Speech-Language Services in Public Schools: How Ambiguity in IDEA Eligibility Criteria Impacts Speech-Language Pathologists in a Litigious and Resource Constrained Environment

Public school districts must provide speech-language services to all eligible students under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Significant financial resources are directed towards providing these services yet evidence suggests that speech-language services likely have a limited impact on student achievement outcomes. Further there is substantial variation between the percentages of students identified as speech-language impaired when comparing school districts across the country. How do speech-language pathologists (SLPs) determine eligibility for speech-language therapy services? How do school districts utilize SLPs as a resource to support special education?;This dissertation explores these questions using two large urban school systems as research sites. This research involved 34 interviews with SLPs and school administrators and a review of district speech-language therapy policy documents including SLP training materials and special education manuals.;This thesis is structured as a series of three related articles. The first paper finds that significant ambiguity in IDEA's eligibility criteria for speech-language services opens the door for economic and legal factors to detrimentally influence the outcome of the eligibility determination process. These factors (litigation, limited general education resources, and scant supervision) lead SLPs to identify more students for speech-language services than IDEA may have originally intended resulting in large SLP caseloads and low-intensity service delivery. The second paper takes a more in-depth look at which aspects of IDEA's eligibility criteria are subjective by examining them in the context of particular categories of speech and language disabilities. The third paper contrasts the two urban school districts examined for this dissertation and provides an illustration of how variations in economic and legal contexts likely leads to substantial policy implementation differences. The study seeks to explain why these two districts have notably different implementation patterns despite serving similar student populations.;The findings from these related articles have implications for federal and state policy makers as they consider policy changes to make IDEA implementation more efficient, productive and fair. This dissertation also has implications for practitioners at the district level as they seek to improve the effectiveness and appropriateness speech-language services in their schools.