Frequently Asked Questions
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
1. What is the age of children for whom you provide Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy?
We treat children from birth to age 21 with a wide variety of therapy needs and diagnoses.
2. What is the difference between your clinic and children’s gym classes?
Our services are medical and they are provided only by licensed professionals who have extensive training in their pediatric therapy specialty.
3. Do I need a referral from a doctor?
In the state of California, physical, occupational and speech therapy will only be provided and paid for by private insurance under the referral from either the child’s pediatrician or other pediatric specialist (e.g. pediatric orthopedist, developmental pediatrician, or pediatric neurologist).
4. When are you open?
We are open from 7 am to 6 pm Monday through Thursday. Not all services are available at 7 am. We are also open on Friday from 8 am to 12 noon.
5. How long is each therapy session?
Our therapy sessions are one clinical hour.
6. How long will my child need therapy?
A child’s evaluation at Can Do Kids will enable the therapist to make recommendations as to the frequency (how many visits per week) and their best clinical judgment as to how long one might expect the child to be needing therapy services. As children’s brains are growing, we cannot predict the speed for which any child will be able to improve their areas of weakness that generated the referral for PT, OT or Speech Therapy.
7. What can I expect to happen on the day of the initial evaluation?
You and your child will be arriving at Can Do Kids together. Parents are welcome at all times to be present throughout the child’s evaluation. Therapists gather information both through standardized assessments as well as through clinical observations which enables the therapists to understand your child’s strengths and weaknesses. Initial evaluations take place when other patients are not present. As such, we recognize that many children will present quite differently in the quiet environment of the assessment process and may look very different when they come for their following sessions when peers are present. Therefore, we always see the child over several sessions before we write the Initial Evaluation report to ensure that we are presenting the most accurate clinical picture of the child. This also allows the therapist to determine the most clinically sound recommendations for therapy.
8. How long is the evaluation?
Our evaluations are generally one and a half hours in length. For infants, it is often be closer to one hour.
9. Do the therapists at Can Do Kids ever visit my child at daycare, pre-school or at their elementary school?
Can Do Kids is committed to collaboration with adults who are present in the child’s life including teachers and daycare providers. Depending on the nature of the referral or physician/parent concerns, we generally first conduct a phone call with the child’s caregivers or teachers to gain a more complete understanding of the child in that environment. For some children, we may recommend that the therapist provide a daycare/ school observation to enable optimal collaboration to incorporate the therapeutic strategies into those other environments. Most children spend a large portion of their waking hours outside their home and developing therapeutic partnerships and collaborations with their caregivers or teachers optimizes the therapeutic intervention for many children. These phone calls or direct on-site observations occur only with written consent of the child’s parent(s).
10. What happens if the therapist were to recommend another service within Can Do Kids? (e.g. Child referred for Speech Therapy but the speech language pathologist is recommending an Occupational Therapy evaluation)
The current therapist would generally ask the parent’s permission for the other professional to observe a session. There is no charge for this observation but it often clarifies whether an evaluation would be indicated. Following the observation we would share the recommendations with the parents. Can Do Kids would then contact the referring physician to inform them of our professional concern, rationale and recommendation for this additional therapy assessment and possible intervention.
11. What happens if the therapist were to recommend another service outside of Can Do Kids? (e.g. Developmental optometrist/ behaviorist/ nutrition consultation or another medical assessment)?
Can Do Kids would first contact the referring physician to inform them of our professional concern. We would then share this concern with the parent and share that the MD was in agreement and to whom they should seek this assessment or intervention. As Dr. Lori Annes and Can Do Kids has been in Los Angeles since 1980, we have longstanding relationships with many adjunct physicians and professionals. We would always share our specific rationale and recommendations with the referring physician to ensure best collaboration of care between the family, their child’s medical providers and the staff of Can Do Kids.