Hiring a Therapy Team - A family needs to recruit 2-5 line therapists who will implement the 20-45 hours of 1:1 therapy per week. We start most children at about 20-25 hours per week and gradually increase the number of hours as a function of the child’s age. We strongly encourage all parents to be involved in the program but advise that parents should not conduct more than 6 hours of therapy a week. It is our recommendation that you train a good staff of line therapists to take most of the 1:1 therapy sessions.

Each line therapist should work 6-18 hours per week. Less than 6-18 hours is not enough time for a line therapist to keep up with your child's progress and develop a positive relationship with your child which is effective for a 1:1 therapy. More than 18 hours is not recommended as research shows that children need multiple teachers for generalization.

Finding good line therapists can be difficult. Likely candidates are undergraduate, graduate students, or mature high school students. Generally, it is not a good idea to have family friends or family members other than parents as line therapists because they need to be given feedback on their ability as a line therapist Often times, SCEAP families may post fliers in the psychology, education/ special education, or speech/language pathology departments at a local university or college. It is helpful to get in touch with the head of these departments as they may offer to make announcements in their classroom about the available line therapist position.

You may also want to try advertising in your local newspaper or university newspaper. You should consider being discrete in your listing so that your residence remains a secret. Have the interested line therapists contact you either by mail, e-mail, or fax.

A line therapist does not need to have previous experience or specialized credentials. All training will be provided for them. Line Therapists should be willing to work throughout the day and on different days of the week. When looking for a line therapist look for someone who enjoys being around children, dependable, is receptive to feedback, and will be silly and play with your child in a variety of settings (floor, trampoline, jungle gym, outside, etc). Line therapist should be physically able and willing to deal with the children’s behaviors in the manner set forth in SCEAP’s treatment guidelines.

SCEAP LINE THERAPIST GUIDELINES

• Ensure the confidentiality of the family
• Attend all team meetings and workshops
• Be punctual, line therapists should show up on time when scheduled. If they are going to be late they should call you and let you know.
• Make-up missed time within one week or find a substitute from other line therapists.
• Be willing to work weekend sessions
• Be willing to work at various times during the day and during the week
• Give at least one day notice of a missed session
• Help prepare therapy materials
• Be mindful of any food allergies or diets that the child is on
• Clean up therapy room and leave therapy materials organized
• Follow all of SCEAP’s teaching procedures outlined in SCEAP’s treatment guidelines/clinical notes
• Give one-month’s notice before they leave
• Commit to at least six months of service
  

SAMPLE FLYERS ADVERTISEMENTS

• Wanted part-time line therapist for a special needs child. No prior experience necessary; will provide all training. Flexible hours available. Pay rate of $10.00 per hour (and yearly bonus if applicable). Great opportunity to make a real difference in a child’s life. Send/fax/e-mail resume to _____.
• Not just a job…but making a difference! Therapists wanted to work with our 3 year old autistic son in an intensive ABA home program. Must be interested in learning behavior modification techniques. Professional training provided: flexible hours: Our program is based on applied behavioral analysis and positive reinforcement. We are located in Columbia and are looking for 2-3 students. Please contact us at 555-555-5555 or emailaddress@server.com
• Hiring therapists for Joe. We are looking to hire therapists to work with our son, Joe in 3-hour intervals for a total of 40 hour per week. We would prefer the therapists to be college graduates or students with a strong interest in ABA/VB. Good wages will be provided depending on experience and skill. We are willing to train interested parties in VB. We live in the Columbia area. We have worked with a certified BCBA to develop Joe’s therapy in our basement. We will entertain offers for involvement from VB therapists, SLPs, DTs, and OTs. Please contact us! 555-555-5555 or emailaddress@server.com
• Click here to download a sample flyer in PowerPoint format!

REFERENCES
SCEAP suggests that parents have line therapists consent to criminal record checks and submit fingerprints and tuberculosis test results prior to working with your child. CHECK REFERENCES!

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division

SUGGESTED PAY
An example of a pay scale is shown below. You may want to include a pay range so that stronger line therapists get paid more than the average line therapist. You may want to consider offering to pay mileage or gas costs for those line therapists that have to drive more than 30 minutes. It is advised that you determine an incentive system so as to increase the retention of your line therapists. It is in the best interest for your child to keep a trained and skilled line therapist than to have to hire a new line therapist. You may want to increase pay for those line therapists that are always on time, make up therapy sessions for other line therapists, or provide extra therapy hours.