NY1 | Malique is a 3-K student who is supposed to receive speech therapy three days a week and occupational therapy twice a week while he’s at school. But this year, he did not receive a single session of either service.

“It’s showing what his, with — as he’s talking. And also, as he’s not writing, or trying to do the things that he’s supposed to be doing, his milestones,” his mother, Monique Franklin, said.

Malique is one of about 25,000 children in pre-K and 3-K who have an Individualized Education Program, or IEP. Many of those children can attend a general education class — with a little help in the form of mandated services like speech, occupational or physical therapy, or visits by a special education teacher.

But as of late May:

• 7,156 preschoolers with disabilities had not received a single session of at least one of their mandated services
• Of those, 3,729 of them received none of their mandated services

“These are the supports that are really meant to enable the children to work and and learn alongside their peers in the classroom. And so we’re talking about, honestly, a systemic violation of the legal rights of these young children,” Betty Baez-Melo, director of the Early Childhood Project at Advocates for Children, said.

Baez Melo says those numbers only capture students who have not had even a single session of a service.

“It doesn’t account for children who maybe waited five or six months in order for one of those services to begin,” she said.