Why Do We Do an Initial Assessment?
In order for us to know how to best help your child, we need to assess your child’s development and communication skills so that we can identify the areas they struggle with and plan our therapy goals to suit your child’s individual needs. Without this information, we cannot plan your child’s therapy sessions and ensure that they are getting the required help and support in the areas they need.
How Our Assessment Packages Work
Because we see a big range of ages and different areas of difficulties in our clinic, our Speech Language Pathologists will need to administer different assessments for individuals. This will impact how long it will take to complete the initial assessments as some assessments only take 1 hour to complete whereas others may take 3 hours to complete. Rest assured, we only do 1 hour, at most, in one session because we know that children get tired and lose concentration and we don’t want a decrease in attention to impact the assessment results.
When you contact us for an appointment, we’ll ask you a number of questions to work out which assessment package will be the most appropriate based on your child’s needs. As a guide, the green table below includes a list of assessments that we offer and how long it typically takes to complete an assessment for that area of difficulty. Some children may require the combination of two of these areas together, so for example, a child who needs a stuttering and a speech sound assessment, they will need a 2 hour assessment package (see blue table further below).
Length of an Assessment
Assessment Packages We Offer
We have 3 different assessment packages that we offer based on the time frame required to complete the necessary assessments and the required report writing time that follows. When multiple assessments are required, our time to write the assessment report will also increase as we are covering more time to analyse all the results and interpret the data as well as writing it into your child’s report. All our assessment and report writing fees are charged at $120 per hour and they are outlined for you in the blue table below. The cost of the assessment packages will be split over the number of assessment sessions you attend rather than the total cost in one payment upfront.
Written Reports
For each assessment done, a written report is included as part of the fee. Some of you may ask, “why do we need a written report?”. Not only is it regulation according to Speech Pathology Australia to have written documentation of all assessments and results completed, but we believe that it is also a vital process in the way that we help your child. Research shows that on average, people only retain about 5% of the verbal information provided by a health professional to a patient/client in a healthcare setting. So to avoid vital information being forgotten, especially when there can be multiple areas that we’ve explained to you, we write it in a detailed report for you. Also, many teachers, GPs, Paediatricians and other professionals that you may be seeing, will always ask for a report. If your child is starting school, they often request written information about your child’s results as well. And lastly, if you ever need to see another Speech Pathologist, they can use this written information to continue working with your child and/or avoid them redoing the exact same assessments that you’ve already paid for.
What If I Already Have A Report?
If your child has previously been assessed by another Speech Pathologist before coming to see us, an assessment may not need to be redone. This will depend on how long ago those assessments were done and whether or not there is a written report with details that we can use. Please contact us to discuss your options.
No one likes unexpected costs or needing to book extra appointments that you didn’t know you needed. So, with that in mind, we have listed all our fees in the blue table above. The fees for all of our assessment packages include the face-to-face time with the Speech Language Pathologist and it includes a comprehensive written report so there are no additional charges for this (reports can take up to 3 – 4 weeks to write, depending on the complexity of the assessments). If you have any questions about any of the packages or how it all works, please don’t hesitate to contact us and we will explain how it works based on your child’s needs.
Please note that the private fees above do not include NDIS fees. They can be found here.
Click here to check the item codes for private health insurance rebates for speech pathology.
Therapy Fees
What Else is Included in Your Therapy Fee?
- The time the Speech Language Pathologist spends with you and your child in the session
- Preparation of therapy goals and activities before your session e.g. creation and printing of flashcards, worksheets, games, gathering materials such as toys, objects or assessment materials
- Creation and printing of materials for homework practise
- Printing of information handouts
- Administrative costs such as contact with other professionals via phone calls or emails (for contact requiring less than 10 mins)
- Record keeping of your child’s progress in their personal file following each session