Welcome parents and family members!

OSSPEAC members are school-based practitioners who welcome and highly value the support and involvement of parents in the process of educating children with communication disorders. The parents have a vital role on the educational team during the processes of assessment, placement and intervention of students with communication disabilities. A well informed parent provides the essential information, insight and support that aid in the best delivery of services to the student with special needs.

If you have specific questions regarding your child, we encourage you to directly contact your school-based speech/language pathologist (SLP). Parents should know that the Ohio school-based SLP is a highly qualified and well-trained individual. Ohio law requires the school-based practitioner to hold a license from the Ohio Board of Speech Pathology and Audiology and a teaching license from the Department of Education. Most school-based SLPs have a master’s degree, and hold a Certificate of Clinical Competence (CCC) from the American Speech/Language Hearing Association (ASHA). Your school-based SLP can provide you with information about communication disorders including articulation, language, hearing, fluency and voice that may affect a child’s performance in school. SLPs can also provide information about speech and language disabilities associated with other disabilities such as autism, down syndrome, cerebral palsy, and others.

If you have questions or are interested in finding out more about communication disorders, special education and/or parent support/mentor groups, the following links will take you to those websites of interest.

www.asha.org/public/speech/development/schools_faq.htm?print=I
www.thelinkto.com/parentmentor/
www.ode.state.oh.us/exceptional_children/Children_with_Disabilities/default.asp
www.ocali.org/pioneer03/index.html (Ohio Center for Autism and Low Incidence)
www.ldonline.org/ (Learning Disabilities)
www.schwablearning.org./index.asp
www.asha.org/about/news/tipsheets/04july-tipsheet.htm
www.apraxia-kids.org/ (a specific articulation disorder)
www.speakingofspeech.com/

The following website links are from Ohio’s Special Education Regional Resource Centers:

www.coserrc.org/familytemp.html
www.eastshore.esu.k12.oh.us/family-Network.htm
www.ecoserrc.org/index2.htm
www.hopewellserrc.org/links.php
www.lincolnway.k12.oh.us/
www.mvserrc.esu.k12.oh.us/ (click on the family corner)
www.neoserrc.k12.oh.us/ParentRes.pdf
www.seo-serrc.org/parent.html **(this one is particularly informative)
www.swoserrc.org/pages/index.cfm?ID=11