Get Started

The first step is for you to share with us a little information about your child. You can do this by submitting a Child Registration and History Form, which can be found on the "Get Started" page. Once we receive this, we will request a doctor's order from your child's primary physician and check insurance benefits for you. Then we will connect with you to explain insurance coverage and schedule an initial evaluation.

The Therapy SP/OT takes most major insurance plans, as well as medical assistance and managed care plans. In some cases, a particular plan does not cover habilitative speech or occupational therapy. If this is true for you, we offer affordable private payment rates and can work with you to find a payment plan that works for you. Before scheduling your first appointment, we encourage you to call your insurance company and ask the guided questions provided on the Understanding Insurance Benefits form found at the bottom of this page. We will check your benefits to ensure coverage is active and respond to any questions you have about your specific benefits once you call to verify with your plan.

Speech and occupational therapy address many areas of development. View the "Services" page of our website for more information. You are also more than welcome to give us a call and share a bit about your child to help determine if this is the right fit prior to submitting the Child Registration and History form.

This is our first opportunity to meet and get to know you and your child! You will get a tour of our space and you will be introduced to your child's therapist. The initial evaluation typically involves play and informal observation, administration of standardized assessments, parent interview, and sometimes completion of questionnaires. We believe in open and honest communication and partnering with both you and your child. Questions may be asked that feel out of your comfort zone to discuss in front of your child, but please remember that in order to provide effective treatment we must normalize concerns, worries and fears. If there is anything you want to speak candidly about privately, you can set up a follow up phone call with the evaluating therapist. You are always welcome to be present for any visit. Depending on your child's age and comfort level, it may be appropriate for you to remain in the room for the evaluation or to allow your child to be one-on-one with his or her therapist for part of the visit. Please refrain from bringing siblings along if at all possible; it is difficult to complete an evaluation or to conduct a parent interview with an additional child in the room, and we want to give you and your child who needs support all of our attention!

Though we typically prefer a parent or guardian to be present for the initial evaluation, we do give parents the opportunity to leave the clinic during treatment sessions. We just ask that you return 10 minutes prior to the end of the appointment, in order to allow the therapist time to update you.

We understand that new experiences can be challenging and it can be hard to talk about your concerns and worries without alarming your child or making them feel like something is wrong with them. Answers are different dependent upon services that you are seeking, but some suggestions are:

1) Your words matter and we're trying to make sure everyone can hear and understand you.

2) The therapist is going to teach your tongue something new.

3) The therapist is going to teach your brain how to do some new things.

4) These are new teachers who will help you understand why certain things feel hard.

5) We want to learn what we can do differently to help support you.

6) The therapist is going teach you new tools to practice and then make sure we know how to use the tools too.

7) We all need different things to make our bodies feel good; some people need to move their body, some need to chew on a pencil. The OT's job is to figure out what makes your body feel good.

8) The therapists are going to help us understand what you need and want to do in your day. We learn best through doing, so you will get to play and practice new skills.

9) You're coming here to play with food to learn more about it. You don't have to eat anything.