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Posted by kslp on 9/28/2009, 4:39 pm, in reply to "School vs Clinic"
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I have worked in both settings at different points in my career and sometimes both settings at the same time. Currently I work in the schools, but I have worked in the peds department of a hospital at a clinic (private practice-but not my own private practice). To answer your questions 1)the caseload was a little bit smaller than in the schoos-some small groups, but mostly individual sessions and you see the children for a longer period of time (30 min. up to 60 min.) There seems to be more parent involvement because they are actually dropping their children off and will either stay in the session or meet with you after the session to go over what you worked on. The hours were longer, 8-5 or 6 depending on how many after school kids are on your caseload. You said you like the older kids-so in order to have a caseload of older kids, you would need to see them after school. The benefits are not as good as in the schoos and you earn vacation as you work. So, if you don't work a lot, you will not earn vacation at a fast rate. In my experience, the pay has also been much less than what I make in the schools. Even at the hospital, I made much less than I did in the schools. Keep in mind, you will be working all summer, so it will look like you have a bigger salary, but when you divide the hours worked, it will end up being a much less hourly rate. Also, at some of the places I worked, if the child cancelled or didn't show, I didn't get paid because I had nothing to bill. 2) the caselod in the clinic/hospital is mostly preschool age or younger because school age kids are getting services in school and many insurance policies won't pay for services at that point. If you do have school age kids on your caseload, they come after school and there are very few after school slots usually from 3:00-6:00. I wouldn't necessarily say the caseload was more severe, just different--you are helping 18 month old children learn their first words, etc. It is a fun age and it is fun to see them learn to communicate their wants and needs. I also had a large autism caseload in the hospital/clinic. I guess that kind of answers question 3) in a way. 4)I would say that you could always work in the schools during the school year and supplement your income after school or in the summer at the hospital/clinic and try it out for awhile. If you need a set income, I'd probably stick with the schools, because you will be paid no matter what--like a mentioned before, my paycheck was never consistent when I worked at the clinic because I didn't get paid when I wasn't seeing kids.
I hope that helps!
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