What Happens in a Speech Evaluation?

So, you know your child needs to see a speech therapist, you’ve found one that aligns with you and your family. You have booked the initial appointment, but now what?

The beginning of a speech therapy journey looks different for everyone. Some may have an idea of what a speech therapist does while others may have heard the title but have limited understanding of what we do and how we can help. You also might know your child needs help meeting their milestones or you know they are not doing as well in some areas compared to other kids their age, but it can be hard to know what to do, how to help or who can help.

I would love to give you an insight into what the start of your journey might look like if you were to be seen by one of the speech therapists at Talk Joy. You may still find this helpful if you are being seen in another clinic or are just looking to get a better understanding of the initial steps, if this is something new to you.

We start our evaluation at our first point of contact, for some, they have completed a website enquiry and provided us with some basic information, others call or email us directly. We start off by determining as much information as possible about the potential client because we want to make sure we can help you. We know that not every therapist can work with every client and not every client can work with every therapist.

Once we know we can help, we will see if we have a time slot that suits you and the therapist and then pencil you in. You will then be sent our intake forms. For us, we have two forms, an intake form and a service agreement. Most clinics will have very similar forms and if this is not your first time interacting with someone in the Allied Health space then you will know these kinds of forms well. Our service agreement is similar to a terms and conditions form and includes information such as our policies and obtaining your consent. Our intake form, allows us to get as much information as possible about the client so we can be prepared for your initial session. This form goes into detail about anything that could be related to your child’s therapy needs and will help your therapist plan your first session and start to form an idea of what they can do to help.

You will then attend your initial appointment with your child. The initial appointment at Talk Joy goes for no longer than 60 minutes and is mainly the therapist and parents/caregivers talking through the intake form and filling in any blanks. It is also an opportunity for the therapist to let the family know all the ways we might be able to help. We then talk about therapy and what it will look like, we chat about possible assessments we might do and then what areas we will focus on. During the initial appointment, your therapist will have toys and games available for your child. There will be time for the therapist and child to interact and start building some rapport and trust.

We want the initial appointment to be fun and informative!

After this first appointment, some clients go into an assessment phase while others jump straight into therapy. This will be determined by the therapist in conversation with the family. If assessment is what has been decided, this will look different for every client as everyone will require different assessments based on their needs. Some assessments take less than 15 minutes, while others might take a few hours. For the longer assessments, we spread these across multiple sessions to ensure fatigue doesn’t impact our results. Then it’s time for therapy!

Starting therapy, whether it’s with a new therapist, at a new clinic or you are starting therapy of any kind for the first time, it is so valid to be unsure. I hope this has given you an idea of what it could look like but if it is still unclear or if you have any specific questions about your child then please feel free to reach out to us or to your therapy provider, we are all here to help!

Remember to be kind and share joy!

-            Allanah (speech therapist)