Your child needs speech-language support – but where do you go??? Speech-language evaluations and therapy can be delivered in a variety of settings including schools, private clinics, and outpatient facilities. Qualifications for therapy depends on the setting you are seeking.
Schools
In order to receive school-based services, the school must evaluate your child and determine whether they qualify for services based on type/severity of difficulty and degree of academic impact. If your child has qualified for therapy, it may look one of a few different ways:
Regular schedule for a set number of sessions per week/month.
Weekly schedule using a 3:1 model: The SLP services the child on the same time/day(s) every week for 3 weeks of direct service and 1 week of indirect service.
Blast or Burst Schedule: Services are provided in 15-minute increments, 3x per week.
Indirect or Consultative: The SLP works with staff, student, and family on a less frequent basis.
Your child may be seen individually or in a group setting with peers addressing similar skills. This may be executed via a pull-out method (your child is taken out of class) or push-in (the SLP comes into the classroom). Parents and families typically receive quarterly progress reports and participate in a yearly Individualized Education Plan (IEP) meeting and a tri-yearly Evaluation Team meeting to determine if your child is still eligible for services in their school setting.
Outpatient Facility
If you choose to pursue services outside your child’s school district, you may stumble across an outpatient hospital facility that may or may not accept your insurance. While the process is similar to the school, your child will be evaluated and then a determination will be made if your child requires speech and language therapy. Some insurance companies will not cover certain diagnoses or only may only cover certain severity levels, so you must verify what is covered with your insurance once your evaluation is completed. Typically, your child is then seen by an SLP once or twice a week depending on what is recommended and, in some cases, more than one SLP will alternate to provide services for your child depending on scheduling needs.
Private Clinic
Similar to outpatient facilities, parents may choose to seek out a private clinic for an evaluation or therapy instead of or in addition to school-based services. The biggest differences between an outpatient facility and a private clinic are that private clinics maintain more control over eligibility, scheduling, and family communication. Private practices that do not take insurance are not bound by diagnosis specifications and severity requirements to justify treatment for your child. If a private-practice SLP determines that your child could benefit from speech and language therapy, they will work with you to individualize an ideal schedule, provider, and goals that meet your child’s communication needs. At Stewart SLP, our strong family focus and individualized care yield excellent results. We provide weekly feedback, suggestions for home practice, and regular written progress reports so the whole team is always on the same page.
Can my child be treated by multiple SLP’s?
Absolutely! It is very common for children to see more than one SLP in different settings (e.g., school SLP + private clinic SLP; private clinic SLP + outpatient facility SLP). It is also common for multiple SLPs in the same setting to work with a child on different goals. For example, a child might be seen by one private SLP for individualized articulation goals and a different private SLP at the same practice in a social group for pragmatic goals. SLPs who share clients across or within settings should collaborate on strategies to support the child’s success, given parental consent.
Conversely, it is not ideal to have multiple SLPs within the same setting at the same time for the same goals (e.g., two or more SLPs at the same private clinic doing 1:1 therapy for language comprehension) due to the rapport and continuity of care that are essential for making and tracking progress.
How do I choose which SLP to use?
Each setting has benefits and limitations. Families often decide to combine service options to maximize the potential progress for their children. Stewart SLP collaborates with team members from other settings whenever possible to ensure maximal client progress. We’re here to help!
