“What do pediatric speech therapists really even do?”
If you guessed that they help your child to talk then you are RIGHT!! But a speech therapist does so much more! Speech therapists help your child with communication but they also help with feeding and swallowing issues too. They help your child by addressing three main areas:
Expressive Language
This can consist of helping with articulation errors or with speech fluency. Or they can help your child produce words and stringing those words into phrases and sentences. This will help your child to begin to express wants/needs and eventually progressing to expressing thoughts and ideas.
Receptive Language
This is when the speech therapist works on your child’s ability to understand language. They usually work on this by having them follow simple one step directions and progressing to multi step directions.
Feeding Therapy
Meal time can be great for family bonding, but for some families it can also be a challenging time for children and a source of stress for families. Feeding therapy is more than just teaching your child to eat. The speech therapist works closely with your ‘picky eater’ to determine the reason for the difficulty and they will develop an individualized plan to help support families during meal time.
Speech therapists work to enrich and enhance communications skills through play-based activities that are fun and target specific areas of concern. They might engage in pretend play with a doll or use books, blocks or pictures to stimulate language development. Our speech therapists work closely and collaboratively with families to provide strategies that can be easily implemented in the home setting.
Benchmark Pediatric Rehabilitation Services is considered an out of network provider with all insurance carriers. Without the needless constraints imposed by a healthcare carrier (such as pre-authorizations or capped visits) you can enjoy the flexibility of having services provided to your child as you see fit. All associated costs for the therapy visit will be known upfront. Although we do not accept insurance, we will provide you with all appropriate documentation in order to submit the claim to your insurance for possible out of network reimbursement.
Health Savings Plan
HSA/HRA/FSA
Most insurance carriers consider our services to be reimbursable through health savings accounts, health reimbursement accounts or flexible spending accounts. We will provide you with a superbill and any additional documentation necessary to maximize your healthcare coverage.
