Community Highlights: Meet Lisa Pridgen of Speech Therapy Solutions

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Pridgen.

Hi Lisa, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
Natalie Parker founded Speech Therapy Solutions in 2011 and began working out of her home as she grew the business. A few years later, Natalie opened the first office and continued to treat patients while learning about starting her own company.

Lisa Pridgen came on board in 2015 working for Natalie and within a few years, Natalie and Lisa decided to become partners in Speech Therapy Solutions to work together to continue to expand the practice. Now, in 2022, we have 14 Speech Pathologists working with us and 2 clinics. We offer services in homes and in daycares as well as our clinics. We love to work as a part of a multidisciplinary team with other specialists, physicians, and therapists.

We cotreat often with Occupational, Physical, and Developmental Therapists as needed. We share clinic space with Kid Sense Therapy, a practice specializing in OT, PT, and DT. Our team provides services from Youngsville, Rolesville, Wake Forest, Raleigh, Durham, Knightdale, Wendell, and parts of Cary and Apex. We are so happy getting to live out of dreams every day together.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There are always challenges with starting a business.

We think back to March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic began and we had to learn about telepractice. It felt like we were starting totally new careers but our team adapted and learned all about virtual speech therapy and thrived doing so. We would also tell you that learning about insurance is particularly tough as well.

One example that comes to mind is the July 2021 Medicaid transformation. Medicaid changed from one plan to five separate billing sources and payor sources. It is always challenging when insurances changes are out of your control but we learned as much as we could and did our best.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Speech Therapy Solutions?
Speech Therapy Solutions has built a solid reputation as a trusted speech-language pathology practice in the Durham, Franklin, and Wake County areas. Speech Therapy Solutions is committed to providing quality speech and language therapy for children in need. We strive to assist each child in reaching their utmost potential with their speech and language skills.

Speech Therapy Solutions currently accepts Medicaid and many private insurance companies. We are also providers for the Wake County Children’s Developmental Services Agencies (CDSA) which specializes in early intervention services in the natural environment.

Speech Therapy Solutions is a private speech/language/feeding therapy clinic specializing in pediatrics. We offer in-clinic and home visits based on individual needs. Our speech-language pathologists work with parents on specific tasks/assignments to work on during the week based on treatment targets.

This component, in addition to parent involvement during the treatment session, is important for the carryover of targeted skills in the natural environment. Therapy duration and frequency of therapy per week are recommended based on the needs of the child.

The crisis has affected us all in different ways. How has it affected you and any important lessons or epiphanies you can share with us?
During the Covid-19 crisis, our biggest challenge began with learning all about telepractice! We are thankful for the opportunity to do this so we can continue to provide services to our families in need even in the most difficult of times in the middle of a pandemic.

Contact Info:

• Email: Lisa@speech-ts.com
• Website: www.speech-ts.com
• Instagram: @speechtherapysolutions
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/speechtherapysolutionsnc

Image Credits
Allison Beavers Photography