Speech Pathology Assoc

Run, do not walk, away from this business. While their speech therapists are very good, their office staff, administration and owner are horrible. They believe «speech therapy is the most important thing your child does.» As a result, they do not allow you to miss an appointment without making it up. Ever. We had been going there for 5 years and I adhered to all their policies, despite the stress. The final straw was when my son had to miss when he was away for a week for 5^th grade science camp. When I was unable to schedule an after school makeup, the office manager told me I needed to pull him out of school to schedule the makeup. No rational person would think that is a good idea. We left this place, easily found a MUCH better speech pathologist. I so regret the 5 years I spent there, sending my child when he was sick or being stressed about missing an appointment. There are so many BETTER options out there.

My daughter came here twice a week for 9 months. She started right after her second birthday. She did great! We loved our therapists and I would recommend this place. The front desk staff was helpful and very friendly. The only problem I had was with scheduling. Missing an appointment was such a headache. If my daughter got sick it was really hard to reschedule and you have to reschedule or they charge you. We pulled our daughter out because we couldn’t make speech work with our new preschool schedule. Plus, once she turned three she qualifies for speech therapy thru the school district. We will definitely take that route.
All in all, we had a great experience. Just be prepared to get a lot of grief if you have to reschedule.

My daughter started attending speech therapy here in September 2011 three days a week for a moderate receptive and expressive language disorder and Apraxia of speech. We have seen a handful of different speech pathologists along the way and they have all been excellent. When my daughter started with Regional Center and the SLP said to expect my daughter would be in a special day class because the motor planning deficits were so severe. I am happy to report that my daughter attended a general education kindergarten class this fall and was exited from all special education services at her annual IEP. She will enter first grade without an IEP thanks to the wonderful support my daughter has received here.
I have had positive experiences with Elizabeth in scheduling. She is so patient, kind and helpful. As long as you give her enough lead time she can usually accommodate your schedule change. It can take a few months because they are so impacted. The staff at the front window are always positive and friendly. The staff in the back is friendly and kind too! My daughter always seems to come home with a balloon on her birthday and other occasions which makes her so happy.
Responding to the other reviews I would agree that there are fee issues. A fee of $ 65 is due if you are a no-​show to a 30 minute speech session. I know it seems like a lot but many physicians have the same policy. If you call the same day because your child is ill you aren’t liable for the no-​show fee but you need to reschedule within a two week window. This has been tricky for us being there three days a week but they’ve worked with us and we were able to get the make-​ups in. Overall, I would highly recommend Speech Pathology Associates (SPA) because they have literally changed my daughter’s life for the better and given her the skills and strategies to successfully communicate with her family and peers.
Tips to parents attending speech sessions – record the sessions and take notes. We recorded EVERY session the first two years. My husband or mom would take her to speech and would record the session. My husband would send me the audio and I could listen to the session from the previous day while I got my classroom ready in the morning. This helped me to work with her on the things they were working on in speech. SPA also would send home practice pages so we could follow up at home. Follow up is key! Our insurance originally assigned us to Newport Speech and Language (now Providence Speech and Hearing) and they did NOT allow us to record sessions so we switched to SPA and I’m so glad we did.

I was referred here by a few people and made an appointment for an evaluation, we knew that we had to pay of pocket for services so we chose this place based on all the great recommendations. It took over 2 months to get an appointment in the books and had to pay a $ 100 deposit to make and keep the appointment. Almost 2 weeks before our appointment, our diagnosis changed for our daughter and insurance would now cover our services, at which point I decided to go with a speech place within our network so we wouldn’t have to pay. Once I called SPA to cancel the appointment and explain that our situation changed and we have more information now, they informed me that they would keep my $ 100 deposit. Legally, I had signed a paper saying that I knew it was non refundable. That is my part. But the office manager and the owner decided even though our situation had changed they would keep our $ 100. The office manager claimed it was to pay for the 2 hours of the pathologist’s time. Knowing full well that it took over 2 months to get this appointment, I know that they will get that date and time covered based off a wait list. So now they will be getting a new client to pay $ 100 for that appointment and still will be keeping my $ 100. Sounds like a business to make money not to help kids who need speech therapy. Sad that it happened this way, especially since I have a sweet friend who works there. It looks like the owner cares more about money that helping others. In that case, I am glad we will not be using their services. Additionally, we called another speech therapist in the area and got in the same week for an appointment. We are better off. But I want my $ 100 back!

UnfortunateIy the staff is wonderful but the owner is terrible! All she wants is to profit and doesn’t care about helping children. My daughter and son went here for speech and I LOVED it until I had to deal with the owner. She is heartless and only cares about herself. For 2 years I didn’t have to pay a co-​payment for our insurance. When my plan changed I called the insurance and they informed me I still didn’t have a co-​payment. For one full year no one at the front desk asked me for a payment not once. One day get a bill for $ 1000! Long story short my insurance said they were partly at fault so they paid $ 500, but the owner wouldn’t let up on how we owed them another $ 500. This took a year of battle with her. If I would have known I had to pay a copayment I wouldn’t have had this huge bill. If the office staff would do their job and say a years ago I had a co-​payment this wouldn’t be an issue I don’t expect free services, but come on this was my insurances fault AND SPA’s fault. All the owner kept saying was how they wanted my $ and how they would take me to court, no empathy at all. I have an autistic daughter and had to pay for many therapies, and this has never happened at another place. Finally just paid them to get them off my back.