When a child has a speech or language disorder, many parents are faced with the decision of whether or not to find private speech therapy. There is a public network of treatment options for speech or language difficulties, and some parents wonder what the benefits to private speech therapy in Kingston may be. The wonderful thing about Kingston is that parents don’t have to choose a private option at the expense of a public one, or vice versa. Spark Talk Speech Therapy can actually coordinate services with the public sector, in order to maximize the benefit your child receives from speech therapy. Here are just a few benefits to choosing private therapy before or after you’ve sought public treatment.
Minimal Wait Times
One of the biggest perks of private speech therapy in Kingston is the short wait times. While these may vary in the private sector depending on the time of year or the caseload of the clinic, most parents wait as little as a week or as much as a month before their child can be seen. This is drastically different from the public system, where wait times can be lengthy and can cause some parents to worry. Our speech language pathologist, Karen Morgan, is familiar with the public system, and can ensure that care is coordinated to make for a seamless transition between the two, maximizing the benefit to your child.
Flexible Appointments
The public system can only do so much when it comes to providing flexibility to parents with respect to their appointment dates and times. At Spark Talk Speech Therapy, we offer some after school and Saturday appointments, and work with parents to minimize the time away from school, or the time a parent will need to take off work, in order to attend these appointments. Receiving private speech therapy in Kingston shouldn’t mean that your child needs to sacrifice his or her extra-curricular activities.
Child-Centred Approach
Private speech therapy can be highly customized to your child’s unique strengths and weaknesses, which will in turn increase the benefit he or she receives from attending sessions. In addition, Spark Talk Speech Therapy tries to incorporate your child’s interests into our planned sessions, to help your child get more out of each visit.
Assessment and Treatment
Private speech therapy in Kingston can also provide you with both assessment and treatment, with the same speech language pathologist. The benefit of this is that your child may develop a good rapport with the SLP, one that can assist greatly when it comes time for treatment.
Parents Have Input Into Goals and Treatment Frequency
Parents can have more control over the treatment schedule, number of sessions, and the primary goals when it comes to private therapy. For example, parents may prefer intensive treatment over a shorter period of time or regular monthly appointments. We can also incorporate a specific goal into planned sessions, allowing you to work with both the public system for one particular goal and a private therapist for a second. While the public system only provides therapy with respect to speech sounds, we can assist with vocabulary development and sentence structure privately, before, during, or after your public sessions have ended.
Please contact Spark Talk Speech Therapy if you are looking for more information about the benefits of private speech therapy in Kingston.