My son was evaluated for Aquatic Physical Therapy and during his evaluation, the PT informed us…read morethat starting June 1st there would be a Monday 2:30 PM opening available. We were told my son's name had been added to that spot and that we would receive a confirmation call. Unfortunately, no one ever followed up. After calling myself to check on the status, the aquatic therapy coordinator informed me that they currently do not even have a pool available. I'm confused as to why referrals for Aquatic PT are still being accepted and evaluations are being scheduled if services cannot actually be provided at this time. I had to move my son's other therapy appointments to make room for aquatic PT. Now it's too late to take those spots back since it was already offered to other families. A simple update or communication regarding the pool issue would have been appreciated. Very disappointing experience due to the lack of communication and follow-through.

Sentara Therapy Center - Newtown is one of two Sentara outpatient therapy centers serving children…read morein Virginia Beach, and this location provides pediatric services exclusively. I would recommend them with the caveat that if your child is sensitive to sound or easily distracted, please note that their walls are very thin. -- Insurance Know-How -- Their manager knew all of the ins and outs of what was needed. I was lining up clinic and home-based early intervention (EI) services, and what they walked me through aligned with exactly what EI also communicated. (If you want both, you either need EI to not bill your insurance or this Sentara location needs to be the EI service provider.) This expertise was helpful. Also note that if your child is under 3 and you have Optima, your only choices for OT are Sentara or CHKD. -- Assessments -- Sentara Newtown gets you in very quickly for an assessment. However, the person doing the assessment likely won't be the person providing ongoing services, and there is no follow-up appointment to review the assessment, although the parent/guardian can access the progress note and goals via the MyChart site/app. With the therapy sessions scheduled back to back, there seems to be limited time for case consultation. The extent to which therapists read the others' notes seems to vary by therapist. I found that getting the assessment done quickly didn't mean they had immediate openings for treatment available, so make sure you ask when determining if this is the provider that would be the best fit. They're affected by the great resignation as are all businesses, but time can be of the essence when it comes to getting interventions in place for our little ones. -- Scheduling Appointments -- On the third week of the month, they start scheduling out appointments for the next two months. So Dec. for Jan.-Feb., Feb. for Mar.-Apr., etc. On one hand, this makes it hard to get on the schedule depending on when your assessment is in relation to that scheduling plan. Be sure to set a reminder on your phone to call at 7:30am on the relevant Mondays to be able to schedule a preferred time. While it sounds a little complicated, it's actually easier to get on the schedule sooner at this office compared to when the office schedules out four months in advance. -- Therapists -- Many of the therapists there also do, or have done, Early Intervention services, so if your child is under 3, they're open to having the parent(s) come back with the child for services and provide parent coaching during the session. (This isn't the usual approach at the other Sentara location.) I really appreciated this opportunity to learn how to implement strategies at home with my child. We had the opportunity to work with multiple therapists for speech and occupational therapy, and all of the OTs and SLPs seemed very knowledgeable. -- Environment -- The major drawback for this provider is their ridiculously thin walls. One therapist's office is adjacent to the administrative office, and everything said in the administrative office could be heard during my child's speech therapy session. I brought this issue to their leadership's attention, and while they have long-term plans to resolve it, the short term solution was to accommodate us by switching to another therapist's available office. The other therapist was usually in/out (getting their things for the day, not expecting someone in their office, etc.), and this seemed to be an accommodation only we were getting, leaving many other children's sessions interrupted. Confidentiality is also an issue here, but my main frustration was the detraction from the quality of my child's therapy sessions. Again, the other therapy offices still experience noises from adjacent rooms but aren't as bad. -- Conclusions -- Ultimately this place was not a good fit for us because of all of the noise traffic, but there are a lot of positives, including the knowledgeable staff and the parent coaching. I provided feedback about the noise traffic and they have long-term plans to resolve it.