Terms & Conditions

If you commit to speech and language therapy initial assessment or therapy sessions over the phone or via email, you are agreeing to accept the terms and conditions below.

Please read the terms and conditions carefully and do not hesitate to ask any questions that may arise.

Client History Form

It is important to complete a case history form as part of the initial assessment to gather a full and clear picture of your child’s needs and developmental history as this information will suggest the appropriate therapy intervention.

Initial Assessment

This assessment will involve observation, informal assessment and play with the child and discussion with the child’s parent/carer using a case history form. It may involve the use of formal assessments. A detailed report will be provided.

If further assessment sessions are required e.g. to gather information about the child’s social communication and interaction skills with peers at an educational setting, these will be discussed with you in advance as they incur additional costs and will not go ahead without your consent.

Therapy Session

A session lasts one hour. This time is spent with the child and parent/carer or a member of teaching staff. The fee also includes time spent outside of the therapy session preparing materials, planning and discussing progress with parents and professionals.

School or home programme demonstration sessions

A session lasts one hour. This time is spent with the child, parent/carer or teaching staff demonstrating the therapy activities that have been recommended to be carried out at home/school and discussion about all aspects of this programme to ensure it can be implemented successfully. The fee includes time spent outside of the sessions preparing materials, planning and discussing progress with parents and educational staff.

Additional letters, reports and treatment programmes

Written documents which are additional to the initial assessment report are charged in respect of the total time taken to prepare them. An estimate of the time needed will be discussed with the client in advance before this work is undertaken.

Telephone calls

With the exception of the free 15 minute initial phone discussion, calls over 10 minutes in duration will be charged at the therapist’s discretion.

Location of Sessions

Assessment and therapy sessions will generally be offered at my therapy room, in your own home or your child’s nursery/school. I ask that you provide a quiet environment, free from distractions. If you would prefer the sessions to be conducted at your child’s nursery/school, please be aware that this may incur a CRB check cost. Some schools ask for all people who work with the children in the school to have a CRB check. Each DBS check is only valid at the school that requested it. Therefore, due to the fact that it is the school that requests the DBS check and that I work at different schools, I will not cover the cost of the CRB check. If a DBS check cost is incurred, it will be invoiced to you but this will be discussed with you before applying for a DBS.

Role of the Parent/carer

During your child’s therapy, I usually provide tasks and activities for you to carry out with your child at home between therapy sessions. The aim is for you to do 10-20 minutes of home practice daily with your child. Completion of these tasks is as important as the therapy sessions themselves and regular home support usually results in more positive outcomes. It is, therefore, essential that you (or a member of school staff) commit to attend all the agreed therapy sessions.

Cancellations

A minimum of 24 hours’ notice is required for cancellations. Sessions cancelled by you after this time or sessions not attended will incur a charge of 100% of the arranged session fee. If your child receives his/her speech and language therapy at school, you as the parent are responsible for cancelling a session, not the school, including school trips, changes to the usual school time table and extracurricular activities.

If I am unable to attend a session for any reason I will let you know as soon as possible. I will endeavour to re-arrange the session. If I am unable to re-arrange the session then there will be no charge.

Circulation of Reports / Sharing Information

It is considered best practice to share information with relevant professionals in order to work together to support your child’s needs. I will routinely circulate reports to your child’s G.P, nursery, school and any other professionals involved in your child’s care unless you request (in writing) that this should NOT happen. You will be asked to provide a list of the professionals involved in your child's care.

Discharge Criteria

Parents are free to withdraw from treatment at any time. The therapist may also withdraw treatment or discharge the child for any of the following reasons:

• The child’s speech and language skills are within the normal range for their age.
• The child is no longer making progress (this is usually looked as no progress for 3+ moths despite input).
• All appropriate strategies are in place and advice has been given.
• Therapy/intervention is not deemed appropriate by the therapist.

Privacy Notice

I will collect information about your child (and family) that is relevant to their therapy/intervention. Written notes will also be completed after each contact with you and/or your child and other professional to inform ongoing intervention. All information held by myself will be kept securely in accordance with the Data Protection Act. I will not disclose any information about your child without your consent except where there are concerns regarding your child’s safety and/or wellbeing. It is good practice to share information about your child’s needs with professionals who are working with your child and you will be asked to consent to this.

Fees

Service	Cost*
Initial Assessment session for children with speech sound difficulties, including formal assessments and a case history. A checklist summary report will be provided at the end of the session as well as a verbal summary and discussion of the findings - based on a 60 minute session. Detailed written report - this is optional to help you reduce the cost of assessment if you do not need a report.	Please contact to discuss
Initial assessment session for children with language and social communication difficulties including formal assessments and a case history. A checklist summary report will be provided at the end of the session as well as a discussion of the findings and implications - based on a 90 minute session.   Detailed written report - as noted above, this is optional to help you reduce the cost of the assessment if you do not need a report.	Please contact to discuss
Further assessment sessions - based on a 60 minute session.
Therapy sessions including home/school homework activities (client’s home, nursery/school or my therapy room) - based on a 45-60 minute session.
Additional or more detailed reports, letters and programmes - based on per hour of time spent.
School or home programme demonstration sessions - based on a 60 minute session.
Attendance at multidisciplinary or EHCP meetings/case conferences - based on per hour of time spent.
Mileage	£10 flat fee

* Fees are reviewed annually on 1st April, and details of any fee schedule updates are sent out at least 30 days before changes.

Fees are reviewed on an annual basis on the 1st of April. You will be sent an updated fee schedule at least 30 days before any change in fees.

Please refer to your private health care provider’s terms and conditions about the frequency and number of sessions they will fund before booking sessions with me.

Payment

Payment for all sessions is due on the day of the assessment, therapy, meeting, training or demonstration sessions as appropriate.

Clients using private medical insurance are responsible for settling the invoices and then claiming from the insurance company. It is advisable to check your level of cover before commencing therapy.

Late payments will incur an admin charge of £20 per invoice for each month they are overdue (from the date of the invoice).

A reminder will be sent to you if your payment is late. If the invoice remains unpaid then debt collection proceedings will be started.

If payment is not made after the reminder has been sent then sessions for your child will be suspended.

Review of terms & Conditions

These terms and conditions are subject to review and may change. You will be given a minimum of 30 days’ notice of any changes.