A Day in the Life of a Sidekick Speech Therapist

What is it like to be a per session speech therapist working for a contract company like Sidekick? One of our speech therapists, Erika Baldwin, shares her day-in-the-life for Better Hearing and Speech Month!

"The best part of my workday is being at my sweet school with my students! I love my school: they really make me feel like I'm a part of the team. Sidekick has contract with rural school districts all over East Tennessee, and I chose to live in Knoxville, so I have about an hour drive to work. Luckily, I was able to have access to a company car to make my commute more manageable!

Once I get to school, I mostly see students for individual, twenty-minute sessions. These students have TennCare insurance that we bill for services. It's almost like working as an outpatient therapist in the school setting! I'm the only speech therapist at my school, which means I'm also responsible for seeing students that do not have TennCare. These students are seen in groups for therapy and services are billed through the school. As the school speech therapist, I'm also responsible for IEPs and other school paperwork, but I'm not the case manager for my school since I don't work for the district! Therefore, I do not attend any IEP meetings.

It's important to note that the experience as a therapist for a company like ours is highly variable! Some SLPs work at a school with several other Sidekick therapists and a school speech therapist and aren't in charge of that school paperwork; other SLPs are full-time in one of our outpatient clinics or split their time in-between schools and clinics. It really varies! If you have any questions about my experience, please feel free to reach out!"