The Benefits of Co-Treatment with Occupational Therapists and Speech-Language Pathologists
What is Co-Treatment?
If you or your child receive multiple therapies, you may have encountered the term “co-treating”. Co-treatment involves receiving treatment for multiple disciplines during a single session. This collaboration of therapy specialists can be of great benefit for clients. The decision to implement co-treatment into your child’s therapy session is a choice typically suggested by the current therapists with an agreement from the caregivers. Take a look at some of the benefits we see during our co-treatments with occupational therapy and speech therapy.
- Speech-Language Pathologists (SLPs) and Occupational Therapists (OTs) simultaneously deliver therapy utilizing and combining their own areas of expertise.
- Both professionals coordinate and implement intervention goals, consistently updating plans as your child progresses. This collaboration of disciplines takes part with every child that we serve, not just those who are co-treated. Therapists consistently discuss and advise each other to deliver the best services possible.
- SLPs and OTs have overlapping areas of knowledge that can help advance progress for the child.
- The combination of sensory or movement activities of occupational therapy and the speech and language input of speech therapy can engage and excite your child.
- If your schedule has time constraints, co-treatment can reduce the time spent at therapy visits. Please note that co-treatment should not be chosen solely to reduce time of visits to the office. Co-treatment needs to be ideal for your child and help him/her to prosper with therapy goals.
- Your child will have opportunities to carryover skills and goals to different environments, contexts and communication partners.
The goal of co-treatment is to deliver a full treatment session working towards your child’s goals with as much, if not more, benefit as a one-on-one session. When co-treating you get the combined knowledge and collaboration of two specialized therapists. As mentioned before, the decision to implement co-treatment is specific to your child’s needs and personality. Co-treatment does not meet every child’s needs, but it is always an option to discuss with therapists. If you are interested or want to learn more about co-treatment initiate the conversation with your child’s therapists and they will be happy to thoroughly discuss the options.
By Kelly Dugan