What to Expect

Getting a referral from your pediatrician. If you have been referred by your pediatrician, you can ask them to send the script straight to the Carolina Milestones office. You can always give our front desk a call & they can assist you through this process!

Once the office has received the script from your pediatrician, the next step is to complete our intake paperwork - provided to you by the office. The evaluation CAN NOT be officially scheduled until the intake paperwork has been completed. Intake paperwork helps our therapist select appropriate assessments & tailor the initial evaluation to the needs of your child.

Once intake paperwork is complete, the evaluation time can be booked. Typically your weekly appointments will align with the day & time picked at the initial evaluation - the office will work with you to find the best time for you & your family!

This is when you will come to the office for the first time. This is an opportunity to get to know your therapist and the clinic. This session typically lasts for 45 - 60 minutes. The evaluation is about helping the therapist understand your child’s unique individual profile and strengths. This is done by the specifically tailored assessment(s), clinical observation, caregiver report, and interactions with your child.

After your evaluation, it typically takes one-two weeks for assessments and reports to be completed and finalized. Once the report is completed, the office will reach out in regards to scheduling your first appointment based on the therapist's recommendations. Each insurance company has their own procedures for processing evaluations and providing authorization. Unfortunately, this is part of the process that is out of our hands. We are not able to start our recommended sessions until we are provided with the authorization from the insurance company. The office will be in contact with you in regards to when we have received the authorization & we can start our sessions. 

Now it is finally time for the fun to begin! Once we are given the green light from the insurance companies, we are good to start. Sessions will be scheduled for the same day & time each week. We know things come up & sometimes you will be unable to make your sessions, we just kindly ask that you to let the office know of schedules changes, cancellations as soon as possible. We do have a 24 hour cancellation policy - please refer to the intake paperwork for more specifics.

Our sessions are focused on your child’s specific support and needs and those change day to day or even within the session. We always are adapting & adjusting to make sure we are supporting your child's individual profile and capacity for that day. Sometimes that means we are moving & grooving all over the clinic, bouncing between rooms - & that’s okay! Sometimes that looks like spending most of our session on a swing or crash pad and that is also okay! As neuro affirming focused therapists, it is our job to meet your child where they are, follow their lead and find a way to target goals in a meaningful capacity.

This is our documentation portal, where you are able to access your documentations and invoices. It is set up upon receiving your intake paperwork and you are emailed a link to create a login username and password. You can access the portal here.

Insurance 101 for therapy services. So, your insurance “covers” therapy—which means you won’t have to pay anything out-of-pocket for your therapy visits, right? Not quite. The fact that your insurance plan covers ST services—or any other services, for that matter—doesn’t necessarily mean you’re off the hook as far as payment goes. In many cases, you’ll still have to pay a deductible, a co-insurance, or a copayment. Talk about tricky. To better understand the terms of your plan, you first must understand the terminology.

Here are a few common questions regarding insurance lingo:

What is a deductible? This is the total amount you must pay out-of-pocket before your insurance starts to pay. For example, if your deductible is $1,000, then your insurance won’t pay anything until you have paid $1,000 for services subject to the deductible (keep in mind that the deductible may not apply to every service you pay for). Furthermore, even after you’ve met your deductible, you may still owe a copay or co-insurance for each visit.

What is a copay? This is a fixed amount that you must pay for a covered service, as defined by your health plan. Copays usually vary for different plans and types of services. Typically, you must pay this amount at the time of service. Again, copay amounts are fixed—which means you will always pay the same amount, regardless of visit length. In most cases, copayments go toward your deductible.

What is a coinsurance? This type of out-of-pocket payment is calculated as a percent of the total allowed amount for a particular service. In other words, it’s your share of the total cost. For example, let’s say:  Your insurance plan’s allowed amount for an office visit is $100.  You’ve already met your deductible.  You’re responsible for a 20% coinsurance. In this situation, you’d pay $20 at the point of service. The insurance company would then pay the rest of the allowed amount for that visit. Keep in mind that the coinsurance amount may vary from visit to visit depending on what services you receive.