Permission and Permission Slips

Some school districts require that all students using the Internet must have a district permission slip signed for "liability reasons." Whether this is true for your district or not, it is probably best practice to have parental consent when signing up for a keypal. If you are a school speech specialist, these children are typically enrolling in the keypals program through your email account, so you can screen the posts. If you are a parent wishing to include your child in the keypals page, please send a note with your child's request stating that you have given your permission. There have been no reported problems with keypals. In fact a lot of children have made some good internet friends. This policy is simply in place as a precaution, and to encourage you to visit with your children about some of the bad, as well as good uses of email.

A school Speech Specialist shares a copy of the permission slip she uses below. Feel free to adapt it to your own needs if you wish:

Dear Parents,

Let me first introduce myself - I'm Lori Feinholz, Language and Speech Specialist at Castaic Middle School. I am having the pleasure of working with your son or daughter for speech therapy this semester.

During our therapy sessions, I have discussed with my speech students a possibility to utilize the Internet to find a penpal via a stuttering web site. The students seemed quite interested which prompted me to write to you. The students would be supervised on the Internet or I would type in their handwritten letters. In order to participate in this type of activity I need parent permission. I feel that middle school students are constantly exploring their feelings and attitudes and this is an avenue for them to hook up with other students who are like themselves in many ways.

I give my son or daughter, _____________________ permission to use the Internet at Castaic Middle School as part of our speech therapy program.

______________________
Parent Signature

Thank you in advance,

Lori Feinholz

added March 12, 1998