Frequently Asked Questions

PedsTeam provides occupational, physical, and speech therapy to children from birth to 21 years of age.

Our office is open Monday through Thursday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Fridays from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

We are located on the corner of Malone and Goodman Road at 3964 Goodman Road E, Suite 105 in Southaven, MS.

We currently do not provide ABA therapy services.

The first step in starting therapy services with PedsTeam is to get a referral from your child’s pediatrician. You can contact your child’s pediatrician’s office and request that a referral be faxed to our office at 662-932-4626. Once we receive the referral, we will verify insurance eligibility. Then, we will call you to review your insurance benefits, estimated cost, and schedule an evaluation. Evaluations are scheduled for forty-five minutes to an hour. Following the evaluation, the evaluator will discuss the findings and make recommendations. A comprehensive evaluation report will be provided. If therapy is recommended, our administration team will schedule your child for therapy appointments.

In the state of Mississippi, a referral is required when using your insurance benefits.

Our waitlist for each therapy type can be found HERE.

Once we receive a referral, we will verify insurance eligibility including an estimate for the evaluation and subsequent treatments. After verification, our administration team will call to review your insurance benefits and schedule an evaluation.

We are in-network with Aetna (ST only), BCBS, Cigna, Tricare, United Healthcare, UMR, and all branches of MS Medicaid (Molina, TrueCare MSCAN/CHIP, and Magnolia). We are not in-network with TN Medicaid plans; however, we do accept Katie Beckett funds.

PedsTeam is in-network with all branches of MS Medicaid, including managed care plans (Molina, Magnolia, and TrueCare).

Unfortunately, we are not in-network with TN Medicaid.

Our self-pay rate is $170 for Speech, Occupational, and Physical therapy evaluations, and $180 for Myofunctional and Feeding evaluations. Treatment sessions range from $60 to $90 based on duration.

We require all payments to be made at the time of service. Many of our patients opt to have a card on file to allow for easy payment during recurring appointments.

Mississippi Medicaid covers therapy after obtaining prior authorization. Our administration staff will submit all required documentation to ensure coverage of your child’s therapy. Many commercial insurance plans cover a portion of therapy services; however, this varies greatly per plan. Our team will verify your specific insurance plan and obtain an estimated cost of treatment before scheduling your first appointment.

The first step in scheduling an evaluation is to get a referral from your child’s pediatrician. You can contact your child’s pediatrician’s office and request that a referral be faxed to our office at 662-932-4626. Once we receive the referral, we will verify insurance eligibility. Then, we will call you to review your insurance benefits, estimated cost, and schedule an evaluation. Evaluations are scheduled for forty-five minutes to an hour.

You can expect an evaluation to take between 45 minutes to one hour.

Please bring a copy of your driver’s license and insurance card. If your child has an IEP or has any paperwork documenting a medical or developmental diagnosis, we request that you also bring this paperwork to the initial evaluation.

Our administrative staff will email and/or text a copy of the intake paperwork prior to the evaluation. If you are unable to complete the paperwork electronically, we have paper copies available at the front desk on the evaluation date. We recommend that you arrive 10 minutes early to allow for completion without interfering with the evaluation time.

We request that a caregiver be present for each evaluation. This allows us to hear your concerns, complete a parent interview, and discuss results in real-time.

An evaluation typically lasts between 45 minutes to an hour. It is comprised of a combination of parent questionnaire, standardized assessments, and clinical observations. For younger children who are shyer and more uncomfortable, we will lean heavily on the parent questionnaires to obtain a good understanding of your child’s abilities at home. During the assessment, the evaluator will provide you with information on expectations, the child’s abilities, potential therapy targets, how we will target deficits in therapy and home extension activities. We are intentional to include families in the evaluation process to ensure that the families’ concerns are recognized and the family is comfortable with the next steps.

We understand that childcare can be a barrier to receiving care; therefore, siblings are allowed to attend evaluations. However, when possible, we encourage families to not bring siblings to the evaluation to decrease distractions.

In many cases, we will review the evaluation results during the evaluation appointment and make a plan for therapy. If time does not permit, the evaluating therapist will call to review the results and schedule therapy if indicated.

You will receive a printed copy of your child’s evaluation report at your child’s first therapy session. If your child does not qualify for therapy, our office will send a hard or electronic copy for your review.

Treatment will start the following week for most commercial insurance and self-pay cases. For Mississippi Medicaid or commercial insurance plans requiring prior authorization, treatment is deferred until authorization is obtained, which typically takes 2-4 weeks.

In most cases, scheduling is block booked with recurring weekly spots. This allows consistency for the family and the treating therapist. However, we know that some families have scheduling difficulties that render this difficult. These families will often choose to call and schedule week-to-week rather than set up consistent appointments.

We recommend that all our patients receive therapy weekly to allow for adequate progress on treatment objectives. However, we know that this is not conducive for all families. In these cases, we recommend that the family call week-to-week to schedule appointments, as we do not schedule appointments on a recurring basis every other week.

Speech therapy appointments last 30 minutes, while occupational and physical therapy appointments vary between 30 minutes and 60 minutes.

Upon arrival at PedsTeam, the caregiver will sign the child in at the front desk. The therapist will promptly begin therapy at the scheduled treatment time.

Yes! Please call our office at 662-932-4625 to determine if a new evaluation is needed or if we can complete transfer of care documents for immediate transfer of services.

All services are provided in the clinic. We do not travel to homes, daycares, or schools.

Of course! In some cases, the child will participate more fully in therapy without their parent present. Each child is different, and we always encourage families to do whatever is most comfortable for the child and the family!

Yes, you may leave the premises while your child is in therapy. However, it is imperative that you return before your child’s therapy is over, as our schedules are full and we treat patients back-to-back.

We know how important consistency is for your child; therefore, we schedule therapy with the same therapist each week. If a therapist is going to be out during your child’s scheduled treatment session, we will reschedule to another treating therapist when available to allow your child to receive their weekly service.

Each therapy session, the treating therapist will debrief the family on the session, progress, and provide the family will activities to work on at home. This can vary with techniques to use during play to specific worksheets. We love when our families are involved and supportive of the effort made during therapy and work to carry it over at home!

Our office has a fully stocked feeding lab, where we provide all the materials, including food, needed for therapy. There are times when the treating therapist may request that you bring a preferred cup, food, etc. to the therapy service. However, this will be communicated in advance.

We do our best to align therapy services to ease the scheduling burden for each family. However, this is not always possible due to scheduling constraints. However, we always work to align therapies as openings exist as requested by families.

Our occupational therapists work on sensory-based feeding during therapy sessions. We have therapists trained in the SOS method. The Sequential Oral Sensory (SOS) feeding approach integrates motor, oral, behavioral/learning, medical, sensory and nutritional factors and approaches in order to comprehensively evaluate and manage children with feeding/growth concerns. Using this approach allows each child to progress in their restrictive eating in a safe and motivating way!

We have a trained myofunctional therapist (speech-language pathologist) on staff.

We do not co-treat. Our services are provided one-on-one with your child’s treating therapist.

Our facility is equipped with a sensory gym, functional play gym, low stimulation room, feeding lab, and private treatment offices to allow the most

Please call our office at 662-932-4625 to cancel or reschedule your child’s appointment.

We require an attendance rate of 70% for all patients. Attendance is imperative for your child to make adequate progress!

We understand that childcare can be a barrier to receiving care; therefore, siblings are allowed to attend. However, when possible, we encourage families with siblings that may be distracting to wait in the lobby to allow the patient to focus on the therapy activities.

We have a dedicated waiting room with a children’s room for families to wait before or during sessions. Our children’s waiting room is equipped with child-sized chairs, a television, and sensory boards to entertain your child as they wait.

Absolutely! We ask that you return to the lobby to meet your child and their treating therapist a few minutes before the session is over. This allows the therapist to have time to debrief you on the session and your child’s progress.

Yes! Many children receive therapy at school and come to PedsTeam for additional support. We love collaborating with the school district to ensure the best care for your child.

Yes! Not only do some insurance companies require a copy to be on file, but we also want to have the IEP on file to ensure that we are best supporting the child’s educational needs and school therapy targets.

Yes! We love collaborating with school therapists. If you’d like us to reach out to your child’s school therapist, please see our receptionist to sign a records release form. We primarily communicate with school staff through email; however, we also schedule phone calls as needed.

Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) are provided solely through the school district.

Formally, we provide progress reports/updated plans of care every six months. We perform formal evaluations on each patient yearly. The therapist also will provide home extension activities consistently throughout the course of treatment.

Yes! Our therapists are well-trained and eager to assist your family in obtaining the necessary equipment to help your child thrive. We have partnerships with a variety of equipment representative to ensure the best for your child!

Yes! Our office needs a copy of the evaluation report to corroborate diagnoses for insurance billing.

Our clinic follows the decision of Desoto County Schools. In instances where we choose to open when the school district is closed, we will contact families via text. Clinic closures will also be announced on our Facebook page.

At PedsTeam, we love the services that the Arc of NWMS provides. The Arc is a non-profit serving the disability communities of Northwest Mississippi by offering programs, education, and connection to achieve the best life possible. You can find more information about the Arc and the services they provide at their website: https://www.thearcnwms.org/

We do provide short-term services when scheduling allows. The evaluation process is the same regardless of the projected length of service.