FAQs

Shining Star Therapy office hours run Monday through Thursday from 9 am. – 5:30 p.m.

Each case is different, but in most situations a referral is made by a child’s primary care, teachers and/or daycare professionals, or another source within the medical healthcare field.

When this occurs, a comprehensive assessment will be scheduled to help determine what type of treatment is recommended, if any is suggested at all. During this assessment, we’ll sit down and observe your child’s behavioral and developmental patterns by utilizing a combination of play-based assessments, standardized evaluation methods, and more.

From there, should our team determine that your child needs some assistance, we’ll sit down with you or the caregiver to map out a plan of action and treatment options. We’ll also work with you to pinpoint some ideal goals you’d like to see from the process and discuss any concerns you may have.

In order to best create a plan of action to treat and help your child, an evaluation is necessary. However, if a recent evaluation has been performed by another licensed professional within a few previous months, we may use the results to help us craft a plan of care.

If no recent evaluation has been done, our in-house therapists will complete a comprehensive assessment during the initial visit to best assist in determining the right course of direction for your child’s needs.

Scheduling an appointment is as easy as giving us a call or sending us a quick email regarding your concerns and needs for your child. From there we can discuss what’s going on and help determine whether coming in for an evaluation and getting your child enrolled in therapy might be beneficial. With a short conversation, we can help figure out if our services are the right choice for you and your child’s needs.

Reach us by phone Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. at (706) 491-5409.
Do you work during our normal hours and feel that communicating via email works better?

No worries. Send us a quick message at: shiningstartherapyservices@gmail.com with a little information regarding your child so we can help you get started.

Similar to any doctor’s appointment, bringing a copy of your insurance card can be very helpful. If your child has an IEP or IFSP, bring copies of those as well. We’ll need it to properly file claims with your child’s insurance.

Additionally, to save some time and come prepared it can be helpful to print out any intake paperwork that we send you. You can fill it out before the appointment to help us get the information input into our system faster so that we can get your child back as quickly as possible.

If there are any previous assessments or medical records you feel that we should be aware of, be sure to bring copies of those with you as well. This will help our team of experts better serve you and your child.

In some situations, such as feeding evaluations, we’ll ask that you bring a few additional items. For example, during feeding evaluations, you’ll need to bring an assortment of foods that your child typically likes to eat along with foods they don’t like to eat.

All sessions are designed to meet the needs of your child. Depending on the treatment plan we have for your child, most sessions will last between 30 minutes to an hour. This time frame typically goes for sessions that include speech therapy and occupational therapy.

If your child needs ABA therapy, sessions will routinely last between 2-4 hours. Extending or reducing the length of treatment sessions may be suggested by our in-house therapists following sessions and will be dependent on progression and how the needs of your child change over time.

Following the initial evaluation, our staff will work with you to create a treatment plan that best suits the needs of your child as well as a plan that best fits with your schedule. We’ll do everything we can to plan appointments comfortably and conveniently around your schedule to maximize progress throughout ongoing treatments.

While it is typically our suggestion to schedule appointments that allow your child to meet with the same therapist each session, in some cases, we may suggest your child meet with different therapists for a variety of services. Most of the time, we’ll try to ensure your child is meeting with the same therapist for every appointment to help build rapport and increase progression.

In all situations, we understand that sometimes things come up and routines may need to be adjusted, and during these times our clinical and administrative team will work with you to schedule appointments around your needs.

We work with a variety of clients, and the vast majority of them genuinely love our time together. Our goal isn’t simply to provide you and your children with great service, but we always strive to create a comfortable, safe, and nurturing environment with each session.

During the first few sessions, it may take a bit of time for your child to acclimate to the environment and get used to our team’s friendly faces and we completely understand that. It takes time to warm up to new people. As we work together, some children may experience separation anxiety, and when this occurs we’ll aim to gradually separate as needed. We’ll never force kids to immediately separate from their parents, as this may cause undue stress. Instead, we’ll work at a pace that’s comfortable for both the parents and children so that each session truly feels like the safe and welcoming environment we want to create. As time goes on and we work through any initial challenges, we’ve found that many of our clients grow to enjoy our sessions so much that they don’t want to leave.

Treatment plans for every individual are different, which is why it can be difficult to pinpoint an exact number of appointments that will best help your child. We can never guarantee that your child will need a certain amount of time working with us from the initial appointment or any appointment, but we will always keep you informed and up to date on reaching goals, progress, and any concerns or adjustments to the treatment plan that we think will best benefit your child.

At Shining Star Therapy, we cater to all ages and needs. Many of the children we work with are below the age of three and make great strides of progress through play-based sessions. We find that by providing a nurturing environment that recognizes and rewards fun, many children can lead the session and comfortably allow us to help nudge them towards and through challenges on the developmental ladder. This creates a safe space for them to learn and grasp obstacles at their own pace with a helping hand when needed. We’ve found that when we align and present treatment sessions in an at ease way, many children feel an instilled sense of confidence in their choices as they grow and learn.

Our services are designed to meet the needs of each individual, allowing us to treat a variety of ages. From toddlers to teenagers to young adults, we craft each treatment plan to meet the needs of your child. The majority of our clients are between the stages of pre-school to early education, giving us the ability to work with them in ways that healthily adapt their mindset and behavioral patterns.

We are in-network with most major insurance plans, making it easy for our office to bill your insurance company and adjust it accordingly. If we are out of network with your insurance provider, we recommend checking with them to see if they provide any out-of-network benefits for your specific plan. If they do, they may still cover a portion of your bill.

For clients that don’t have insurance coverage, we offer private pay rates to meet the needs of each individual.

Every insurance plan is different, and we’ll do our best to verify coverage and benefits provided by your plan prior to your initial appointment. At Shining Star Therapy, we want to be completely transparent with all of our services, and we want to best help you understand what benefits your insurance provider will offer.

When you provide us with information regarding your insurance plan prior to your first appointment, we contact the company directly so that we can provide you with a more accurate estimate on things like deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance, and more.

Some insurance plans may require a referral or an authorization from your child’s primary care physician before agreeing to handle a claim, and some may limit the number of visits they’ll pay for. With this in mind, our aim is to verify your plan’s unique coverage to help prevent unexpected surprises regarding the final bill.

Please be aware and keep in mind, that even when we make contact with your provider to verify coverage, it is not guaranteed that your insurance will cover services billed from our office. At Shining Star Therapy, when we file a claim with your insurance, it is up to the company’s discretion to review your plan at that time and determine whether or not they will cover all or a portion of the charges.

With each claim that we file, all Shining Star Therapy services will be included. It is our promise that we submit all-inclusive claims with any and all in-office procedures and applicable diagnosis codes to ensure your insurance review and assist in matching your plan benefits to each charge.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your charges or claims that we file, or would like to better understand the processes we have in place when verifying and communicating with your insurance provider, please reach out to our administrative staff to discuss them. While we offer these services as a courtesy and to best assist you, estimates and contact with your insurance provider to not release you from the responsibility of handling an unpaid account balance.

At Shining Star Therapy, we strive to offer opportune payment options for everyone. We accept payment via most major credit cards, including American Express, Mastercard, Visa, and Discover.

We also accept cash and checks along with HSA/FSA cards.

When scheduling multiple appointments, we can and will be happy to put a card on file for you if you’d prefer.
Payment for each appointment is due at the time of service.

Some insurance companies require that children enrolled in therapy receive a hearing screening within the first few months of treatment. If this is the case with your provided insurance, we’ll notify you so that you can get the appointment scheduled. When making a hearing screening appointment, you can typically speak with your child’s primary care physician (PCP) to get one scheduled. Your child’s PCP may refer you to an ENT to schedule the screening.

If your child doesn’t currently have anyone selected for primary care, you can also contact your local health department for assistance.