Have you had a hard time finding a speech therapist?

amother

Olive

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 8:36 pm

amother [ Sunflower ] wrote:

No no no no!!!!
There is literally nothing positive about the job. The schooling is long, intense, difficult and expensive. The job is so draining. I need to do 60+ sessions a week in order to somewhat make a decent salary. No raises ever, no paid vacation, no benefits. And for all of you who are gonna say, so switch to public school, well that wouldn't help all the Jewish kids who need therapy!
And I agree that the paperwork is out of hand. It's not normal how much time I need to spend at home for this job. Literally every evening, fridays/sundays, and I even spend my maternity leave and summers catching up on paperwork!
Unless the agencies step up their game, the shortage is just going to get worse and worse. I know so many therapists who are leaving the field. I wish I had the courage to leave, but I'm the type who will stay in a miserable situation rather than have to change to something new

60 sessions is 30 hours a week. It’s hard to make a decent salary working less than 30 hours a week in many fields.

amother

Sunflower

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 8:46 pm

amother [ Olive ] wrote:

60 sessions is 30 hours a week. It’s hard to make a decent salary working less than 30 hours a week in many fields.

Look, you can self-righteously claim that I am not working "full time." But you need to realize that 30 hours as a therapist is not the same as 30 hours sitting in an office. Being a therapist and working with kids is incredibly draining. I'm not a robot who can churn out sessions after session after session. On an average day, I can be doing 12 sessions back to back with no break. How great do you think my sessions are when I'm up to number 9...10....11...? And it's not possible to properly prepare for 60 sessions a week. So a lot of my sessions are unprepared. And remember all the session notes and quarterly reports and annual reports that need to be writen at home.
I mean, how many sessions do you think I should do a week? 70? 80? 100?
And fyi, although public schools employees are at work for more hours, they generally do less sessions per day than agency therapists.

amother

Brunette

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 8:53 pm

amother [ Sunflower ] wrote:

You really hit the nail on the head.
I hate when people retort with "but you dont work FT" uhm yes we do. and session after session is draining. I go back to back (9, 9:30, 10, 10:30...) I dont have a bathroom break. If I go to the restroom, it cuts into a kids time and I run to get them after.

Whats sad is that Im only out of my CFY 2 years... and Im only 26... I cant imagine my life like this

amother

Sunflower

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 8:59 pm

amother [ White ] wrote:

I would find a private therapist if I were you OP. IME, as a speech therapist, kids receiving therapy privately reach their goals a lot quicker. I wonder what other therapists have to say about this.

Of course private therapists are better. They make more per session, so they are able to do less sessions. And therefore they are able to put more time, every put and thought into each one as they are not overwhelmed with a million students and a million sessiins

amother

Sunflower

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 9:06 pm

amother [ Brunette ] wrote:

I always find it interesting how this goes down:

First, speech therapists are bashed because we do not work "full time" (if you don't count all the hours at home that office people don't have). We are told to go work a full day in school! And work evenings! And word sundays! ok fine, I"all do that. And I do because I need the money.

Then, speech therapists are bashed that we are not doing a good job and parents aren't seeing progress.

And I'm like, duh, do you not see the correlation? I'm doing 60+ sessions a week, plus I need to do a ton of paperwork or my billing won't go through. So how much time do you think is left to prepare for the sessions? Not much ( unless I'm expected to stay up until 3 am?). And parents complain that I don't call often enough. I'm like, hello, your child is one of 25+ students. I work in school a whole day and at home in the evenings and sundays. When exactly should I be making all these phone calls?

You cannot have it both ways. If we need to do a million sessions a week (and apparently 60 is not enough) in order to make a living, then you're just not gonna get great therapy.

amother

Eggplant

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 9:29 pm

OP, I suggest that you contact Otsar Family Service’s Advocacy Project to learn how to request make up sessions and develop a plan on how to be sure that you have a speech therapist for the coming school year. The Advocacy Project empowers parents with the knowledge that they need to successfully advocate for their children and make the system work so that they receive their services. There is no charge, The Advocacy Project is funded by a grant from a foundation. You use a speech therapist that you find and they guide you on how to get the CSE to pay for it. 718-946-7301 X502
Behatzlacha.

amother

Olive

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 9:29 pm

amother [ Sunflower ] wrote:

I am actually an OT. I work the same amount of hours as you. I am off Friday, yom tov and summers. I think this is a pretty good deal.

amother

Mulberry

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 9:35 pm

Why did this thread need to get derailed?
We're just parents trying to get help for our children.

There are numerous threads with slps complaining about their salaries not being what they expected in terms of work life balance.

Can we keep this thread on topic to help our children?

amother

Olive

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 9:36 pm

amother [ White ] wrote:

I would find a private therapist if I were you OP. IME, as a speech therapist, kids receiving therapy privately reach their goals a lot quicker. I wonder what other therapists have to say about this.

I’m an OT. I’m relatively new to the field. At the end of the day, you (usually) get what you pay for. Good therapists may start off in agencies and acquire experience there, but they won’t stay there forever. Eventually, they’ll have enough experience and training to be sought after, and they’ll get paid privately instead. While it is possible to find a good therapist in an agency, it’s very much hit or miss. Agencies also often do not provide the greatest supervision. In my opinion, supervision is a significant part of becoming an expert therapist. An expert therapist has also treated many clients with many overlapping issues and can therefore meet most standard goals more quickly and effectively.

amother

Chambray

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 9:38 pm

amother [ Sunflower ] wrote:

I don't think it's only the money. Private speech therapists feel a greater sense of responsibility than those working in the schools. They will give the student their full session time and full attention as opposed to spending the session chatting with their coworkers. They also collaborate more with the parents which helps carryover and also helps the child reach their goals faster.

mushkale

Thu, Jul 07 2022, 9:53 pm

Well I've also been looking for a private SLP and can't seem to find one of those either so it doesn't seem like that many are moving to that route. Thank goodness my child did have a therapist in school this year and she was amazing so shout out to her! But I'm looking to supplement and it's been impossible to find someone private with time so I don't know where they all are.
(I also go to the NYU Rusk rehab and there's a waiting list there as well so I guess it's a universal problem.)

amother

NeonOrange

Fri, Jul 08 2022, 1:34 pm

amother [ Mulberry ] wrote:

Yup. Been there done that and I agree.
Although I went To a clinic with insurance I was hoping my cpse would pan out.p

Can I hear from both of you why it’s not a good idea to take to a graduate program’s clinic? I’ve been taking my child for 4 years and while it’s affordable allowing me to do several sessions a week and Most of the time we get great clinicians who pour their entire energies to my child and we see progress, I’m always nervous that the quality of the therapy is not as great since they’re inexperienced. But then again their grade depends on how well they perform so I assume they give it their all and the supervisors are great so I’m torn.

Btw my child is still also not seeing a Slp for the summer and I’m cringing that every minute wasted may meen regression.

amother

Brunette

Sat, Jul 09 2022, 9:23 pm

amother [ NeonOrange ] wrote:

Maybe if you post some of your childs concerns we can give you ideas of things you can do at home until you find a therapist...

amother

Mulberry

Sat, Jul 09 2022, 9:50 pm

amother [ Brunette ] wrote:

Maybe if you post some of your childs concerns we can give you ideas of things you can do at home until you find a therapist...

Not that poster, but need help.
My child has expressive language issues.

What can I do to help?