Covid-19 policies

It is a challenging time to do speech therapy, but Emily has found a way to make it work as safely as possible! She is taking the following precautions to monitor and ensure the safety and well-being of all her clients, their families, her own family and herself. 

Due to difficulties in following these COVID-19 policies during mealtimes, in-person feeding therapy is currently not being offered. However, Emily is available for virtual therapy or phone/FaceTime/Skype consults to support you and your child with any feeding challenges you are having. 

Note that all therapy toys & activities, as well as all common areas of Miss Emily’s therapy office, will be thoroughly sanitized between clients.

Note: Miss Emily is scheduled to receive the first dose of her COVID vaccination in March 2021. She is so excited to be offer this additional safeguard to protect her clients and their families. 

Policies for In-Person Office Visits

• A COVID-19 screening form is to be completed at the beginning of every session by the caregiver. If there are any concerning answers, the session may be rescheduled.
• Regarding masks:
  • Clients: Children are not expected to wear a mask. Children over the age of 5 years will need to wear a mask when they enter the office building but can remove it upon entering the therapy office. If you would prefer your child to wear a mask during the session, please speak with Miss Emily about it.
  • Parents and adult caregivers: Please wear a mask any time you are in the office building, including the therapy office and waiting room.
  • Siblings: It is strongly discouraged for siblings to attend therapy or sit in the waiting room at this time. However, it is understood that this can be a complicating factor for scheduling, so please discuss with Miss Emily as needed. Any family members over the age of 5 years that are in the office building will need to wear a mask.
  • Therapist: Miss Emily will wear a mask during therapy. Whenever possible, a clear-front mask or an enclosed face shield will be used. In situations where this is not possible and her mouth must be covered by a mask, she will wear it in these circumstances:
    • Any time it will not negatively affect therapy. If Miss Emily feels it is necessary for a child to see her mouth, she will do her best to move 6’ away from the child, temporarily remove the mask, model the word/sound/movement, then move back to the child AND​
    • With any family who states they would like a mask worn throughout the entire session, regardless – Miss Emily will have an individualized conversation with every family about this prior to resuming therapy.
• Clients are asked to text from the parking lot when they arrive at the office prior to entering the building. Please wait until you receive a text back from me before you enter the office building. This ensures that multiple families are not in the hallway/waiting room at the same time, as well as allows time to properly sanitize all common areas of the office and any therapy activities.
• Please use the provided hand sanitizer upon arrival and departure, and throughout the session as needed.
• If Miss Emily needs to directly touch your child’s face, gloves will be used (e.g. for PROMPT therapy).
• A no-contact infrared thermometer will be used to take the temperature of all people entering the office. Temperatures will be recorded. If a client OR any person accompanying the client records a temperature higher than 100.4 (per CDC guidelines), they will be asked to return home and quarantine for 14 days. Please refrain from taking ibuprofen or Tylenol for 6 hours prior to the therapy time.
• It is strongly discouraged for siblings NOT to attend therapy or sit in the waiting room at this time. However, it is understood that this can be a complicating factor for scheduling, so please discuss with Miss Emily as needed. Any family members over the age of 5 years that are in the office building will need to wear a mask.
• 1 parent/caregiver is allowed to attend therapy per client. If additional caregivers wish to attend therapy, please discuss this with Miss Emily prior to the therapy session.
•  All caregivers are asked to actively maintain a social distance of at least 6’ from Miss Emily.
• If your child or anyone in your family is ill with ANY symptom, the child will not be seen for in-person therapy. This includes runny noses, allergies, headaches, fevers, cough, etc. Miss Emily reserves the right to refuse therapy if any illness is suspected and if you have arrived with knowledge of the illness, you will still be charged full-price for the session.
• If anyone in your family has been exposed to COVID-19, please do not bring your child for two weeks or until he/she has a negative result from a COVID test.
• It is preferred that session notes are emailed to families, rather than a physical copy sent home with the family, so as to limit take-home of germs. If you prefer a hard copy rather than an email, please discuss this with Miss Emily.
• Parent/Guardian will sign a consent form indicating they acknowledge the risk of returning to face-to-face therapy sessions and their preferences.

Policies for Home Visits + Out-of-Office Visits

• A COVID-19 screening form is to be completed at the beginning of every session by the caregiver. If there are any concerning answers, the session may be rescheduled.
• Whenever weather allows, therapy sessions will be conducted outside.
• Regarding masks:
  • Clients: Children are not expected to wear a mask. If you would prefer your child to wear a mask during the session, please speak with Miss Emily about it.
  • Parents and adult caregivers: 
    • During outdoor sessions, please wear a mask any time you are closer than 6’ to Miss Emily.
    • During indoor sessions, caregivers in the same room will need to wear a mask.
  • Siblings: Please limit the number of extra family members (e.g. siblings, extended family members) with whom Miss Emily will make contact to as few as possible. NO sibling contact is preferred. However, any family members over the age of 5 years that are in the same room as Miss Emily will need to wear a mask.
  • Therapist: Miss Emily will wear a mask at all times during indoor therapy sessions and when she has to be within 6’ of the child during outdoor sessions. Whenever possible, a clear-front mask or an enclosed face shield will be used. In situations where this is not possible and her mouth must be covered by a mask, she will wear it in these circumstances:
    • Any time it will not negatively affect therapy. If Miss Emily feels it is necessary for a child to see her mouth, she will do her best to move 6’ away from the child, temporarily remove the mask, model the word/sound/movement, then move back to the child AND
      
    • With any family who states they would like a mask worn throughout the entire session, regardless – Miss Emily will have an individualized conversation with every family about this prior to resuming therapy.
      
• Please limit the number of extra family members (e.g. siblings, extended family members) with whom Miss Emily will make contact with to as few as possible; only 1 caregiver is preferable.
  
• All caregivers are asked to actively maintain a social distance of at least 6’ from Miss Emily.
  
• For outdoor sessions, Miss Emily will text upon arrival (rather than knocking) to limit exposure.
  
• Please use the provided hand sanitizer upon arrival and departure, and throughout the session as needed.
  
• If Miss Emily needs to directly touch your child’s face, gloves will be used (e.g. for PROMPT therapy).
  
• A no-contact infrared thermometer will be used to take the temperature of all people involved in therapy. Temperatures will be recorded. If a client OR any person accompanying the client records a temperature higher than 100.4 (per CDC guidelines), they will be asked to return home and quarantine for 14 days. Please refrain from taking ibuprofen or Tylenol for 6 hours prior to the therapy time.
  
• If your child or anyone in your family is ill with ANY symptom, the child will not be seen in the office. This includes runny noses, allergies, headaches, fevers, cough, etc. Miss Emily reserves the right to refuse therapy if any illness is suspected and if the family had previous knowledge of the illness, you will still be charged full-price for the session.
  
• If anyone in your family has been exposed to COVID-19, please do not bring your child for two weeks or until he/she has a negative result from a COVID test.
  
• Parent/Guardian will sign a consent form indicating they acknowledge the risk of returning to face-to-face therapy sessions and their preferences.
  
• It is preferred that session notes are emailed, rather than a physical copy sent home with the family, so as to limit take-home of germs. If you prefer a hard copy rather than an email, please discuss this with Miss Emily.

Miss Emily's enclosed face mask allows children to see her face during therapy - so necessary for providing the necessary visual prompts and feedback to be successful!!