After receiving a recommendation for therapy, or even if you are seeking out therapy for your child on your own, please contact our office for information at 949-600-5437. Our friendly office staff will do their best to answer all of your questions and help you understand what services we offer.
Our Billing team will help you understand your health insurance coverage and check your benefits for specific therapies or discuss options for doing therapy as a self-paying client.
We will send you an email invitation to complete our online enrollment form and email you our New Client Packet. Upon receipt of your information and verification of insurance benefits, we will schedule your first appointment, which is most typically an evaluation to determine appropriate goals and therapy recommendations for your child.
Upon your arrival to our facility, please check-in at the front desk, and provide your completed new client packet, if you have not already done so by fax or email. We will need a copy of your insurance card, and prescription for therapy from your child’s pediatrician. If you do not have a prescription for therapy, don’t worry, we can assist you with this. Your therapist may also ask you to complete a Sensory Profile or additional screening tools when appropriate.
The initial assessment will last anywhere from 50 to75 minutes depending on your child’s endurance, attention, and participation. We request that parents or care givers remain present for the beginning of the evaluation in order to discuss current concerns with your child’s development. Following this discussion, we will take your child into one of our therapy rooms for their testing. If you would like to observe a portion of or all of your child’s assessment, please just let us know. If for any reason your child is not performing up to what you feel is “their best ability” with you present, then we may ask that you return to the waiting room until our assessment is completed to ensure the most valid results. Peers or siblings are best left at home for this first evaluation if possible, however we have two waiting rooms available for you and your family to comfortably wait while the evaluation is being completed.
Upon completion of the assessment, the therapist will discuss any areas of suspected delay with you, and make recommendations for therapy. Depending on your insurance coverage, on-going therapy sessions may be scheduled at this time. We will do our best to accommodate your scheduling needs and to coordinate multiple disciplines if this is necessary. Therapy appointments are typically scheduled on the hour in order to provide continuity between therapists. Our comprehensive assessment will be provided to you within three weeks of your child’s evaluation in order for the therapist to accurately score and report on all testing material. A plan of care and goals will be included in the evaluation report. We strongly encourage all parents/care-givers to share with us personal goals you would like to see your child achieve as well so that these may be included in the evaluation report.
Please arrive at least 5 minutes before your child’s therapy session with your child dressed in comfortable clothes that are suitable to get a little “messy” as well as need to be able to easily squat, sit, and roll on the mats. If your child is participating in feeding therapy, it is important to bring the meal time food required to work on during the therapy session.
Payments for therapy, including all co-pay’s, co-insurance, and deductibles will be collected at the time of service. Therapy services that are not covered by your insurance company, or for individuals not using health insurance coverage, will also to be collected at the time of service. We accept cash, check and credit cards for payment in our office. We will create an individual sign in sheet for your child and ask that you to sign in for each appointment. Your insurance benefits for therapy services will be checked and reviewed with you in detail before your first visit to the clinic. Please note that benefits which are quoted to you or to our patient account representative are not a guarantee that therapy will be covered. Your child’s diagnosis and treatment plan of care are unique, so never assume the benefits will ensure payment for the services rendered.
Many health insurance plans do provide benefits for Occupational, Physical and Speech therapy, but, frequently there are limitations for this coverage. Limitations may be related to a child’s age, diagnosis, or for the number of therapy sessions a child may receive per year.
We will submit claims to your insurance company on your behalf and upon receiving any denial for therapy, we will appeal, submit documentation, and make every effort to allow for therapy coverage to continue.
Therapy sessions are 50 minutes in length with the last 5-10 minutes set aside for parent education and discussion of progress in therapy that day. During your child’s therapy session, most of our parents remain in the waiting room. Typically, children participate at a greater level, and/or transition more easily between activities without their parent present. Occasionally, parents may be requested to observe portions of, or all of the therapy session. Parents may also request to observe their child’s entire therapy session at any time.
If a parent wishes to leave the facility while their child is in session, please ensure that all contact information is up-to-date. We request that you return within adequate time to meet with your child’s therapist to review their progress and suggested home activities. Therapy sessions are often scheduled back to back arriving late will prevent the opportunity for discussion about the therapy appointment as well as impacting another child’s scheduled therapy time.
This question will be more easily answered once your child’s evaluation is complete. If therapy services are recommended, a frequency and tentative time line will be established, along with a plan of care, and goals to be achieved on both a short-term and long-term basis. Most of our patients begin therapy twice weekly for a period of 3-12 months depending on severity of needs. Children continue at their recommended frequency for as long as it is needed. As long as your child is making progress towards their goals, therapy will continue.
Therapy services are recommended to cease for different reasons. Occasionally, a child who has a long-term need with more severe deficits, may need to “take a break” from therapy. The child may experience frustration with their delays and overall difficulties with therapy activities, choose to take a little time off, and then resume therapy after a period of weeks/months. We also feel it is important to assess whether a child is able to maintain their level of function and continue to progress without direct services after a period of time in therapy. Therapy services are discharged when the child has met all their goals, achieved age level skills, or is no longer benefiting from direct service. We encourage all children and family members to be actively involved with all parts of the therapy process, including setting goals, establishing a plan of care, carrying out recommended home exercise program activities, and with discharge planning.