November 29th, 2020
Hi all,
I will apologize in advance for the length of this message. There is a lot of information I need to share, and I’m a speech therapist so I am long-winded :)
I plan to be open for in-person therapy appointments this week. Given that the covid numbers remain high, I am asking for the following to decrease all of our risk (masks on kids being the significant change):
LIMITED VISITORS: If your child is 4 or older, and you think they would do fine in therapy without you, that would be great. The less of us in my small office the better. If not, one masked adult is fine, but no siblings please.
MASKS: I ask that all adults and KIDS (over 2) wear masks into and out of the building and during sessions. Obviously, kids will be asked to remove their mask if we are working on feeding or specific speech sounds that require me seeing their mouth, but my goal is to have masks on whenever it is not necessary to have them off. This will be different for each child.
HEALTH and FEVER SCREENING: I will continue to do fever checks for anyone entering my office. As always, if your child, anyone in your household, or anyone you have had unmasked contact with has any symptoms, even mild, please cancel your appointment. My mom would have sworn that she had a very mild cold for the first few days of having COVID. The symptoms are so different in each person.
CLEANING: Of course I will continue cleaning toys and surfaces between each session. If you feel I am pushing you out the door right on time it’s not because I’m anxious for you to leave, it’s because I’m leaving enough time between sessions to fully clean surfaces and toys (if you arrive early, please wait outside the door so I have time to clean everything)
TELEHEALTH INFORMATION/UPCOMING CHANGES
A few of you have already asked to transition to telehealth appointments which I am happy to do. I wanted to make sure that all of you know that this is an option if you are interested. Also, there is a chance that in-person therapy may not be an option again as early as December 3rd as there was some changes made last Wednesday to the proclamation for non-essential medical appointments that I am awaiting clarification about determine if they affect in-person speech therapy. If the numbers continue to rise, I will likely switch over either way to keep everyone safe.
TELEHEALTH FAQ’s:
Q: Can my child benefit from telehealth speech therapy? A: If your child has the attention span to sit at the computer, they will do great with this type of appointment. I have a bunch of fun games and activities to keep them engaged. I have a few kids that have been doing their therapy this way since March, and are doing great. I’ve learned a lot and improved my ‘screen skills’ as well. If your child is young and does not have the attention span or tolerance to sit at the screen yet then they probably wouldn’t benefit from regularly scheduled telehealth appointments, but you could schedule a consultative visit to problem solve, update ideas of things to work on at home, get new homework, etc.
Q: Does insurance cover it? A: It is mandated that all in-state plans cover telehealth appointments atleast until Jan. 1 2021 (I suspect this will be extended soon), and some are even covering the patient portion as well. Since March, I have not had any issues with telethealth coverage. If you are concerned about your specific insurance, let me know and I can tell you anything I know. You can also call your insurance and ask them directly.
Q: What do I have to do to log-in? Is it difficult? A: The system I use is automated so it will send you an email with the link to your appointment each week. All you have to do is click the link. Sometimes we have to problem solve turning on microphones or cameras for the first visit and then it’s no problem.
Q: Do I have to sit there with my child? A: It depends. If you are involved in keeping your child engaged in their in-person session, then you may want to sit there with them to help on their end. If you child works with me independently in their in-person session, then you don’t necessarily have to sit there with them, but you might want to be close by in case we have technical difficulties (sometimes kids accidentally mute themselves or turn their video off). For kids that work independently, I’ve found that head phones are helpful (not required) so they are just listening to me and not getting distracted by other things happening in the house.
Q: Are the appointments the same length as our typical in-person appointment. A: Yes, I try for regular length appointments. Since there isn’t a lot of “down time” during this type of appointment, occasionally kids fatigue sooner and may be done a little sooner than I am :)
Q: Can I use a tablet/phone/chromebook? A: Yes, the platform I use works on any device. You just need access to your email (to click the link) from the device you chose. I will say that phone screens are a little difficult because of the size, especially if we are playing a game that is on the screen.
Q: What if there are technical difficulties? A: Yes, it happens sometimes. It is almost always internet related on my end or yours. I haven’t had too much issue with this since this all started in the spring, but it’s bound to happen once in a while. Usually it is a temporary slow down that resolves itself. If we can’t get it to work, which has been rare in my experience, then we call it a day. Depending on the circumstances, we can reschedule for a different time/day.
Q: What if telehealth appointments don’t work for my child? A: It’s okay if it doesn’t work. I usually like to give it a few sessions, but sometimes it’s not a good fit for the child. I will be honest with you if I don’t think it’s working well, and please tell me if you think it isn’t working well for your child or your family.
Looking forward to seeing everyone this week—we can talk more then about telehealth appointments and whether it would work for your child/your child’s speech goals, etc!
—Julie