House Joint Resolution No. 168 requested the Department of Education to study certain matters related to public school programs for language, speech and hearing therapy. The resolution recognized 1) that Federal and State laws mandate appropriate services for all children identified as needing language, speech and hearing therapy; 2) that frequency and length of time a child is seen for services should be based on type and severity of problem(s), age, and educational environment but is more of ten a consequence of scheduling all identified children; 3) that present regulations prescribing the rate of State reimbursement per pupil based on 65 children per clinician has varied interpretations among school divisions; and , 4) that national and state speech, language and hearing associations have developed guidelines ad dressing caseload numbers in various school settings. Thus, it was resolve d that the Department of Education would conduct a study 1) to examine public school programs for language, speech and hearing therapy; 2) to determine their adherence to present regulations governing caseloads; and 3) to determine whether changes in these regulations are advisable.

The Department of Education responded to House Joint Resolution 168 by establishing the following objectives:

1) To study caseload size and its effect on appropriate language, speech and hearing therapy.

2) To obtain input from recognized national and state language, speech and hearing organizations, speech-language pathologists and hearing specialists, regarding caseload guidelines.

3) To present a report summarizing the findings and recommendations of the participants to the Superintendent of Public Instruction for submission to the Governor and the General Assembly.

The objectives were met with three activities:

1) A survey of States and a review o f literature were conducted,

2) Case studies of 14 local school division speech-language and hearing therapy programs, and

3) A task force was convened to address the issues set forth in HJR 168 and prepare a report for the Board of Education, based on information generated by the case studies.