FAQs

• Can I do a meet and greet?

Absolutely! To ensure that we’re a good fit, it’s a great idea to go into therapy knowing that the first couple of sessions are about building rapport and establishing goals, while still making the sessions as therapeutic as possible. We want to make them useful AND build a foundation. Trust and comfort are as important as task-orientation because people tend not to buy-in to therapy unless they believe their therapist cares about them and understands the problem.

For children, these first couple of sessions may be a little less demanding and more play-based than regular sessions to determine what will motivate the child, how long they can pay attention, if they can follow an adult’s lead, how they respond to challenges, and if they can allow the therapist to interact with them without hiding behind a parent (we’ve all been there, and it’s totally normal!). Some children just don’t gel with certain people, and that’s completely okay, but if it reassures you at all, it’s really rare that children haven’t wanted to continue with us.

For adults, we’ll get to know each other briefly, talk about your goals with you and whomever else is involved, and come up with a plan of attack together.

These sessions are a great opportunity to communicate what type of approach you prefer: your goals, therapy style like more structured or more play-based, how much ‘homework’ you can handle, who will be involved and to what extent. We promise we won’t take offense, and we hope you feel comfortable communicating with us.

• Types of payment accepted

Sessions cost the same regardless of who is paying, and ultimately the patient, or whoever legally responsible for the patient, is responsible for the cost of therapy. We take self- and plan-managed NDIS participants, Medicare referred clients, and self-referred clients.

With NDIS, you or your plan manager will receive the invoice and send payment, receiving a paid invoice after accounting on our end. We do not accept NDIA managed participants at this time.

With Medicare, your GP will refer you for up to 5 CDM sessions which receive a rebate that is below our hourly fee. The rate may change, but is readily searchable with Medicare online. The client would receive the invoice to pay the whole amount, and would then seek reimbursement easily within the Medicare app themselves. We can help with this if needed. More information here: Claim your Medicare benefit through myGov | myGov

Self-paying clients, as with all our clients besides Medicare, do NOT need a GP referral and will be sent an invoice to themselves.

For all types of payment, more information is here: Fees, rebates and funded programs (speechpathologyaustralia.org.au)

• Is there a wait-list

At this time, we have immediate availability, but if we do not have the times you need, we can put you on a waitlist in case they open.

• Why I need an assessment

Without a thorough assessment, it’s not ethical to treat. Without identifying and describing the nature of the issues, we should not proceed, as many causes may result in the same problem, and thus require different treatment.

The assessment needs to be recent enough to still be relevant and thorough enough to be useful for planning treatment.

The NDIS may have additional requirements for assessments to ensure the participants need support.

Assessment reports are the essential ending of an assessment. The reports are the written summary of the data the therapist collected, the results of the investigation, the diagnoses given, and the recommendations.

These provide a baseline to compare against progress over time, proof of what your therapist did, and a plan for treatment that you can bring to your GP or the NDIS. New assessments may be warranted when goals are met or need to change.

Please read here for more information on what assessment reports are and why they matter so much: Speech pathology assessments and reports

• Why do I need to sign the service agreement & privacy policy?

The Service Agreement (SA) is a requirement for most healthcare providers that protects you and your provider. It is a document that puts everything in writing to ensure certain standards. The NDIS

• Am I locked in with you if I sign the service agreement?

No, the service agreement mentions that it lasts for 12 months, only to mean that we don’t need to re-write it every time we see you, but clients will need to agree to it again when it expires or if we make any changes to it (whichever happens first). If we want to change or cancel the service agreement, we need to mutually give notice of 4 weeks. This only applies to the document, you are not locked-in to 4 weeks of therapy if you don’t want it.

If you cancel before our free cancellation period, there’s absolutely no charge, and you won’t have any other obligations. The free cancellation period is 2 business days before the next session.

For your first session, if you’re sick or there’s an emergency on the day of the assessment, there will be no charge. Life happens.

If you just want to do an assessment or a single session to determine if we are a good fit, that’s great! We are happy to do one-offs.

If you are being seen weekly, fortnightly, or on a recurring basis, I just ask for as much notice as you’re able to give as these spots can be hard to fill.

• What are the fees

Please refer to the service agreement for the current fee schedule which can be emailed to you, and you will be notified in writing if there are any changes to this.

Therapy is 45 minutes of direct intervention with 15 minutes of indirect intervention (prep / note taking / resource development). This comes to a total of 1 hour of therapy per session.

Assessments usually require two hours of face-to-face assessment, and up to five hours of assessment report writing. The length of time required to assess and write the assessment report changes based on who needs the report, the complexity of the needs of the patient, and the ease of the assessment itself (i.e. more time needed if the patient needs a break, if they need a translator, if they are interrupted, etc.), and your personal preferences.

For example, A CDM/Medicare GP report is typically 1-page and takes about 15 minutes to write. A mealtime management plan takes about 1-hour to develop. An NDIS report usually requires additional details and can be about 10 pages long, taking about 3-5 hours to write depending on complexity. On your phone or email consultation prior to being seen, you will be quoted the expected length of time and cost.

We will never charge you anything before you agree to it, and if you prefer a certain length or level of detail of the reports, please let us know.

Travel fees account for time, kilometres, and tolls. These can be totally avoided by seeing us in-clinic or online. We can do the first session in person, and the rest another way if you would prefer.

At this time, we do not bill above the NDIS rate, although many speech pathologists are opting to do this since the NDIS has not raised prices for over 5 years despite record inflation.

We are committed to being the best value for money possible and, as taxpayers ourselves, care about honest billing practises. Please inform us of any concerns or questions.

• What does therapy entail

Because we treat a wide variety of disorders, therapy is varied and individualised. It typically consists of education and information sharing, exercises and tasks, planning, and caregiver training. We ask that parents and family members are present at all sessions as they are integral to the process.

We aren’t a drop-and-go type of therapy, as we often model exercises or activities that will need to be continued on non-therapy days. We find that doing home plans drastically reduces the amount of time and money people need to spend in therapy, builds caregiver confidence and competence, and increases the likelihood of meeting goals. Because everyone’s capacity, motivation, and supports are different, the amount of effort required for home tasks is based on you.

In the first few sessions, we will ask you what kind of time commitment is reasonable with no judgment. Some families can do 5 minutes 3x/week, and some can do 15 minutes 7x/week. It’s a spectrum and we ask that you be totally honest so that therapy isn’t a burden, especially if circumstances change.

• Can I switch to teletherapy

Yes! If you want to switch, just let us know. If you have a session coming up, please let the therapist know at least 48 hours before your session so that they don’t plan travel or activities that are not appropriate. This is a good idea for holidays, needing a couple of relaxed weeks, or for saving on travel fees.

• Cancellations

New clients (have not yet had a session) can cancel without a charge, but we ask for your consideration as we are a schedule-based clinic.

For 2nd session and beyond clients, cancellations are not charged before 2 business days before a scheduled session.

If you cancel within 2 business days of your appointment, you will be charged the full session fee including planning and travel fees.

If you must cancel within 2 business days, even though you will be charged the full fee, you may choose any of the following options:

- Cancel the session

- Switch the session to telehealth instead (only available if given reasonable notice and is possible within the therapist’s schedule)

- The therapist can use the session time to draft a home plan or video which may include education, exercises, activities, or something else that would benefit you. This would be emailed to you.

If the clinician cancels the session for any reason, then of course you will not be charged at all.

Clients need to keep track of the appointments and let us know if you need to cancel or reschedule. If you can’t make your appointment, we need to know, so we:

- don’t spend time preparing your session

- don’t purchase or make food that would’ve been used during the session

- can have that time free for someone else

Public Holidays and weekends are not considered business days.

Example: Mary’s appointment is at 9am on Monday, so she will need to cancel before 9am on Thursday to avoid incurring a charge.

• Stopping therapy with us

Whatever the reason, we trust that you have your family’s best interest at heart and treat discontinuation professionally. It happens!

If you feel comfortable, please share with us if there was anything we did wrong so that we can improve. Please inform us as soon as possible, but minimum 2 business days notice to avoid cancellation fees.

We are happy to provide transfer documentation or chat with your new therapist, and we bill based on time for those services.

• Where can we do therapy

Therapy is versatile!

• In your home: This is a great option for many people, especially for early intervention where we are caregiver training, for people with anxiety or sensory sensitivity, or for people with limited mobility. There’s a travel fee to account for time, kms, and tolls, and we can let you know what that charge would be based on your address.
• Online: Thanks to COVID, we have had lots of experience providing therapy online. Almost all therapy can be modified to work online. It’s also a great option when the primary focus of therapy is the clinician training the family instead of the child directly. It’s evidence-based and can still be interesting and fun! It avoids the travel fees and is a good option for holidays.

• In-Clinic: Our clinic is currently run from our owner’s home, but as our caseloads are building, we will explore other locations near North Willoughby and Chatswood. It’s a great option for comfortable yet professional therapy of any kind, but avoids travel fees.

• Day-cares, playgrounds, restaurants, and community places: In order to suit the needs of our patients, we can change locations based on our therapy goals or scheduling needs. We can coordinate with and educate day-care staff on your child’s needs, and we can schedule calls with parents as needed. Restaurants and community spaces can be great for practicing functional goals, social goals, feeding and swallowing without anxiety, for instance. Playgrounds can be great for highly active children or children wanting to practise social skills, as well. We can be creative!

• Care Homes: People who live in aged care can be seen from the comfort of their own homes. We will work with staff to obtain their medical history charts, their doctor’s orders, and recommend strategies. Please contact us for more details!

• A Mix: As our patient’s progress or situations change, sometimes the location and modality of service may need adjustment. We can plan for variety, but please let your therapist know as soon as possible.

• Training, supervision, or mentorship for other SPs

Laura Barnett is an experienced Speech Pathology supervisor and staff educator, so can help to guide junior SPs as well as provide staff education. Please reach out if you have any interest.

• Feedback and Complaints

It’s so important that you feel comfortable and happy with your speech therapy services, but it can feel awkward and uncomfortable to express criticisms or critique. Please be assured that as professionals, we will not take your feedback personally and we WANT to hear what is bothering you before it becomes a major issue. You are always welcomed to share your thoughts with us.

Some cultures, personalities, and brain types may find open and honest feedback nearly excruciating, we get it. However, we’re unlikely to pick up on subtle cues or read your mind that something is wrong, so we need to hear what’s going on. If it’s easier, please feel free to text us, email us, write out a script, or use any method that makes you feel comfortable. If it’s general feedback, it’s even okay to fill out our Contact Us form anonymously.

Your voice matters to us and we will not punish, dislike, or embarrass you for communicating your preferences and needs with us. We welcome you.

You also have the legal right to provide feedback or make a complaint about the service provided by BSASC and to have that complaint investigated promptly and fairly. If you have any concerns or feedback whatsoever, please call or send an email to BSASC as soon as possible.