Necessity

Abstract

Although publically funded educational environments have endeavored to provide support services, including speech-language pathology, to comply with the mandates of P.L. 94–142, guaranteeing a free and appropriate education to all children has been extremely difficult for many educational settings. The necessity of providing an appropriate education to all children in American educational settings has caused some educational managers such as I “invent” flexible systems of service delivery that include speech-language paraprofessionals to overcome specific problems such as the lack of knowledgeable or qualified personnel. As a mother of a 12-year-old medically fragile child, I have found speech-language paraprofessionals an invaluable asset to my daughter's educational program. It is my opinion that a practical, common sense, hands-on approach for delivering support services to learners in need of communication intervention includes the utilization of speech-language paraprofessionals.