Frequently Asked Questions & Payment

I use Zoom to meet with clients, as it can provide the level of privacy required by the HIPAA law. If we're using the coaching method, I'll have you set me up somewhere where I can see your child and the adult I will be coaching. You can use a phone, computer, tablet, anything that has a functioning camera and a fairly good microphone/speaker. No special materials required.

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For direct services, where I'm working straight with your child with minimal adult assistance, they'll need a screen that is tablet sized or larger, and if there's any background noise they'll need headphones.

Yes, although there are some standards that we'll need to meet. With children like this, I need an adult on the other side to "be my hands" so to speak. This requires very active participation from the adult in the session which not everyone is able to commit to. You'll also need to keep your child within seeing/hearing range throughout the session. If you have a good connection and don't have noise cancelling on, as long as you stay in the about the space of a small room, we should be fine. I'm happy to do a free consult if you want to check and make sure this will work for your situation.

I've never met another teletherapist who works quite the same way I do, because when I say I personalize my sessions to each client, I truly mean it.  And that means that even though I'm a teletherapist, not everything I do uses digital materials. Naturally, coaching doesn't take digital materials - for that I'm your guide on the sidelines, watching and giving you directions on how to incorporate therapy into interactions with your child. But even with direct therapy, I don't only use digital materials.

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Here are some examples of things I may do in direct therapy with different children.

• Point my camera at the desk as we play one of my physical games. I have a whole closet full and choose ones that both go with our goals and your child's interests. If you ever wonder why we're doing a certain game or activity, ask! With most of my kids I do what I like to call "sneaky therapy" where they don't even realize they're learning - but that also means that it may just look like play to you, too! I'm happy to walk you through what's actually going on behind the scenes of a session. I like physical games because I've found that the ones I have are just plain more engaging for the kids than most digitally available speech therapy games.

• Playing a digital game. Sometimes, yes, I do play digital games! There aren't many I like for speech therapy, but I do have one (Scribblenauts Remix) that incorporates loads of skills in very subtle ways and I'll play with the kids.

• Reading a book - generally a graphic novel appropriate to their age. I love to read with my kids, even when reading isn't a goal for them. I can embed so much learning into a book! They only do as much reading aloud themselves as is comfortable - the rest, I do, as for most of the kids the reading isn't the goal itself so much as it is a vehicle to help me accomplish that goal. I pick books that support their learning in other ways, too, such as having social-emotional lessons embedded in them that my kid needs to learn, or supporting their academic learning without them noticing. And all the while I'm incorporating whatever other executive function, language, or social goal they're working on.

• Watching videos - I love watching videos with my kids! So long as I have a kid that is willing to pause every few minutes to answer a question or discuss the movie, I can embed pretty much any goal into a video. They're particularly helpful for working on executive function and social communication.

Everyone gets one free half hour consult, which you can request through the form at the bottom of each page. During the consult we can go over your child's case, I can show you how teletherapy will work, and you can essentially get an idea of if this is going to be a good fit.

I do not accept insurance. I do have a few ways I try to decrease the financial burden of sessions, however.

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1. I am a provider for the Step Up scholarship in Florida.

The Step Up scholarship provides funds that parents in Florida who home school or private school their children can use to help pay for their education. If your child gets the Step Up scholarship, you can simply use your Step Up funds to pay me.

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2. I can use the coaching model to help you stretch time between our sessions.

To give you an idea, I have a client right now that I see for one half hour session every other week. We didn't start out that low - initially, I really do need to get more time with a child and caregiver to see what works and teach the caregiver how to work on our goals. But once you really understand what we're doing in therapy and have practiced it with me to watch and guide you, we can decrease frequency bit by bit. 

Once I've gotten a good sense for your child's needs and what works, we can start stretching time between sessions. I'll meet with you and we'll establish what we'll be targeting. If it's a new skill, I'll guide you through how to target it and have you practice doing it yourself with me to give you feedback. Then you go and incorporate work on it in your daily lives for whatever interval we establish - usually one week at first, then two. After that you can come back and I'll check in on how things are going. If we decide to continue with what we're doing, I'll have you demonstrate the treatment skill again to make sure you've got it and give you feedback on it and give ideas for alterations. If we decide to introduce a new treatment skill, I'll guide you through the new skill which you can then try out for the next week, and the cycle continues. This enables you to meet for fewer sessions, which helps with cost saving.

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3. I charge on a sliding scale.

Because I understand that paying for therapy sessions can be difficult for families, I charge on a sliding scale for those who pay out of pocket. (Step Up scholarship rates on on their website.) These numbers are the cost of therapy sessions based on the joint income of a family with one dependent. Add on an additional $10,000 to the income ranges per dependent in your family.

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Pricing for therapy sessions:

<$30,000 a year: $70/hour or $40/half hour

$30,000 - $49,999: $80/hour or $50/half hour

$50,000 - $79,999: $100/hour or $65/half hour

$80,000 - $100,000: $120/hour or $75/half hour

>$100,000: $140/hour or $90/half hour

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Pricing for initial evaluations:

<$30,000 a year: $110

$30,000 - $49,999: $130

$50,000 - $79,999: $165

$80,000 - $100,000: $195

>$100,000: $230

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In this way, people who make more money can help supplement the costs for those who make less.​

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4. I can provide you with a super bill upon request.

A super bill is essentially a receipt with medical billing codes. If your insurance provides out of network coverage, you can submit the super bill from your paid session to your insurance company to see if they will refund you back some of the money you paid. Note that typically this amount is only enough to cover a portion of the session and not all insurances will do so. If you're uncertain if your insurance will provide out of network coverage, call the number on your insurance card and check with them in advance.