Your cousin’s 3-year-old son Tommy has Down syndrome and he just began to combine ASL signs and verbal word approximations to communicate. You ask about the speech and language services that he receives as part of his district preschool program. Your cousin explains that Tommy does not receive speech and language services because his language skills are at the same level as his intellectual abilities so he doesn’t qualify for speech services. 

Required: How would you respond to your cousin? Your answer should include an explanation of cognitive referencing and why the district should not use this policy to deny speech/language services to her son.