There’s no one answer to this question. Sometimes you will notice that your son or daughter seems to have trouble making certain speech sounds, like “s” or “t.” Sometimes your doctor may express concern that your child’s language doesn’t seem as developed as it should be. A teacher may mention something to you. Or you may be concerned that your younger child doesn’t seem to have the same skills that an older sibling had at the same age. Any of these, as well as many others, is a good reason to schedule an evaluation, where we can look at your child’s skills and see if we think speech-language therapy is a good idea, or whether your child’s development is normal for their age.

We always accept new patients. Call us at 425-392-4965 and leave a voicemail message for Amy Svensson, the owner, who handles all our intake of new patients. She will return your call within 24-48 business hours of your message. At that time, she will ask you:

• Your name
• Your child’s name and age
• Why you are seeking a speech-language evaluation or therapy

At that point, you will be placed on a list to wait for the first available appointment with one of our therapists.

We do our very best to schedule patients as soon as we can. How long you will wait for an appointment depends in part on the flexibility of your schedule as well as the schedules of our therapists. The more flexible your schedule is when you can come in for an appointment, the less your wait is likely to be. The longest wait will be for afterschool and evening appointments.

We are currently contracted providers with the following insurance companies: First Choice, Premera and Regence. We are not contracted with Aetna, United Health Care, Cigna/Great West or any public/state-funded health plans (e.g., Molina, Medicaid, Apple Health). We also accept private pay and offer a 10% discount when payment is received on the date of service. As a courtesy, we will contact your insurance (if we are contracted) to verify coverage of benefits for our specialized field of practice. However, we also encourage responsible parties to talk with your insurance company, to see what kinds, if any, of speech and language therapy are covered.

Some questions to ask of your insurance company include:

• Do you cover neuro-developmental speech-language diagnostics and therapy (habilitative) as well as rehabilitative?
• Is there an age limit at which speech therapy coverage ceases?
• Is there a maximum number of visits allowed on the plan and if so, does this include other therapies such as occupational and/or physical therapy?
• Is there a co-pay required, or do I have a deductible that needs to be met?
• Do I have a limit on the number of sessions in a year, and when does that year begin?
• Do I need a referral from a physician for my child to see a speech-language therapist?

If your child has had a speech-language evaluation within the last year, then we are happy to use that evaluation as the starting point for speech or language therapy. If your child has never been seen by a speech-language therapist before, however, or if she or he was last seen by a speech-language therapist over a year ago, then in order for us to get an accurate picture of your child’s strengths and needs, we need to complete an evaluation before starting therapy.