I am a speech therapist who works in private practice. I left the schools because I was frustrated with not being able to provide the quality of services that I knew the kids needed. We are learning strategies at work on how to help build rapport with parents and I guess I would like some input from parents themselves. When you have therapy outside school, what are you looking for from the therapist or tutor you see? How much time do you want us to be educating you versus doing treatment? How often do you want to see treatment? What helps you help your child better? What helps you work with us better? What doesn’t work or has made you made? Thanks.
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
Ok, what I want to see is results. I want to know what we are trying to achieve and when we can expect to achieve it.
I want the therapist to spend 5-10 minutes with me every 4-5 visits and tell me about the progress my child is making and how he could progress more effectively. I want my child to recognize his own progress.
I want the therapist to give me the option of implementing the therapy at home. I want my child to have a SIMPLE two minute drill to work on every day 5 days a week that we can do together, or that I can supervise him doing.
I like 1 -2 visits a week for 30-40 minutes.
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
I think there are probably 2 types of parents.
Parents who want to be very involved with the process. They want to do all they can on their own and need you as a resource to help them help their child.
Then there are those who really just need you to do it for them. They also need to be involved but on a very different level.
I think the first thing you need to do is ask the parent what it is they expect from your services.
Also be very upfront about billing and what you can and cannot provide.
Communication is key.
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
I want Truth! I want to know the reality of what I’m facing and don’t want it sugar coated. I, too, want most of the visits to be centered around the actual therapy and about 1x/mo to get a progress report - can be written - of what’s going on.
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
I would have say, to start with, I want to understand what speech and lang issue my child has. I want to know what type of programs or work will be done to help my child. I guess I take a little of what everyone said!
I want the truth, I want to know everything, I want to see progress, I want a quick meeting every week or so to let me know what is really going on!!
My son had an eval done by the school. Everyone who has review the tests says it is clear he needs some speech/lang therapy, but the school. They fluff it off and say once a week for 30 min is sufficient. The school won’t tell me what the reasoning is or what they will do!!
Also, my brother has been in speech and lang therapy with the public school since he was 3 years old. At one of my very last meetings the speech and lang path said that if he were retested he would show no progress. He sees her one day a week for about 30 to 45 min. He was recently testing using the standford 9 test. His reading level and lang arts level was 3rd grade. He will be entering 9th grade this fall!!
So basically, I want results, I don’t want my child to spend 11 years with you and show no progress!! I want you to help my child learn strategies and show them that they can be successful and smart and do well!!
K.
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
While I understand your frustrations, my own issues on this topic have to do with what happens to the children like those at the low SES school where I teach. I AM their resource teacher and our SLP is in most cases the only SLP they will ever experience.
I hope your therapy practice goes well, of course parents who can afford private therapy can always help their children accomplish so much more than those who cannot afford it. I guess that from the standpoint of “free,” we don’t really do a bad job at all by our students.
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
I have several children and years ago I was quite envious of a friend who had a SLP that came to the house 2x week for 30 minutes. Some tutors also come to the home. I like the monthly brief update and a notebook with HW for each session and a minimum of 10 minutes daily speech HW. There is such a shortage of SLP in our area and some schools only do push-in rather than true articulation therapy on a pull-out basis.
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
I’m new at this compared to many others here on the board, but I’d like to comment on this. My son has been in public education for 8 yrs and like many others here I have decided to leave the p.e. system for a private school.
I can answers some of your questions with this simply statement. Most people want to see themselves accomplish something. The thrill of knowing you accomplished just the most smallest thing means alot. To the child and parent.
I think to help your child; you have to understand the process and be educated about it. Maybe as the childs SLP you could run a copy of an article you read. Sometimes, type up a little note explaining an exercise. Suggest a book they can read to learn a little about their childs differences. Ask the parent if they have any concerns every-once-in-a-while.
One of the things that mad me mad in the public school system is that everychild can accomplish something and some little accomplishments deserves just as much reward as big ones.
Thanks for asking your questions, that’s a big step to show you care.
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
Listen to me-dont get so overly wrapped up in the correct way to form a “r” youre not hearing my bigger concerns-the ones that effect his life and mine. “He is not undertandable to strangers-he talks too fast-he cant say multisyllable words-he smiles when he talks and doesnt move his lips AT ALL. ” Address those-I really dont care that hes gone from 40% to 80% on his R’s. I would gladly give up him EVER pronouncing a ‘r’ correctly to have the other goals addressed.
Yes, offer me the option of working with him at home-give me ideas- but dont put a guilt trip on me when I dont. We have a lot of things to work on and I have other kids.
Send home copies of articles-read them yourself-keep up to date-be willing to try new things when something doesnt appear to be helping.
Thanks for asking!!!
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
The thing I would appreciate the most is straight talking, encouraging but not patronizing. Realistic goals, with thorough explanations of the methods used to accomplish them, and some idea of the costs. Coping and compensation strategies are the most important thing for my child to learn from you, and if these things occassionally involve schoolwork, then great, but the big picture is more important. And while some of us here (not me, particularly) are fairly fluent at the “initial speak” (IEPs, CAPD, LDs, Sped, etc,) and professional jargon, please speak plainly so I don’t have to keep interrupting you with “what does that mean?”. And if there are things we can work on at home, it would be great if you could take a little extra time to show me how to do it. My child’s LDs probably came from me, so I need specific instructions that can’t be messed up too badly!
PS It’s a wonderful thing that you asked! You should be very successful!
Re: As a parent, what do you want in therapy?
This is a general response. I want frankness that I don’t get from the school. I want the benefit of thoughtful advice, experience or insight that may or may not be given by the school. I want to know what it could be and why, why it can be complicated, what to look out for in the future and to understand enough about it all to “manage” the present well so she will have the best shot possible in the future. I would want to be told if you don’t know what the issue is exactly and that’s OK too (better than just saying something to say it). Give me information which will help me parent my child or suggestions as to how to obtain it.
I’ll give two examples.
My dyslexic ADHD dd’s reading tutor, after getting to know our family, gave me insight on what possible troubles my dd may face academically a few years down the road. I also got some excellent parenting/discipline advice for the ADHD, although she was just teaching reading. I understood why the test scores were indeterminate on CAPD, but knew the tutor’s action plan if it was CAPD. It was only through us getting to know each other fairly well and developing mutual respect and trust, that some of those invaluable conversations could take place. She truly is fabulous and shared the benefits of her years of experience with us.
My other dd’s speech therapist gave me warning signs to look out for for reading success and tips on how to bring dd out more in the social area, since she was reticent b/c of her verbal skills. She too is viewed as invaluable resource to my family.
They are very special women.
Good luck,
d
Personally, I like to know everything. I want to be part of the process. The more info I have, the more involved the therapist makes me feel, the more likely I am to not only continue to see them, the more likely I am to follow up at home.
How great for you! Good luck to you!