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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I'm curious what you mean by price gouging? How much are you paying? I also find it absurd that people have no problem paying a hair dresser with no college weekly $250, yet they will balk at the price of my professional SLP services to help their child communicate with them when I have a masters degree and many, many years of clinical experience and I charge half that rate! [/quote]

I think it stems from the weekly bills.  DS sees a therapist that is $100/week.  So that's $400/month.  He's 15 now and life is much easier.  But when he was young, I was paying an SLP, a therapist, and an OT each week.  It's not that one provider is too much.  It's that combined, with all the recommended services, it becomes cost and time prohibitive.  I'm not paying my hairdresser $250/week.[/quote]

I see families drop money on vacations, cars, clothes then balk at paying a professional for their services. I'm a professional and I get offended when a family who can afford it asks me to work for free because of the public interest/need of their child. What about my own kids' needs? I need to work to pay for those. These parents don't work for free, why do they expect me to? Who pays my bills? [/quote]

The thing is - the reluctance to pay stems from the fact that with a few exceptions, we don’t really know if what you are doing is going to be worth it. A lot of us just feel like we “should” do it, and we all have a line where it is no longer worth it but maybe that vacation (where our kid just gets to be a kid) is worth it. [/quote]

Oh gosh - I’m not pp but the other SN provider. Then please, just don’t do the therapy. Don’t ask me to drop my rate or provide it for free. I often say yes, because I believe you can’t afford the service and I feel morally obligated to do my best to serve your kid. But then I can’t take my kid on vacation. I have no desire to be a martyr. I want to be paid fairly and I ask for the rate I deserve. But when families tell me they can’t afford it I believe them.[/quote]

1000 times yes from the other SN provider. If you don't value my services, do us both a favor and just don't hire me. But please do not hire me then disregard my advice and complain that you are not happy, or that I didn't do enough for you. I'm not a miracle worker and don't always get my clients the results they want. But many times when I don't, it's because the parents didn't follow my advice. Whose fault is that? Also don't hire me if you're going to dispute the charge, complain about the bills etc. My rates are reasonable and lower than competitors, priced that way intentionally to be as low as I can given my expenses and need to make a living. I'm not in this field for the money, there are a lot of ways I could make much more elsewhere. I don't think people in this field are out to rip anyone off. [/quote]

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