How to Use Step Up For Students for Speech/Language Therapy in Palm Beach and Martin Counties
Can you use Step Up For Students for speech-language therapy? Learn how the Unique Abilities Scholarship works, what an SLP can address for children with dyslexia, dysgraphia, or ADHD, and how to find Coastal Orofacial Wellness in EMA. The guide also explains how full-time public school enrollment affects funding.
How to Use Step Up For Students for Speech Therapy in Palm Beach and Martin Counties
Your child has a Step Up For Students scholarship, and you’re looking for speech therapy. But where do you find a provider? And what do you click in EMA once you find one?
If your child has funding through the Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities (FES-UA), you may be able to use available scholarship funds for eligible speech-language services. I’m Marianne Salem, a speech-language pathologist and the owner of Coastal Orofacial Wellness. I offer in-home visits in Palm Beach and Martin counties, including Jupiter, Tequesta, Hobe Sound, Stuart, and Palm Beach Gardens. Virtual visits are also available when they’re a good fit for your child.
What would you like to get easier for your child?
Maybe your child has a lot to say, but people outside your family have trouble understanding them. Maybe they get frustrated when they have to repeat themselves. Or maybe you’re wondering whether it’s time for a speech-language evaluation. An everyday example like one of these is enough to start the conversation.
I also work with families who have questions about tongue resting posture or swallowing patterns. If you’re looking specifically for orofacial myofunctional therapy, ask me about the service you’re considering so we can check whether it’s available through EMA before you reserve funds.
Can speech-language therapy help with dyslexia, dysgraphia, or ADHD?
An SLP can help with spoken and written language. What we work on depends on the skills your child is having trouble with.
Dyslexia. Your child may know the sounds for individual letters but have trouble blending them to read a word. Therapy can target skills such as hearing and manipulating sounds in words, decoding, and spelling.
Dysgraphia. Your child may be able to tell you an idea out loud but struggle to get it onto the page. An SLP can address the language involved in writing, including spelling, building sentences, and organizing ideas. If letter formation or other handwriting mechanics are the main concern, an occupational therapy evaluation may be a better fit.
ADHD. If an evaluation identifies a co-occurring language difficulty, an SLP can work on that skill. For example, a child might need help understanding spoken information or retelling a story in order.
ASHA’s guide to written language disorders explains the connection between spoken language, reading, and writing.
What Step Up can pay for
Step Up lists services from approved speech-language pathologists as an eligible specialized expense under FES-UA. The family handbook lists dyslexia and dysgraphia under Specific Learning Disability and ADHD under Other Health Impairment. These diagnoses may support scholarship eligibility when the application and documentation requirements are met. If your child already has funding, confirm that the specific service is eligible before reserving funds. FES-UA Family Handbook
If your child attends public school full-time, Step Up cannot fund their FES-UA account while they remain enrolled full-time, even if EMA shows them as eligible. That means there are no FES-UA funds to use for private speech-language therapy during that enrollment. Step Up’s public school enrollment guidance
How to find Coastal Orofacial Wellness in EMA
Sign in to your Education Market Assistant (EMA) account.
Select Marketplace, then Find Providers.
Choose the child who will receive services.
Search for Coastal Orofacial Wellness. Click the practice name to see the available offerings.
Once we’ve confirmed which offering fits your child’s needs, choose that service and the quantity we discussed. Add it to your cart and select Reserve Funds.
For eligible services with enough available scholarship funds, EMA direct billing lets the practice bill the scholarship account for the reserved service. Step Up walks through each screen in its guide to finding a provider in EMA. You can also review the Unique Abilities scholarship spending guide.
Let’s start with a short phone call
Tell me what you’re noticing and what you’d like to get easier for your child. In a complimentary 15-minute phone conversation, we can talk about whether an evaluation or therapy makes sense, whether home or virtual visits would work for your family, and which service to look for in EMA. New to the scholarship? Read my overview of how Step Up For Students works and how I can help.
Schedule a complimentary 15-minute phone conversation by emailing marianne@coastalorofacialwellness.com.
Marianne Salem, CCC-SLP
Coastal Orofacial Wellness