Evaluations
Details, What To Expect, and FAQs
At Top Sail Therapy, we pride ourselves on our thorough, comprehensive evaluations - all from the comfort of your home. Many providers rush through evaluations due to tight time constraints, use out of date tests to save money, and evaluate clients like a factory. At Top Sail, we allot adequate time, use the highest quality of assessments and materials, are thoughtful and observational, and provide excellent, custom reports for your understanding and records. See more information below.
Why in home?
We evaluate clients in their most natural environment in order to get the most accurate results. We find children are more comfortable than in a sterile, doctor’s office like setting.
How long do evaluations take?
As long as we need to get adequate results. We generally plan on 1-2 hours depending on the case. Different evaluations require different levels of expertise and complexity. For example, a dyslexia evaluation may take 2 -3 hours while an articulation evaluation may only take 1 hour.
How long until I get results?
We provide write-ups with detailed reporting on clinical observations, standardized objective testing, and summaries of our findings within 15 business days, but usually sooner. We include any found diagnoses and their ICD codes, clinical recommendations, and treatment planning goals on the report.
What does the overall evaluation process look like?
1. After filling out paperwork, we start with a caregiver phone call with the treating therapist. Directly share your concerns, observations, and goals with your therapist.
2. The SLP will choose assessment materials based on your concerns. When they arrive at your house, they may chat with you to get more information if needed.
3. The therapist will informally interact with your child and make observations. They may record natural samples of your child’s interactions.
4. The therapist will give an assessment (or multiple) to your child. This usually takes the bulk of the evaluation time. These assessments typically provide objective measurements based on standardized data.
5. The therapist will chat with you for about 10 minutes at the completion of the evaluation. They may have questions or information to share with you about their initial thoughts.
6. The SLP will score the assessments and write a report, provided to you in 15 business days, and oftentimes sooner. If you have any questions about the report, we welcome you to discuss it and ask us questions.
7. Treatment can begin any time after the evaluation is scored, if it’s warranted. If your SLP does not recommend therapy, we will provide you with information and other recommendations to address your concerns if necessary.
8. You are welcome to share your report with others. We will not share your report with anyone outside Top Sail without your written consent and request to do so.
What if our pediatrician said to “wait and see?”
Doctors are excellent resources for many things. But the truth is, they are not experts on identifying the presence or absence of language based disorders. Your doctor can’t assess for solid data in a 30-minute check-up, especially when they are also tasked with assessing general, physical health. “Wait and see” is not an approach. We recommend “see first, then decide if you want to wait.” Time is of the essence for speech delays, and we always recommend following your gut and bringing concerns to a speech-language pathologist (SLP) for a full evaluation. We can take a much more detailed look at your child’s speech and language development and provide you with hard data, percentile ranks, and accurate pictures of your child’s abilities. After you “see,” then you may decide to wait, with confidence that your child is on track. Or, as often happens, you may realize that your instincts were correct and find your child is scoring in a category defined as “severe disorder” - an occurence that is all too common when parents are told to “wait and see” for another year.
What if my child doesn’t qualify for therapy?
Sometimes, children perform higher than a parent anticipated and the child does not need therapy. It is important to Top Sail Therapy that we are always honest in our recommendations, and we may share that your child does not truly need therapy at this time. In that event, we will share recommendations, information on normal development, and a time frame for follow-up should new concerns arise. We do offer tutoring services as well if you’d like to give your child a little extra help without resorting to a therapeutic treatment plan.
Absolutely! We always defer to parents on whether they believe their child will be better assessed with the parent present or out of view. We trust parents’ knowledge of their children’s needs. We do recommend your presence or ability to listen in from another room to best understand our process, especially during treatment, but we understand that some children are distracted by their parent’s presence. We will follow your lead!
Can I be present for evaluations?
Can we start therapy without an evaluation?
In order to provide high quality care, we need to have some type of evaluation or assessment before beginning treatment. However, we are happy to utilize testing from another facility. While we prefer to evaluate children ourselves, we can use up-to-date assessments and evaluations from school IEP’s, other clinics, psychological evaluations, etc. Evaluations are considered up to date within 1 year of starting services.