- their speech is difficult to understand or there are certain sounds your child struggles to say when talking
- speech is not fluent, and there are lots of uncontrollable hesitations or stutters
- your child is not understanding consistently what is said to him/her, has trouble following verbal direction or understanding what is happening in a story
- your child has difficulty expressing themselves verbally, using grammatically correct sentences for age, or using appropriate words to name or describe what they are talking about
- Your child becomes very frustrated when trying to communicate his/her needs
- your school age child is struggling academically or is having difficulty learning to read and spell
A REFERRAL FROM A DOCTOR IS NOT REQUIRED
You will need to bring your child to the assessment and be in attendance for the duration of the assessment. You will be asked to complete a questionnaire, detailing your child’s health and development. The clinician will conduct the assessment by playing and talking informally with your child, as well as using assessment tools, which give information around how your child compares to others of his/her age. Your child will be asked to talk about or name pictures and to point to pictures and objects in response to verbal instructions. Older children may also be given reading and writing tasks.
If your child wears glasses for learning or uses any other aids, such as pencil grips or support cushions, then bring these along too. It is also helpful to bring any reports from other professionals, such as a school report, occupational therapy report, audiology results or Doctor’s letter.
Once the assessment has been completed a verbal summary of the results and recommendations will be provided and written report detailing the assessment results will be forwarded in writing within 2 weeks of the assessment being completed.
Every child is different and, therefore, has different needs. Some children may require assessment in multiple areas, which will take longer. Assessment can take 1-3 hours, depending on the individual child and how they present. When your concerns for your individual child are discussed with the clinician, an indication of how long the assessment will take, may be provided. Assessments of more than 1.5 hours may be conducted over several sessions, so that the child’s best performance can be observed and assessed.
A therapy session is generally 30-45 minutes and in some cases 1 hour. This will depend on the individual needs of your child, and will be discussed with you at the conclusion of the assessment. Every attempt is made to make the sessions engaging and fun for the child, however there are times when the child needs to understand that focus and learning is required!
Yes! In younger children, the parent receives ‘homework’ and follow-up activities to do with their child. In older children, the child receives the homework and may need some guidance from you to complete it. The purpose of therapy sessions is to determine the most appropriate treatment method and strategy and to train parents to carry over treatment at home during the week. One therapy session each week, with no follow-up between sessions, results in very slow progress and a frustrating situation for everyone involved.
Generally, children are expected to ‘practise’ or do ‘homework’ for approximately 10-20 mins approximately 5 times in the week, prior to the next session with the clinician.
In cases where follow-up tasks are not completed and this is halting progress in therapy, therapy sessions may be terminated until the time is made available to complete tasks set for homework.
This is very difficult to answer, as it depends on the following factors:
- the severity and complexity of the child’s difficulty
- how willingly and effectively the child participates in therapy sessions
- completion of homework in between sessions
- frequency and consistency of attendance
Your clinician may be able to give you a broad estimation, following the assessment, however guarantees can not be made.
This will depend on the level of private health cover you have and your individual package. It is best to contact your health fund directly for this information. If you are able to claim, then claims can be made at the time of the appointment via the HICAPS terminal. Balance of payment is due on the day and can be made via EFTPOS or cash.
You may be eligible for a rebate from Medicare. You will need to discuss this with your G.P. If you are due Medicare rebates, claims need to be made directly with Medicare and you will need to bring your Doctor’s referral with you to your appointment.