A multidisciplinary pediatric clinic on a Tuesday afternoon is loud. Speech, OT, ABA, and feeding sessions run in parallel, families arrive with siblings in tow, and someone is always in the lobby with a toddler who just discovered the fish tank. The therapists are behind closed doors, in the sensory gym, or on the floor with a client.
The trouble is figuring out who has arrived for whom. A doorbell rings for everyone, a front desk is expensive to staff, and in a shared commercial space the wrong people wander in and ring anyway. TapIn is a pediatric therapy patient check-in kiosk that solves the routing problem with one tap.
Parents tap their child's therapist on an iPad in the lobby and enter initials. That clinician, and only that clinician, gets a silent push on their phone or Apple Watch. Everyone else keeps working.
What gets in the way in a pediatric therapy practice
Five disciplines, one lobby, one doorbell
When OT, speech, ABA, and feeding all share a waiting area, a bell or a knock reaches all of them. Each therapist has to stop and check whether it's their client. That's a lot of wasted trips to the door.
Shared commercial space brings strangers to your door
Clinics in a shared building or suite get foot traffic from other businesses. People ring your bell looking for the accountant down the hall. Every wrong ring interrupts a session with a child who just settled in.
Parents juggling siblings can't stand at a counter
A mom with a client in one hand and a baby in a carrier isn't going to fill in a sign-in sheet or wait for someone to appear. She needs to check in fast, get everyone seated, and know the therapist has been told.
How TapIn helps
The right therapist gets the alert
The parent taps the therapist's photo, so the notification goes to exactly one person. The OT doesn't get pulled for a speech client, and the ABA tech isn't guessing who's in the lobby. Each therapist has their own seat and their own alerts.
Initials only, nothing more
Parents can type their child's initials, or you can turn off name collection completely. TapIn stores nothing else: no intake, no insurance, no records. Check-ins are erased after 24 hours.
One iPad handles the whole clinic
Prop an iPad on a stand near the entrance with your logo and colors on the screen as a contactless check-in point. Families use it in a few seconds and sit down. Add more kiosks for a second entrance or another location at no extra cost.
How LeapStar Pediatric Therapy replaced its doorbell
LeapStar operates in a shared commercial space with other businesses, and their physical doorbell kept getting rung by other businesses' clients, interrupting sessions with no way to know which client was there for which therapist. With TapIn, clients tap Check-In, select their therapist, and type only their initials, and the right therapist is notified silently, which the practice sums up as: "I get instantly notified on my phone. Simple as that!"
A check-in, step by step
- 1
A dad arrives with his four-year-old for OT and her older brother, who has speech twenty minutes later.
- 2
He taps the OT's photo on the lobby iPad, types the girl's initials, and the screen confirms the check-in.
- 3
The OT, in the sensory gym with another child, gets a silent buzz on her phone and finishes the swing activity.
- 4
She walks out and brings the girl back while the brother stays in the lobby with dad and a picture book.
- 5
Twenty minutes later, dad taps the SLP's name on the same iPad, and the speech therapist gets her own alert.
- 6
Both check-ins show up in the clinic's analytics and are deleted automatically the next day.
Want the full setup, including locking the iPad into kiosk mode? Read the iPad check-in kiosk setup guide.
Simple per-seat pricing
$5.99/month for the first therapist and $3.99/month for each additional, with 50% off annual billing. Unlimited iPads and locations, admin users free. Every plan starts with a 14-day free trial and no credit card. See pricing.
Pediatric Therapy check-in questions
We have speech, OT, and ABA in one clinic. Does each therapist get their own notifications?
Yes. Every therapist has a seat and receives only the check-ins where a parent selected them. One self check-in app on one kiosk serves the whole team.
Can a parent check in two kids with different therapists?
Yes. They tap the first therapist, then tap the second one. Each check-in goes to the right clinician.
We're in a shared building with other businesses. Will people mess with the iPad?
The kiosk shows only your therapists' names or photos. A stray tap by the wrong person sends one silent notification to one therapist instead of ringing a bell through the whole suite.
Do BCBAs, RBTs, and therapy assistants count as seats?
Anyone who needs to receive check-in notifications is a seat. Admin users who only manage the dashboard don't count. The first seat is $5.99 a month and each additional one is $3.99.
How long does setup take for a clinic with a dozen therapists?
About ten minutes for the account and kiosk, plus a short invite for each therapist. Each one enters a short code in the free TapIn app on their phone and they're live.
Also built for
- Speech Therapy patient check-inParents and adult clients tap their SLP's name on an iPad in the waiting room. You get a silent buzz on your phone or watch and finish the drill you're in the middle of.
- Physical Therapy patient check-inYour patient taps your name on an iPad at the front. You feel it on your watch while you're spotting someone on the leg press, and nobody has to shout across the clinic.
Keep reading
- iPad patient check-in kioskTurn any iPad into a patient self check-in kiosk. Patients tap their therapist's name and the therapist gets a silent push notification. Free app, 5-minute setup, from $5.99/month.
- How to set up an iPad check-in kioskStep-by-step guide to turning a spare iPad into a patient check-in kiosk: Guided Access, mounting, Wi-Fi, the TapIn kiosk app, and pairing with a QR code. About 10 minutes.
- Running a practice without a front deskHow solo and small group therapy practices handle arrivals, waiting rooms, and interruptions without a receptionist. Practical options, what each costs, and where an iPad check-in kiosk fits.
Quiet the lobby at your pediatric clinic
Try TapIn free for 14 days. No credit card, unlimited kiosks, and every therapist on the team gets their own silent alerts.