Fees & Policies

Fee Schedule

Payment Policies

Invoices are sent by email at the beginning of each month for the previous month’s therapy. Payments are due immediately upon receipt. Cash, checks, and credit cards are accepted.

Monthly invoices will reflect charges for direct services as well as indirect services such as phone consultations, in-person consultations, outside meetings, progress reports/goal summary support, report writing, etc.  Please inquire about fees that may apply for you or your child. 

Bills that remain unpaid for 1 month from the statement date will be subject to an additional 5 percent charge on the unpaid balance. Services will be suspended if there are unpaid invoices past 2 months without any communication to us regarding your balance, and these invoices will be forwarded to an outside collection agency.

Our summer program, Making Connections, differs in payment as the entire tuition is due in full by the 2nd week of groups. Please note: There are no reimbursements for missed summer sessions. 

Communication Works (CW) is a private pay organization. It is not a participating provider with any insurance carriers and is unable to bill insurance plans directly. However, our monthly invoices provide both a billing (CPT) code and diagnosis code (if provided by the student’s physician). You can submit these invoices to your insurance provider for reimbursement; many plans will reimburse for group therapy by a licensed speech and language pathologist or occupational therapist. Please contact your insurance provider directly to determine whether you are eligible for reimbursement.

Benefits vary greatly from policy to policy so it is important to take the time to understand your benefit plan. Although CW is not a participating provider with any insurance carriers, we try to support you with the necessary information on your invoices. If additional documentation of services is required by your insurance company, we can do this for a nominal fee ($20 per hour). As much as we would like to provide this assistance free of charge, the administration cost is too high for us to sustain. Therefore, we have compiled information, useful resources, and some helpful insurance tips to assist you in obtaining reimbursement.

Therapy Policies

Group Placements
Clients are placed in groups with peers who are matched for cognitive, behavioral, and social needs. We spend a substantial amount of time trying to identify the best group placement through our enrollment process; however, sometimes it is not until we see the client in the group over several sessions that we can feel confident about the placement. We typically allow a 3-week trial period to ensure proper placement and to make changes if necessary. Additionally, we assess each group member’s placement throughout the year to make sure clients are in a group that is meeting their needs and not moving too fast or too slowly for their social/behavioral development. Therefore you or your child may change to a more appropriate placement based on the needs of the client and their therapist’s professional judgment.

Absences, Cancellations, and Discontinuations
Group work and progress depend on all members’ consistent attendance. However, we realize that unforeseen conflicts occur. We allow for 2 excused absences at no charge per school year session for those who enroll in September. Reasons for a missed session may include illness, vacation, special events, etc. We allow 1 excused absence for those joining the school year program in January or later in the year.  Additional missed sessions will be billed at the regular rate. On the rare occasion that everyone is absent from the group except for one client we will conduct an individual client session and focus on his or her specific needs. This session would be billed at the group rate.

If you need to cancel a scheduled appointment (individual or group), please notify the CW administrative office at least 24 hours in advance of the appointment by calling (510) 639-2929. Individual sessions cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged as though the session was held. Group clients will not be charged if they have not exceeded their excused absence(s) allotment (see above paragraph for details). Excessive absences and cancellations for either individual or group therapy may result in the termination of services as missing sessions impedes progress and generalization of learned skills and concepts.

If you wish to discontinue your group service arrangement, we ask that you provide 1 month’s written notice from the date of desired termination. This allows us time to wrap up with you or the client and provide a proper transition period for all participants in the group. Groups are dependent on all participants, and due to the time spent organizing the groups we appreciate a minimum of 1 month’s notice.

If you wish to discontinue your individual service arrangement, we ask that you provide a 2-week written notice from the date of desired termination. This allows us time to wrap up with you or the client.

Duration of Services

Group therapy sessions are typically 60 minutes in length.  We spend 45–50 minutes with clients and the last portion (usually 10–15 minutes) with parents/caregivers for consultation and training. Parent/caregiver wrap-up is essential and expected for teaching the family concepts, vocabulary, newly learned skills, and how to help generalize these skills.

Individual therapy sessions are 50 minutes in length, which includes parent/caregiver training and consultation time. Parent/caregiver involvement is essential for teaching new concepts, vocabulary, newly learned skills, and how to help generalize these skills.

Parent/Caregiver Involvement

Each client’s growth and progress depends on continued exposure and carryover in outside environments by the adults and professionals supporting them. It is crucial for these team members to learn new concepts, vocabulary, and strategies along with the child/client.  We make an effort to provide these opportunities on a weekly basis; however, we are also available for additional consultation and help with generalizing learned skills.

Late Attendance

A therapy session will not be extended for a client that is late. If you arrive late, you will be billed for the full session, as we have other students and groups scheduled throughout the morning, afternoon, and evening.

Additional Consultation Time

Family involvement is an integral part of our services and we strive to provide ongoing communication and consultation with all family members and professionals involved with our clients. Each therapy session consists of direct treatment time and a brief time at the beginning or end of the session for parent/caregiver consultation/wrap-up. We support and encourage parents/caregivers to set up additional consult time outside of the allotted weekly wrap up time as needed. Please contact your therapist for scheduling and fees involved.

We ask that you show consideration for the client(s) scheduled after you by keeping to the allotted wrap-up time for your session. In some cases, there may be a need for additional consultation time that can be scheduled by phone or email. Charges will apply to these consultation requests.

Group Goal Summary and Progress Reports

Group sessions include a report writing policy. After the 5th session, therapists write a brief description of the group, as well as 2-3 individualized goals specific to each client.  This will be provided to you on the 6th session. In June, therapists write a brief summary with progress toward individual goals, as well as further recommendations. These reports are a mandatory part of the overall program. We will bill an additional 15 minutes ($30) in the month it occurred for the goals summary and an additional 30 minutes ($60) in June for the progress report summaries at our report-writing fee of $120 per hour. This does not apply to the summer program as we do not write goals or progress reports.

Individual Service Goals

If an evaluation with goals was not completed upon starting services with CW, our goal policy is put into place. It is our policy that on the 5th week of services the session is reduced to 30 minutes although it is billed at the full therapy hour. The remaining 20 minutes of this session will be used for the therapist to compose individualized goals. These goals will be presented and reviewed with you on the 6th week of services.

Waiting Room

Parents of young clients (under 13 years of age) should stay at or very near the Center during the session. If you feel your child is agitated or becomes easily agitated, please remain in the waiting room area. We expect siblings to maintain an inside level voice while in the waiting area and to be supervised at all times. If they need to move around please feel free to take a walk or visit Play Cafe or Skyline Pizza upstairs; however, make sure we have your cell phone number in case we need to call you. Help to keep the waiting area clean and clutter free by returning all items used to where they belong (i.e. books, magazines, toys, etc.). Water is available, and we ask that you do not bring outside food or drinks to the office to avoid spills, stains, and garbage. If you need to take or make a lengthy call on your cell phone we ask that you step outside in consideration of others in the waiting room area.

Community Outings

Community outings are extremely valuable and give the therapists good insight into how well group members are generalizing learned concepts and skills outside of therapy sessions. Depending on the group, we try to set up community outings as much as scheduling will allow, with group members actively involved in the planning. We do not provide transportation to our destinations, but do give families detailed information and directions for where the group will be meeting. Please note that by enrolling in our services you are giving permission to partake in community outings unless you make an alternate arrangement with your therapist. Outings will be billed to your account like any other session and will be reflected on your monthly invoice.

Outside Professional Observations

CW occasionally allows professionals to observe group sessions. These observers may include, but are not limited to, speech-language pathologists, occupational therapists, volunteers, graduate students, and other professionals for training and support purposes. Confidentiality is a top priority.  Please inform us in writing if you have concerns. Unfortunately, we are not able to have parents observe groups, but we are happy to provide you with a list of names and numbers of current CW families who can talk to you about our services and answer any questions you may have.