This is just a quick note to all of our clients to stress the need for therapy to be regular.
NDIS has confused things for many people. A lot of our clients are using the amount of NDIS funding they receive to dictate how many therapy sessions they come along for.
From 1979 (when this speech therapy practice opened) until 2013 (when NDIS started up in SA), most clients were 100% responsible for therapy fees. Now NDIS is helping out enormously with fees for many of our clients but, unfortunately, the whole therapy process is not going as well as it did before NDIS. We have found many of our clients are not making as much progress in therapy since the introduction of NDIS because they are having huge breaks from therapy – sometimes for months.
These breaks from therapy mean that a lot of the previous learning is lost and work has to be gone over again and again to try and make up for the breaks. As a result, we see less progress and therapy needs to go on for much longer. For example, a break of three months might mean an extra year of therapy.
We realise that some breaks are unavoidable due to illness, overseas travel and so forth. But, we really stress that if you are in Adelaide and can get to the clinic, please avoid breaks from therapy whenever you can.
Ideally, therapy needs to be at least once a week – aiming for around 48 sessions a year. Some of our NDIS clients are attending less than 30 sessions.
You will need to pay for the sessions not covered by NDIS – but this amount is very, very small compared to pre-NDIS days. In the long run, you will get much more out of therapy and it will be much more economical for everyone if therapy is regular.
Christmas is around the corner. The clinic usually closes for 4-5 weeks. Please keep your Christmas break from therapy as short as possible.
Finally, please try and make up any therapy sessions that you need to miss.
We have a great clinic with wonderful therapists and fantastic resources but we can only do our job if our clients come along regularly.
Thanks,
The Team at Virginia Hill Speech Pathology
