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  1. #1
    HIU8 is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    Default If your DC is in speech therapy-for which you private pay...

    How much do you pay?
    How many times a week does your DC have ST?
    How long has/will your DC be in ST?

    DS starts speech therapy in the fall. The therapist is tied to his school. It's not EI though. It's private pay fee for service (county said DS didn't need ST so instead of paying lawyers to fight the county for services, we spent the $$ on private school and private pay therapies). They want him to do 2x/week. The fee is $130/session. You MUST pay in 3 installments of $2,900 for the year. We asked for 1x a week and they feel it's not enough (due to DS's issues and the fact they have to spend more time reteaching each session from the session prior). Our insurance does not cover this. I feel this is high. However, my only option is to not work (or pay someone to pick up DS from school) drive him to a different ST and back--thereby taking him out of about 3-4 hours of school a week.

    I'm just trying to get a handle on whether we are WAY overpaying for ST services.
    Heather

    DS 2004
    DD 2007

  2. #2
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    How long are his sessions? That's about what we pay for a 45-minute session (although it's really only 35 minutes of therapy because the ST cuts it 10 minutes short to do paperwork).

  3. #3
    HIU8 is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    The sessions are 43 minutes. The fee is actually $120 for the ST and $10 per session goes to the school for the use of the room the ST resides in. Also the ST bills for 33 weeks of sessions (the 2011-2012 entire school year).
    Last edited by HIU8; 08-03-2011 at 04:42 PM.
    Heather

    DS 2004
    DD 2007

  4. #4
    egoldber's Avatar
    egoldber is offline Black Diamond level (25,000+ posts)
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    I think $120 a session is well within the normal range for this area. We paid that 8 years ago when older DD was in ST.
    Beth, mom to older DD (8/01) and younger DD (10/06) and always missing Leah (4/22 - 5/1/05)

  5. #5
    AnnieW625's Avatar
    AnnieW625 is offline Black Diamond level (25,000+ posts)
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    When I asked before DD1 got accepted at our regional center the one therapist I asked said her normal fee was $150 per session, and sessions were 45 minutes I think. Twice a week at that rate for six months would've been $7,200.

    Could you at least use an HSA to cover some of the costs?
    Annie
    WOHM to two wonderful little girls born in April
    DD E, 17
    DD L, 13,
    baby 2, 4-2009 (our Tri-18 baby)

  6. #6
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    DD goes 2 x a week $175 per session. DD has been going since June, and hopefully will be done by October. It adds up fast.

  7. #7
    mytwosons is offline Sapphire level (2000+ posts)
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    When DS1 started, it was $240/hr at a large teaching hospital. We did that 1x/week and then added a private ST out of her home for a clinical hour (about 45 mins and another 15 for charting) at $85/hr. The private clinics in our area were $120 for a clinical hour.

    IIRC, we did the hospital only for about 3 months, both for another 3 months and then the private for another year.

  8. #8
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    Those rates sound very fair. I have ST friends and their hourly rate is a little more than that.
    D, married to B, momma to DD1 (7/08) and DD2 (8/10)

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by HIU8 View Post
    How much do you pay?
    How many times a week does your DC have ST?
    How long has/will your DC be in ST?
    My DS has been on a break over the summer, but this is what we were doing:

    Once a week private services (twice a week was recommended but too expensive)
    $35 copay per session and 20% coinsurance on services (which amounts to $18/session, so the session total is $90 and our portion is $51 after insurance up to the OOP max.) We use the OT/ST department at the children's hospital. We LOVE LOVE LOVE our SLP! We live in a relatively low COL area.

    Sessions were right at an hour with lots of assigned homework. We were so happy with private services that we did not stick with the free EI services provided by the school district. DS will be in speech therapy conceivably for all of elementary school until he has a hard palate sometime in middle school. It is possible that at some point he could stop before then, though. He started speech when he turned 3. I wish we would have started sooner.
    Megs
    DD1 (13-ish)
    DS (11-ish)
    DD2 (5-ish)

  10. #10
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    When we paid, we got a deal because we hired the same therapist who had been working with DD through EI. She was so good, we hired her privately once every other week.

    I believe the sessions, with the reduced rate that she gave us, was around $120/session (which was 1 hour long). Normally, I think it would have been closer to $200/session. I don't think we could have done it more frequently. Of course, we did get much of that back through insurance (we had to file after every few sessions and they covered up to 40 or so sessions/year).

    While I don't envy you having to pay it, I don't think $130/session is outrageous from our experience.
    Christina
    DD 9/04
    DS 7/09

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