Tier 1: A speech-only kindergartner — Min Flores

The student

Min is a kindergartner identified with a speech-language impairment. Speech therapy is the only service her IEP documents — 30 minutes twice a week with the speech-language pathologist, delivered in a small group and in her classroom. Her IEP carries two communication goals, one for producing age-expected speech sounds and one for using complete sentences to request and respond. It documents no other goals or services: no academic instruction, no behavior or independent-functioning supports, no related services beyond the speech itself, and no specialized equipment.

Rating the domains

Communication is the only domain with a direct service, so it's the only one rated. It comes out Moderate:

Communication — Moderate

• Factor A — Moderate. Speech therapy is delivered 30 minutes twice a week, across her small group and her classroom, against her two communication goals.
• Factor B — Moderate. The service must be delivered by a licensed speech-language pathologist.
• Factor C — Minimum. A reduced ratio is required only intermittently; her supports are carried through typical classroom routines and shared staff support.
• Factor D — None. She uses no communication equipment beyond what her peers use.

The other four domains have no direct service.

Service groups

Service groups follow from two separate things: a student's related services, and any dedicated one-to-one staffing. Min's speech is delivered 30 minutes twice a week, which is 360 minutes over a six-week period — a count that would otherwise meet a related-services threshold. But when speech therapy is the only instructional service a student receives, it is the student's instruction, not a related service, so none of those minutes count toward a related-services group. Min has no dedicated one-to-one aide. She has no service group.

Because speech is her only instructional service, the speech-only override applies and is selected. When a student receives other instruction alongside speech, the speech counts as a related service and its minutes do count toward a service group, as in this student whose speech is a related service.

The determination

With the speech-only override selected, Min is placed at Tier 1. The tier holds regardless of how the Communication domain rates — a speech-only student is Tier 1 whether that domain comes out Minimum, Moderate, or Significant. The factors are still rated, because they inform scheduling and staffing even when the tier is set by the override. How overrides and domain scores produce a tier.