Fees
Parramatta Speech, Language & Literacy Solutions
Professional Service Fees – Effective from the 1st of July, 2019
Assessment – Initial Consultation (2 hours): $380
An Initial Consultation is an opportunity for your Speech Therapist to get to know you and your child!
Your Speech Therapist will use the Initial Consultation to:
- Gather case history information and information about your child’s development to date.
- Find out more about your child’s communication and/or feeding skills at home, childcare and in any other major environments.
- Undertake some developmental, play-based and functional assessment with your child so that they can get a good picture of your child’s strengths and weaknesses (i.e. what is working with their communication and/or feeding skills and what is not working at the moment i.e. what’s difficult for your child to do).
- Identify, discuss and prioritise goals for intervention – they’ll develop a plan of action with you in relation to best managing your child’s needs.
- Find out what is fun and motivating for your child so that if therapy is warranted, they can make therapy sessions as fun as possible for your child!
A 2 hour time slot will be booked out by your therapist for your child’s Initial Consultation. 1.5 hours will be spent directly with you and your child, and the remaining 30 minutes will be used by the Therapist to start writing a short report that summarises the assessment findings and the recommendations provided during the Initial Consultation. Reports will be finalised as soon as possible, (dependent upon caseload demands), but we will endeavour to get the report out to you within 2-4 weeks of your Initial Consultation appointment.
Appointments that go over the 1.5 hour allocated timeslot with the Speech Therapist will be charged at the current intervention hourly rate (i.e. $190 per hour).
Intervention – Therapy Sessions:
Intervention sessions focus on addressing communication and/or safe swallowing goals identified during your child’s Initial Consultation, implementing communication systems (e.g. visual supports, PECS, Key Word Sign & Gesture) and/or safe swallowing strategies, and providing training and support to parents and other carers.
30 min therapy session: $100
45 min therapy session: $150
1 hour therapy session: $190
Communication or Swallowing Intervention provided under a Chronic Disease Management (CDM) Plan:
The Chronic Disease Management Plan (previously referred to as the Enhanced Primary Care (EPC) Plan) entitles recipients to up to 5 sessions with a Speech Pathologist (per calendar year) that are partially covered by Medicare. Unfortunately, the Medicare sessions are not free. A General Practitioner is responsible for determining whether an individual is eligible to receive a CDM Plan. Each of the 5 CDM sessions attract a rebate of $53.75 from Medicare (as of November 1, 2018).
An Administration fee of $10 applies to each of the 5 sessions provided under the CDM Plan due to the need for the Speech Pathologist to liaise with and provide written documentation to your General Practitioner.
30 min therapy session: $110
45 min therapy session: $160
1 hour therapy session: $200
Formal / Standardized Assessments:
Standardized assessments include administration time (e.g. 1.5-2 hours minimum for language assessment) + analysis and interpretation of child’s performance (2+ hours). Following assessment, a free 20 minute feedback session is provided to parents / carers to discuss results of assessment and implications for home / preschool / school.
Speech Assessment: $285
Language Assessment: $855
Speech and Language Assessment: $950
Reports and Written Documentation:
There is a fee for writing reports, as they take a lot of time and effort to complete, and are often completed during the therapist’s personal time.
The NDIS knows that therapists need to charge for their time and effort spent writing reports and allows for money in a child’s NDIS plan to be used towards covering the cost of reports. Reports usually take a minimum of 2 hours work and will be charged at the current NDIS Speech Pathology rate of $190/hour, as per the current NDIS Fee Guideline, which was released on the 1/07/19. Therefore, a ‘basic’ report starts at $380.
Written correspondence (e.g. lengthy written notes or lengthy email correspondence with School Teaching staff / Preschool Teaching staff in relation to your child’s assessment results or therapy intervention program): $190/hour
Meetings:
Attendance at preschool / school / home for planning and support meetings
(e.g. IFSP / IEP planning and review meetings, Transition to School meetings, NDIS Planning meetings): $190 per hour
Telephone / Skype consultations with parents and support staff: $190 per hour
Development of visual supports (colour printing, laminating, velcro): $190 per hour
Development of Individual Home Programs: $190 per hour
Travel
According to the NDIS Fee Guideline 2019 (effective 1/07/19), it is permissible to charge a fee of $63.33 for travel to home / preschool / school visits / meetings at a location outside of the Clinic, which represents up to 20 minutes of time spent travelling to see a client (i.e. 20/60 x $190 = $63.33).
All visits to see clients outside of the Clinic will incur this travel fee of $63.33.
Cancellation Fees
If you need to cancel or re-schedule an appointment, we ask that you provide two working days’ notice (e.g. if your appointment is at Friday 11am, you will need to let us know by 11am on Wednesday that you cannot attend). This will assist us in being able to offer your unwanted appointment time to another client who may be waiting to see your child’s therapist. As per our Booking & Cancellation Policy (a copy is sent out via email when an enquiry is made about our services), a 100% cancellation fee will apply if sufficient notice is not provided.
Medical emergencies that result in a cancellation will not attract the cancellation fee if a medical certificate is supplied within 5 days of the cancellation.
Download Parramatta Speech – Schedule of Professional Service Fees Effective 1.07.19
