Remi's Message- Updated 04/18/09

Our new address is:
201 Woolston Drive
Suite 2 C
Morrisville, PA 19067

Click for Directions

What's New:

SPEECH THERAPY- Now  Available

I am so pleased to announce that Building Bridges is now offering SPEECH THERAPY!  We have welcomed Maggie Forsyth-Deeds to our staff.  Maggie is a licensed Speech and Language Pathologist who joins us directly from Kean University where she has 15 years of experience.  Maggie is leaving her position as a master’s level teacher and gratefully coming to work with Building Bridges.  She is also a new resident to Bucks County and we at Building Bridges warmly welcome her. 
 
Maggie has already begun filling her book.  She is currently holding hours on Mondays and Wednesdays. However, within the last two weeks since her hire she is filled to capacity.  Therefore, she has just opened another day for us.  Currently we will schedule clients with Maggie on Fridays.  Her availability on Mondays and Wednesdays will open once again in July as she is currently booked completing new evaluations. 
 
The fee schedule is as follows…
 
1.    Weekly speech therapy (45 minute sessions) - $100
2.    Evaluation with summary report - $225
3.    Evaluation with comprehensive report - $300
 
To schedule with Maggie please call 215/740-4201.
 

Mobile Intakes now available

NEW information…
Our intakes have gone mobile!  If you would like to schedule an intake appointment for any social skills group, but can’t find babysitters, can’t juggle schedules or just have little flexibility, you now have the choice to have our staff come to you.  Please feel free to take us up on this new service.
 
Intake fee (in office) - $350
Intake fee (mobile) - $395 

Music Therapy and Gift Certificates

Don’t forget, music therapy has been added to our groups!
 
Don’t know what to tell the grandparents to get for your child’s birthday?  How about a Building Bridges gift certificate?  Gift certificates are now available and can be used towards intake fee or weekly co-pays.    

Refer a friend program

Refer a friend and receive 3 weeks of group without co-pays.  Offer valid once friend registers their child.  No limit to this offer!  The more people you refer the more weeks of free service your child will receive.

Well, well, well.  I just attended an information session on Act 62 and it’s a HUGE let down. This is what I got from this info session.  There will be absolutely NO change whatsoever for children who are not covered under private insurance.  Don’t worry.  Nothing negatively or positively affects your child.  He/she still get all the services they did before and you (the parent) continue paying out of pocket just as much as you already do.

For children WITH private insurance. Ready for this?  This is absolutely no change for you either.  It seems like Act 62 is simply a transfer of funds from MA to private insurance carriers and back to MA in an attempt to a leave some of the financial burden on MA.  For any providers that are not already MA providers, Act 62 will not cover services.

For all of you (including myself) that believed this Act would now assist you with your out-of-pocket expenses and begin covering services which are not covered, guess what…WRONG!  Once again, Act 62 seems to only cover services which are already MA providers.

OK, what does that mean for YOU and Building Bridges.  Well, just because we’re not going through insurance doesn’t mean you can’t get the benefit of doing so without the hassle, right?  Therefore, our ENTIRE program outline is changing beginning with our summer sessions.  I have found that approximately 75% of people continue re-registering their children in groups, thereby telling me something I already knew…6 weeks is not long enough.  So, how about 4 months?  Sound good?  4 months of consistent social skills.  4 months of consistently working with the same therapists.  4 months of consistently working on building relationships with the same group of peers. Sounds great to me and I’m hoping this sounds great to you as well.

Even better, this new 4 months program will cost you the same amount as the 6 week program (minus what would be your co-pay if we were going through insurance).  Intake appointments will be held where paperwork will be reviewed and signed.  This is also where group assignment will take place.  The fee for in-take appointments are $350.  Then, each week you will be responsible to only pay what your typical co-pay would be.  If you have no insurance, no problem!  As long as you can pay for the in-take fee, you weekly responsibility will only be what the average co-pay is. 

With these new changes, it provides the consistency and lowers the cost for parents. Furthermore, I believe it makes this program extremely affordable to most. 

We will be trying this out over the summer.  Our first session will be June, July and August.  We will then move into our 4 month schedule of Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec.  Our schedule will follow the seasons: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall schedules.

There will be no last minute intake appointments granted.  The deadline for summer inclusion is strictly:  May 15th.  I am already meeting with new children and signing them up.  We will be offering…

Board Games *  Lego’s * Sensory Games * Peer Chat  * Sibling Chat *

With sincere thanks for having trust in us… Here at Building Bridges… we thank you for sending your children our way!

 Sincerely,

Remi Freeman, LSW

Here’s a description of each group:

  1. The Board Game Group is pure fun.  We practice greeting, negotiating skills and review of rules.  We also work on turn-taking, staying focused to the task, cheering on friends, coping with loss, celebrating successes, but mostly it’s about talking about yourself and listening about others. It’s about making a connection and allowing staff to help promote that connection. It’s about teaching your children how to enjoy themselves with around others and how to find others enjoyable.

  2. The Lego’s Group is already a very well established group.  Each week brings a new project for the kids to create TOGETHER.  They must stay on topic and communicate the instructions with each other as their success is completely dependent upon how well they work with their partner.  This is a wonderful group for all ages. Kids practice these much needed social skills while actually having fun.

  3. Sensory Games is mostly for our less verbal children.  In this group our goal is not parallel play, but actual active play.  We use a variety of techniques to make this possible.  It’s likely your child will be blowing bubbles while other children try to catch them, or wiggling their ways through tunnels, perhaps their playing softball with each other or even musical chairs. No matter what the task, these children are having fun and participating in play.

  4. Peer Chat is for any person who is struggling with themselves and/or others.  In order to be apart of this group, the child must be highly verbal.  These are chat groups where the kids bring up the topics and obtain feedback and advice from other peers who have, or may currently be, experiencing very similar difficulties.  Your child does not necessary need a diagnosis of any kind.  This group is created for ANY child who simply can’t seem to make and/or maintain friends and who wants to.  This group is also run by 2 trained therapists.

  5. Sibling Chat is just that.  A chance for sibs to see and meet other sibs who are experiencing similar situations. This is their time to vent, be heard, be accepted, be the highlighted person of interest AND socialize with peers who understand.  Sign the sibs up for this group, it’s important!