Christy Weddington, M.S. CCC-SLP TSHA Co-Chair for TOT Committee

The TOT Committee has changed the name of Templates to Guidelines The eligibility templates were originally developed to be a template for districts to use to determine eligibility for communication disorders As manuals developed and evolved for each template, the term guidelines was more appropriate to describe the purpose of the manuals Templates to Guidelines

To help guide districts to accurately identify children with communication disorders according to federal and state regulations as well as best practices To provide consistency across the state, between districts, and within districts To help districts that are over-identified in Speech by TEA Purpose of Guidelines

Generic Manual Articulation CLD Articulation Companion Voice Fluency Language Only Language with Learning Disabilities Language with Mental Retardation & Autism Guidelines Developed

Development of CLD Language Companion Split MR & AU into two separate companion manuals to language Update all manuals to align with Generic Manual format All manuals are going through Professional Editing Generic, Articulation, and Language with LD are completed Manuals in Progress

Legal changes with IDEA and State Commissioners Rules Concerns that people would misuse or misinterpret the manuals without proper training University graduates dont have the training as they enter the public school workforce Districts are not willing to pay participants to attend face to face trainings due to budget crisis and current economy Volunteers time Challenges Faced

Trainings continue to be provided at Region Service Centers, TSHA Convention, and Individual Districts across Texas However, face to face trainings are rapidly decreasing and TSHA is looking at alternative ways to provide training TOT is in process of collaborating with ESCs to develop online training webinars and access to manuals Trainings

Too many SLPs are using the standard scores (77) and percentile ranks (7 th ) as cut off scores for determining a disorder SLPs need to look at the big picture when determining a disorder that includes other sources of information or additional assessment in areas of concern according to the guidelines and federal law! Confusion among other professionals between the Language Only manual looking at 1 ½ standard deviations as a concern and Language with Learning Disabilities looking at 1 SD Concerns Reported

Manuals were developed to guide districts in determining eligibility. Districts still have the legal right to set their own guidelines. TEA has not and will not approve these guidelines. However, the TSHA/TCASE Joint Committee works closely with TEA to provide information about the manuals and their positive impact on schools Manual Reminders

The TOT Committee is committed to providing online trainings and electronic copies of the manuals to SLPs in Texas As the laws change and best practices improve, the manuals will continue to be updated New Task Force has been created to help districts over-identified in speech Training in manuals will be provided & data collected More to come!

The Generic Manual is available on the TSHA website at Click on School Issues & Eligibility Guidelines Lead Trainers & Trainers are also listed for each region and manual Jan Lougeay – VP for Research and Development Christy Weddington – TOT Committee Co-Chair Links & Contacts

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