports they need, and can roleplay scenarios common to university life, such as asking a professor for help, or an extension on an assignment.

Social skills: Research indicates three quarters of HASD students in university felt excluded during their studies. This highlights the need to reinforce friendship-building skills, such as turn-taking during conversation, empathy and attentiveness towards others, and flexibility. Here again roleplaying can be of benefit, as well as recording interactions and later critiqued to identify strengths and areas for improvement. If possible, HASD alumni in college could be brought in to speak about their experiences. Additionally, the counselor can help HASD students learn about where and when social events will be held and encourage their attendance.

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Barna, Jennifer S.  &  Nice, Matthew L.,
The School Counselor’s Role in Supporting Students with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder with the Transition to College,
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1328940.pdf

How School Counselors Support Special Needs Students,
https://study.com/academy/lesson/how-school-counselors-support-special-needs-students.html (Accessed 1/12/22)

Kahveci, Gül , School Counseling and Students with Disabilities, https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1243612.pdf

Special Ed Counselor, https://www.psychologyschoolguide.net/psychology-careers/special-education-counselor/ (Accessed 1/12/22)

Understanding Subgroups in Common State Assessments:
Special Education Students and ELLs, https://nceo.info/Resources/publications/OnlinePubs/briefs/brief04/brief04.html (Accessed 1/12/2022)

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A student such as Bobby, who suffer from emotional disorders can benefit from the Psychological and Cognitive Learning services. A counselor or school Psychologist will have several monthly sessions to assist Bobby with Emotional Disorders.
Students with cognitive impairments:

Have short attention spans and are easily distracted

Have very little endurance, have low motivation, and tire easily

Demonstrate poor memory skills

Struggle to follow verbal instructions to complete an assignment

Have trouble forming thoughts into words to communicate their needs and wants

Cognitive impairments, also called intellectual disabilities, occur when a child has limited mental functioning. Children with cognitive impairments usually acquire developmental milestones late and have more difficulty learning self-help skills, social skills, and communicating with others.

Common Characteristics

Students with cognitive impairments:

Have short attention spans and are easily distracted

Have very little endurance, have low motivation, and tire easily

Demonstrate poor memory skills

Struggle to follow verbal instructions to complete an assignment

Have trouble forming thoughts into words to communicate their needs and wants

Task analysis is when we break down a skill into small, manageable steps. This makes it easier for students to understand what they need to do and makes the skill seem less daunting

To aid Bobby with this create a Checklist
Homework folder in backpack.

Pencil box in desk.

Chair pushed in.

Stand by desk.

Self-Assessment
Self-assessments give students a step-by-step guide to show them what is expected. Self-assessments allow students to take responsibility for their behavior and work in the classroom. It creates an opportunity for students to be a little more independent.

Basic Punctuation
I wrote my name at the top of the page.

I copied the sentence from the board.

The sentence has a period.

The first letter of the sentence is capitalized.

The names in the sentence are capitalized.

The student can check these off as they finish their class assignment.

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Physical therapists work with people of all ages and abilities, and their caregivers. They help people with disabilities gain or keep function, develop or improve movement and social skills, and prevent injury. Physical therapists focus on what people with disabilities can do. They design treatment plans specific to them to help them reach their goals to:

Improve and maintain mobility and muscle strength.

Stop or slow loss of function.

Manage pain.

Prevent chronic conditions or keep them from getting worse.

Recover from and prevent injury.

Take part in physical activities or sports.

Learn new and improved ways to do everyday tasks.

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Physical Therapy service a variety of people with various conditions or disabilities. Some common classifications are the following:

Alzheimer's Disease

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Cerebral Palsy

Developmental Coordination Disorder

Developmental Delay

Down Syndrome

Muscular Dystrophies in Children

Multiple Sclerosis

Parkinson Disease

Prader-Willi Syndrome

Stroke

Spina Bifida

Traumatic Brain Injury

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Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that affects how people experience the world. People with ASD also may restrict their behaviors or have repeated behavior patterns. Often, there is a delay in forming motor (movement) skills. Coordination and posture control also are areas where some children with ASD may need help. Copying the actions of others may be hard for some autistic people. Physical therapists are in a unique position to help children with ASD. They help them develop gross motor and basic movement skills. These skills help children play games and sports and take part in physical education with their peers.

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Health center: People with disability. Choose PT. (n.d.). Retrieved January 2023, from https://www.choosept.com/health-centers/disabilities

GUIDE: Physical therapy guide to autism spectrum disorder. Choose PT. (2021, November 29). Retrieved January 2023, from https://www.choosept.com/guide/physical-therapy-guide-autism-spectrum-disorder