Children are seen in a variety of settings, but most often as an outpatient or client. Typically, services in the home are provided for children 0 - 3 years old who qualify for Early Intervention (EI), or by a private therapist who does home visits.

It has become more difficult over the past 10 years to have speech and language therapy covered by insurance if it is developmental in nature. Usually, evaluations are covered. If speech and language therapy is deemed necessary by the school district, they will pick up the charge at school with an affiliated speech-language pathologist or at an affiliated clinic. Some private SLPs take insurance and some clinics may work on a sliding scale.

The following is a list of SLP resources

• American Speech-Language and Hearing Association: A list of speech-language pathologists and centers are available through ASHA.org
• Early Intervention (EI): a program for qualifying children from ages 0-3 years old. There is usually a local number or local agencies that are EI Providers. Each state has their own EI program, so it’s best to search the Internet by typing in “Early Intervention [state name]”.
• Individualized Early Intervention Plan (IEP): School District for children 3 years old and above. If they qualify, they will have an Individualized Early Intervention Plan (IEP). Families can contact their local school district for information about evaluation.
• Outpatient speech and hearing department: Also called a department of communication disorders, it is often found at local hospitals.
• Outpatient speech-language pathology clinic within a graduate program (also called communication disorders or communication sciences), found at a local university
• International Association of Orofacial Myology: the IAOM.com.

How to make a referral list of speech-language pathologists

Using the list above, call those places and organizations to comprise a referral list for your area. Be sure to ask about insurance coverage when you make contacts as it is getting increasingly more difficult to collect reimbursement from insurance companies for communication disorders which are developmental in nature.

Send a letter requesting the following information:

• Name, contact person, phone, email, fax
• An idea of what population they serve
• Do they take insurance?
• Do they serve children through Early Intervention (EI) or children with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP)

Examples of what to include in your referral list

Fields	Types of information to include
Name
Setting	Private practice Outpatient speech, language and swallowing Outpatient clinic Graduate clinic EI agency Therapeutic nursery
Phone
Address
Specialty Area	Pediatrics – speech and language Swallowing, language, speech Speech and language Most areas EI (birth-3) Evaluates children 3-5 for school services
Insurance	None Most insurance El and IEP clinic Will work on sliding scale EI evals & therapy Services through school
Notes	Has experience with cleft palate Usually has waiting list Mostly children with severe disabilities Semester schedule; patient works with graduate student & supervisor