S/o school based therapists

amother

Iris

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 1:05 pm

amother Narcissus wrote:

I don't live in the U.S. but just curious about this. Are all the frum schools part of the school district?

No. And each state works differently.

But take my relatives case in NJ.
He has an ASD diagnosis and an IEP and attended a special ed preschool.
Then, the caseworkers recommended that he can be mainstreamed into any private school with specific recommendations. Speech once a week, OT twice a week, and pullout educational services.
These services are provided by a 3rd party agency who hires the therapists and tutors to provide the alcohol in the childs private school. The money is paid to the agency by the town/state/feds depending on the specifics.

But yes, if the OT would take off 6 months and the agency did not provide a sub, the agency is not providing the terms of this childs IEP and can be sued.

amother

Yarrow

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 2:01 pm

I work as an OT in public school. Make about $70,000 a year plus benefits. Just under 40 hours a week.

If I take maternity leave, it is 100% not my problem. The district is responsible for finding a sub and providing the services. Not me personally.

There are some really nice things about working for a district.

shins22

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 2:07 pm

amother Mintgreen wrote:

As a parent, if my kid has an IEP in preschool, no diagnosis that I know of, and the school hasn’t found anyone I can theoretically sue? (Not like I’m going to sue the school tho)

You can sue the DOE for not providing the service and they will give an enhanced rate if you find your own provider. As far as I understand you can’t sue the agency for not providing the service if they can’t find a provider to fill the slot. It’s the DOE’s responsibility to provide services not the agencies

amother

Lightpink

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 2:07 pm

As a yiddish speaking speech therapist, servicing clients who are mandated for services in Yiddish, finding a sub isn't even an option. Any yiddish speaking therapist will be grabbed up in a min for a steady job. There's such a big demand. Anyone willing to work can be filled up with cases. And all my colleagues keep dropping the amount of hours we work due to growing families so the supply is dropping even more

amother

Stonewash

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 7:16 pm

[quote="amother Offwhite"]

amother Latte wrote:

Are you a SLP, OT or PT? Whats your niche?[/quote

SLP
Don’t want to out myself but there are several niches that people will pay good money for if you are well trained and excellent in the field.

Some examples would be

- social language
- working with hearing impaired
- reading disorders/phonemic awareness
- comprehension -critical thinking
- Floortime
- voice disorders
- apraxia
- tongue thrust

Some more..
-feeding disorders
-cleft lip and palate
-AAC
-rare syndromes
-neurological disorders and diseases
-Cancer related issues e.g. glossectomy (tongue surgically removed)
-stuttering/fluency
-auditory processing disorders

Also when doing an evaluation, I charge more.

amother

Cognac

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 7:29 pm

amother Offwhite wrote:

Between my bachelors and masters I paid about 50k. I live in NJ and work privately. I see kids 3.5 hours a day - 5 days a week. I make about $120k after all is said and done (take off about 6 weeks in summer, yomim tovim, school schedule, sick days, etc.) I end up working more like 25 hours a week between preparation, notes, phone calls, reports, etc. I can take more kids but don’t want to so I don’t get burnt out. I tell parents when I’m in the 6th month but really they can see anyway, as often they’re coming to sessions. I only take off 6-8 weeks as I’m self employed and don’t get paid, but I would inform all parents of my plans. I’m so happy I did this degree and love my job. I feel so sad when I hear of all these school-based therapists making so little…do you have options to specialize and work privately?

How many clients do you see a day?
How much do you charge per session?
I'm an slp just beginning to branch out into private practice.

amother

Stonewash

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 7:32 pm

amother Cognac wrote:

How many clients do you see a day?
How much do you charge per session?
I'm an slp just beginning to branch out into private practice.

Assuming using math from what she said she probably charges $100/30 minutes and sees 7 kids per day. Comes out to about 120,000 annually.

amother

Mistyrose

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 7:39 pm

amother Ruby wrote:

Where do you live that you get paid so little for working 40 hours a week?

I’m a third year therapist and work 32 hours a week at a rate of 90/hour and I know many many therapists who make more than that, especially with enhanced rates. I live in NYC. I love being an OT however I would never stay in the field if I was working 40 hours a week and coming out with 40k. I would take an office job instead.

ETA I paid around 80 k for my graduate degree.

Not NY/NJ but also not a low COL city.

amother

Latte

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 7:48 pm

amother Stonewash wrote:

Youre not saying anything that all of us dont know, technically its within our scope to treat these issues...

amother

Stonewash

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 7:51 pm

amother Latte wrote:

Youre not saying anything that all of us dont know, technically its within our scope to treat these issues...

As quoted previously “there are several niches that people will pay good money for if you are well trained and excellent in the field”
Yes, technically any SLP can treat these symptoms but parents will often lean towards the ones with more experience in that area and are also willing to pay more..

amother

Mintgreen

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 7:52 pm

shins22 wrote:

I don’t think I have a chance of finding a provider now Sad

so mad that the school stringed me along until now

octopus

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 8:03 pm

amother Brunette wrote:

That isn't exactly how it works. A child in a regular school can be entitled to services but they need an IEP that explicitly states what services and how many minutes per week or month they are entitled to, based on their (diagnosed) disability. An actual legal IEP will not be given to a student without a diagnosis. Some private schools have informal learning "plans" but that's not the same as an IEP. I don't understand how students are getting therapy paid for by the government if they don't have an IEP. Obviously parents can pay, or a private school might choose to hire their own provider, but that's a different situation entirely and is not covered by federal law.

I guess posters here mostly have experience with Jewish schools only, that tend to have minimal special ed students. Public schools are way more inclusive in that regard....under federal law, all students are entitled to an education in the "least restrictive environment" which usually means their neighborhood school.

This is simply not true. IEPs are given to students without diagnoses all the time. I think you're confusing it with the 13 classifications. A DOE meeting does not hand out diagnoses. You have to go private for that.

Last edited by octopus on Tue, Apr 02 2024, 10:24 pm; edited 2 times in total

amother

Brunette

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 8:06 pm

octopus wrote:

Not true. I have sat in tens, if not hundreds, of IEP meetings where a case manager + special educator and others write up the IEP. A private evaluator can give a diagnosis and suggest accommodations to be used in the IEP but they can't write the IEP itself.

octopus

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 8:14 pm

amother Brunette wrote:

And now you are saying something different than you said before. You said earlier that you can't get an IEP without a diagnosis. False. Now you are saying a private evaluator can't write the IEP. True. What has one to do with the other? Please don't spout untruths. That's all .

amother

Offwhite

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 8:18 pm

amother Cognac wrote:

How many clients do you see a day?
How much do you charge per session?
I'm an slp just beginning to branch out into private practice.

Yes I see approximately 7 kids a day. 1/2 hour sessions each. Approx $100 per session.
I sometimes do consults or evals as well. It’s about 3.5 hours daily of direct client contact. I could take more clients but don’t want to work more now.

amother

Offwhite

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 8:19 pm

amother Latte wrote:

Youre not saying anything that all of us dont know, technically its within our scope to treat these issues...

Yes they’re within your scope of practice. Do you SPECIALIZE in one of those areas, instead of being a jack of all trades? People pay good money for a specialty. But you do need to put in many hours of work and be willing to keep on learning and growing.

amother

Stonewash

Tue, Apr 02 2024, 8:21 pm

amother Offwhite wrote:

Yes I do. I’ve seen many of each of the above and put in excessive mount of time and effort. I invest blood, sweat and tears into each client if you want to know