How I Do Evaluations and Treatment Plans
The question most parents are wanting to know when they first come to me is "Will this be a good fit?" To help you make that decision, I've put the essential principles behind my approach here.
My Approach to Evaluations
1. I don't rush.
I take evaluations very seriously, because they form the foundation of everything else we'll do. Occasionally they're straightforward and shorter, but most often the children I'm working with need more time. When working for a school or a larger company, there is pressure simply read off some standardized assessments, write down scores, and be done with it. The advantage to working with a therapist who owns her own company is that I can take the amount of time your child needs, rather than trying to cram everything into a single hour. Without that pressure, I'm free to keep digging until I find the underlying source(s) of their struggles.
2. I am not reliant on standardized tests.
I tailor my evaluations to your child's abilities. If you have a child who can take long direct assessments, that's great! But if your child struggles, I can work with that. We can break our test up into chunks spread out over multiple days or use tests that are more "fun", such as telling their own story based on a wordless picture book. And if they can't take a standardized test at all, that's okay, too. I can use indirect assessments, observation, and other measures instead.
3. I dive deep into your child's history and your input.
I don't just want to know how they do on a test. I want to know your child themselves. And that starts with getting to know what their background is like and their every day struggles. I want to know if there's something you see that's concerning you or that you think other professionals are missing when they look at your child.
How I Make a Treatment Plan
When the evaluation is written and it's time for a treatment plan, rest assured that mine are:
1. Client guided
I will present you with goals I suggest and we can talk about them and decide if we want to make any changes.
2. Neurodiversity affirming
Too often even the best-intentioned therapies can be shaming of differences. You'll find zero of that with me. (And if you did ever notice something, I'd want you to tell me!)
3. Trauma informed
I've done a lot of additional education to make sure that my sessions are trauma informed, for all of my clients. Because, frankly, in addition to being more likely to experience clearly recognizable sources of trauma (such as abuse), the mere act of being disabled in a world that is not designed for you often causes trauma all on its own.
4. Adaptive
This is not an IEP meeting where you get one set of goals for the whole year and it's like pulling teeth to try to get changes made. We can add, edit, or prioritize any goal at any time.
5. Written through the lens of health, safety, and quality of life
There are so many ways in which speech language therapy can support these areas that people aren't even aware of, but are in the forefront of my mind as we design a treatment plan.
6. Clearly explained to you
I don't just send you a copy of an evaluation and our treatment goals, or do a brief two minute summary where you're expected to understand the full implications of technical jargon. We go through the results and their implications in a way that makes sense and gives you plenty of time to ask questions.