Getting Parents on Board With Pediatric Therapy

The first thing you need to do is to determine why the parent or caregiver reached out to you for help. Maybe you’re going to get this information on the phone when they call in. If you don’t already have the information, you have to spend some time during the first visit talking to the parent or the caregiver or the primary person in this child’s life who brings them to the evaluation. It can be really hard to spend time on this task when you have an evaluation to complete. But it’s important that you understand why they are there. 

Real-Life Example of Getting a Parent on Board with Therapy

I’ll give you an example of a time when it was essential to know exactly what brought a mom to me. A mom brought a 15-month-old to me and she wanted him to walk. That was her primary goal. But this 15-month-old wasn’t sitting yet. Still, this mom wanted me to write a walking goal. Of course I can’t write a walking goal until they’re sitting. So I had to explain the journey to the mom. 

Once I evaluated the child and saw he wasn’t sitting, I said to the mom, “The first thing we need to do is get him sitting.” Then I explained to her why he wasn’t sitting: “He needs some core strength.” We talked about how we’re going to help the child reach that goal:

1. Once he’s sitting, we need to get him to transition in and out of a sitting position. 
2. We need to get him to pull himself up to a standing position. 
3. We need to get him to cruise on the furniture.
4. We need to get him to walk with a walking toy.
5. We need him to walk holding your hand. 
6. Finally, he can walk taking steps on his own. 

I had to explain the whole journey to this parent to get them on board with therapy.

Sample Script for Bringing Parents on Board

Develop a script like this one to orient your parents to the child’s treatment plan: 

“I just want to explain to you why we’re not writing a walking goal today. We’re going to write one but it’s going to be a little bit down the road, maybe six to eight months from now. That’s when we’ll be talking about the walking goal. But we need to get these other stepping stones in place first.” 

Understanding the Parent’s Goal for Therapy Is Vital

You have to understand what the parent wants to work on and why it’s going to make their life easier in some way. Then you have to explain how you’re going to get from where the child is now to where the parent wants them to be. It will take lots of communication. 

Some of our team—especially our young team members—don’t have great communication skills. It is up to us in management to train our teammates in communication. Many of our teammates are young and don’t have children so they don’t even understand what it’s like to have a 15-month-old who’s quite heavy, not walking and doesn’t want to be sitting in a stroller anymore. You have to explain and communicate a lot to your team so they learn what they need to ask parents about. 

You have to understand that the parent is looking for help. They wouldn’t have come to you if they weren’t looking for help. Actually, they come to us pretty late versus early. You’ve got to completely understand the help they want.

The Importance of Good, Consistent Communication During Therapy

Parents need to know their child is making progress. Every single visit, the parent needs to hear what the child is doing well and what the child isn’t doing well. Your team often takes the child from the parent to treatment and the parents don’t come back to the treatment room. So they don’t see the progress.

The child’s therapist needs to spend time with the parent in the waiting room, finding out how the week went. What went well? What does the parent need the therapist to focus on today? 

When you know the parent wants and needs and deliver it, that’s what gets the parent up every day to start their car, pay the gas money, get the kiddo ready, get the other siblings handled, and get to that therapy appointment where they’re going to have to pay a copay or a co-insurance or a deductible. You have to show value in what you do and that value is meeting their wants and needs for help.

Learn More About Communication with Parents and Your Team

Every practice owner needs to have great communication with every member of their team and all their parents! Get more great advice in our Lemonade Library. Get registered and look for Lemonades that provide dozens of skill-boosting tips! 

About Diane Crecelius

Diane Crecelius is a physical therapist and founder of a multi-million-dollar, multi-location practice with well over 3,000 visits per week and 200 staff! In the past several years, Diane has worked tirelessly to support Peds-A-Palooza® Community & Conferences and the success of Private Practice Owners. Diane has presented at nearly every Peds-A-Palooza live and virtual conference since the first sold-out conference in 2018. Her extensive knowledge derives from her decades in practice and from being trained and consulted by Survival Strategies, Inc. She uses this training to help Private Practice Owners learn how to thrive and expand while keeping their stress low.