Speech and Language Pathology

Who provides Speech Therapy
 

i. Private SLP's

• SLP’s cost around $115/hr
• recommend 2-3x/wk
• Ideally if you can hook your child up with the right speech therapist it can make a huge difference.
• Try out different SLP's to see if they match your child. Just because one SLP was good with one child may not mean that she is good with your child.1-2 visits should give you a good idea of the SLP's skill & her ability to handle your kid.
• You should see some changes in your child in 3 months or so. Otherwise don't waste your time & move on. Your kid is getting older too.
  If your kid has behavioral issues, check that the SLP is ok with handling it - else you will not really progress on what she knows best (which is the SLP stuff)
• After a while (maybe 1-2 yrs) you may hit a plateau with a SLP, recognize this and move on - its great that she helped your child but your child needs to keep improving.
• Many SLP's will ask that you do an evaluation (especially if you are newly dx) & this can be a little costly. If you have to do an evaluation, do it through a reputed SLP so that the report she gives is meaningful & can be used by any other SLP you choose to go to for actual therapy.
• You want a good SLP but also one that is reasonably close - no point spending 2 hrs to drive to the SLP & back.
• How do you get to a good SLP - by networking. Poll other parents & find out who they are going to & try those out.
• Usually good SLP's have long waiting lists so get on everyone's list. When your turn comes, you can decide at that point if you want to go to them or not.
• Some insurances may cover your private SLP.

ii. School District / SARC SLP's

• The district will give you speech services if you ask.
• Clarify in IEP if it is group or individual speech & how many minutes of each - if it is vaguely worded (group or individual therapy) – you never really know the breakup – could be group 90% of the time as school SLP’s have a enormous caseload and really don’t have the time (& legal requirements are satisfied). If your child is on the severe side, group therapy serves almost no purpose so insist on individual therapy. If your child is at a stage where he needs to be in group therapy, then include that.
• School SLP’s are often overloaded with cases so quality may suffer. It is the school SLP who will be evaluating your child at their 3-year (triennial) IEP & so whatever she says in her report will carry great importance in terms of placement.