If you are concerned about your child's speech-language or communication development, a good starting place is to first educate yourself and read about typical developmental milestones and guidelines. Observe and listen to your child as objectively as possible and talk with your child's teacher about your concerns.

Speech-Language Pathology services can be accessed through different modalities, and may or may not be through the special education process. Any parent may call or e-mail any therapist at any time with basic questions or concerns about speech-language development. All teachers at HDES have contact with the therapists in this school either face to face or by e-mail communication. Therapists must adhere to FERPA laws regarding student confidentiality, and can only discuss specific students with legal parents/guardians, classroom teachers, or employees within this school district who have direct contact or instructional responsibility for the student of concern.

At HDES, the regular education process for students of concern is a referral the the Student Teacher Assistance Team, or STAT. Parents are invited to these meetings and can discuss developmental concerns with this initial team and request a speech-language screening if this is an area of concern. Therapists do provide at risk services outside of the special education process under qualifying circumstances, if a Hillsboro-Deering SLP makes the recommendation for this service. If there are no educational impact concerns, parents are encouraged to seek private therapy services and outside evaluations, as school-based at risk services are limited and may not be sufficient to resolve some speech errors.