AI for occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists and behavior analysts mostly gets sold as one tool: a note writer, a data-collection app, a chatbot. This page is about the marketing side: parents asking AI assistants where to find an evaluation, and AI drafting your pages and ads. Anything involving a specific child, a testimonial or a session note should stay with your clinicians.
In short: AI marketing for an ABA, speech or OT practice means being described accurately when parents ask AI assistants for help, drafting pages and ads faster, and answering practical questions on your site. Keep children's information out of tools without a BAA, never let AI write stories or testimonials, and approve everything published under a clinical credential.
What AI marketing means for a pediatric therapy practice
There are two kinds of AI in a pediatric therapy practice, and they carry different risks.
| Item | Clinical AI | Marketing AI |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Session note drafting, ABA data collection, report writing | Page and ad drafts, AI visibility checks, a website chat for practical questions |
| Touches a child's information? | Always | Shouldn't, except a form or chat that receives inquiries |
| BAA needed? | Yes | Only for tools that receive inquiries or client information |
This page covers the right-hand column. The wider picture across specialties is in AI marketing for medical practices.
AI for occupational therapists, speech therapists and BCBAs
"AI for occupational therapists" draws about 10 US searches a month, with clicks averaging $17.84 (Google Ads Keyword Planner data via DataForSEO, US, 12-month average to Sep 2026). Most pages ranking for it sell documentation tools, not help with finding families.
How parents use ChatGPT, Gemini and AI Overviews to choose a practice
Parents of a child with a new diagnosis or a speech delay have dozens of questions, and AI assistants let them ask all of them at once: What's the difference between ABA and speech therapy? Who nearby takes our plan? Google's AI Overviews put a similar summary above ordinary results.
Illustrative example (prompts a parent or patient might type):
- "Find ABA therapy near Plano, Texas that takes Texas Medicaid and has openings this fall."
- "My 3-year-old only says a few words. Which speech therapists in Raleigh evaluate toddlers?"
- "Is there a pediatric OT in Tacoma who helps with handwriting and sensory issues after school?"
- "Which certified hand therapists near downtown Denver take Blue Cross?"
Each prompt combines a service, a place and a payer or timing constraint. Assistants answer from what they can find and read: practice websites, Google listings, directories and reviews. A practice that states all four plainly gives them accurate material to work with. No one can promise an assistant will name a particular practice. Our guide to AI visibility for practices explains how answers get assembled, and the free AI visibility check in Medfy's audit asks Claude and Gemini, with live web search, whether they name you, and checks whether the crawlers behind ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Gemini can read your site.
Parents ask AI about evaluations, insurance and waitlists
The questions parents ask assistants are the same ones they'd ask your front desk, which makes your website the most important input you control.
- Evaluations. Publish the steps, from intake call to written results. An assistant can only describe a process you've published.
- Insurance and Medicaid. Name your plans. If your site says "most insurance accepted," that vague line is all an assistant can repeat.
- Waitlists. Post dated waits per service and location, and update them monthly. A two-year-old page saying "no waitlist" can keep circulating long after it stopped being true.
Speech and OT practices should give each need its own page, the way our guides to speech therapy websites and OT practice websites describe. ABA providers should do the same for in-clinic, in-home and early-learner programs.
An AI chat on your site should stick to plans, ages, locations, waits and how to start. "Does my son have autism?" gets a kind redirect to an evaluation or the pediatrician, never an opinion.
BACB ethics, testimonials and AI-written stories
AI makes it easy to produce glowing "parent stories." Every major code in this field rules them out.
- BACB. The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (opens in a new tab) requires public statements that are truthful and don't "mislead or exaggerate" (5.03), and makes you responsible for statements promoting your services "regardless of who creates or publishes" them (5.04), which includes an AI tool or the marketer using one. You may not solicit testimonials from current clients for advertising (5.07), and former-client testimonials need a solicited or unsolicited label, the relationship stated and the right to withdraw (5.08).
- ASHA. The ASHA Code of Ethics (opens in a new tab) bars misrepresentation in advertising (Principle III, Rule 6) and promising the results of treatment "directly or by implication" (Principle I, Rule 13).
- AOTA. AOTA's 2025 code summary (opens in a new tab) lists veracity among its guiding principles, with enforceable Standards of Conduct.
So: no AI-written testimonials, no "composite" success stories passed off as real, and no "cure" or "recovery" language about autism.
Children's data adds two more layers. HIPAA covers your clients' information, so session notes, data sheets, videos and anything identifying a child never go into a tool without a BAA. And the FTC's COPPA Rule (opens in a new tab) applies to sites and online services directed to children under 13, or that knowingly collect personal information from them. A chat or game aimed at children, rather than parents, could bring your site under it; talk to counsel before building one.
Referral sources: pediatricians, schools and early intervention
Referrals are relationships AI can support but not replace. Where AI helps: drafting the one-page referral sheet, writing a monthly "current openings" note for pediatric offices and early intervention coordinators, and turning your referral process into a clear web page. None of that needs client information.
Where it doesn't: referral faxes and e-referrals contain a child's health information, so don't paste them into a consumer AI tool to summarize. The call to a school OT and the visit to a pediatric office are human work. For the full referral playbook, see our ABA, speech & OT marketing guide; for paid channels, see ABA advertising.
Which AI tools are safe with patient information
Consumer AI chat accounts aren't covered by a business associate agreement (BAA), so nothing identifying a child belongs in them. OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and Microsoft offer BAAs only for specific business products. What their own pages said on October 22, 2026:
| Vendor | What its official page says |
|---|---|
| Anthropic | Its BAA article (opens in a new tab) covers commercial products: the first-party API once a BAA is signed and PHI use is enabled, and Enterprise plans where the Primary Owner activates HIPAA settings and accepts the BAA; several features are excluded |
| Workspace administrators must accept a BAA (opens in a new tab) before using PHI; the covered list (opens in a new tab) includes the Gemini App (excluding Gemini in Chrome) and Gemini in Google Workspace | |
| Microsoft | Offers its BAA (opens in a new tab) through its data protection terms; in-scope commercial Office 365 services include Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Chat |
| OpenAI | Its API data-controls page (opens in a new tab) describes endpoints eligible for HIPAA use under an executed OpenAI BAA, with configuration requirements; web search with live internet access isn't covered |
Terms change, so confirm the exact product and settings before use. Our guides on whether ChatGPT is HIPAA compliant and on HIPAA and AI tools go deeper.
What to automate and what to keep human:
| Automate, with clinician review | Keep human |
|---|---|
| First drafts of service pages (feeding therapy, AAC, handwriting) | Anything describing a specific child |
| Monthly openings note for referrers, with no client details | Deciding who comes off the waitlist |
| Ad copy variants checked against Meta and Google health rules | Replies to parents about their child's needs |
| Chat answers about plans, ages, locations and waits | Testimonials and stories, which AI never writes |
| Weekly checks of what AI assistants say about you | Final approval of anything published under a BCBA, CCC-SLP or OTR/L credential |
How Medfy uses AI for ABA, speech & OT
Medfy is AI marketing software for independent practices, built HIPAA-compliant by design. The $349/month base plan includes:
- Your website, rebuilt and hosted on your own domain, with a page per service and HIPAA-compliant forms for parent inquiries.
- Automated SEO: researched articles every week, drafted from MedlinePlus and PubMed, which you approve (the safer setting under these codes) or set to auto-publish.
- AI visibility tracking: every week Medfy asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews the questions parents ask, and shows whether they name you and who they name instead.
- First-party analytics, including visits from AI assistants, and an AI CMO dashboard with a weekly brief by email.
- A patient CRM and inbox, access-controlled, with patient information in separate, encrypted HIPAA databases in the US or Canada.
Add-ons: Google Ads management ($199/month), Meta ads with AI creatives ($199/month) and a HIPAA AI chat widget ($49/month) that answers from your practice's own information, captures new-patient requests into the CRM, hands off to your team and is covered by your BAA. Ad spend goes directly to Google and Meta, never marked up. Billing is monthly, and you can cancel anytime. Medfy doesn't answer phones, send email or text campaigns, request reviews or post to social media.
Frequently asked questions
How can ABA and speech therapy practices use AI in marketing?
For drafting and checking, not for anything about a specific child. AI can draft service pages, FAQ answers about plans and ages, ad variations and updates to referrers, which a BCBA or SLP then edits. It can also track whether assistants like ChatGPT name your practice. Keep client data, stories and testimonials out of it, and approve everything published under your credential.
Can ABA practices use client testimonials?
Only within the BACB code. Standard 5.07 bars soliciting testimonials from current clients or their families for advertising, and unsolicited reviews shouldn't be reused. Former-client testimonials need a solicited or unsolicited label, a statement of the relationship and the right to withdraw. HIPAA also requires a parent's written authorization for marketing use. AI should never write or polish a testimonial.
Does ChatGPT recommend ABA providers?
Sometimes, when a parent asks for one, but nobody can promise it will name yours. Assistants build answers from what they can find: practice websites, Google listings, directories and reviews. Pages that state your services, ages, locations, insurance plans and current waits give them accurate material. Check what assistants say about your practice now before changing anything, and recheck after updates.
Is AI safe with therapy session notes?
Only in a tool covered by a business associate agreement, and then only within what that agreement covers. Consumer AI chat accounts aren't covered, so session notes, data sheets, videos and anything identifying a child never go into them. Some vendors sign BAAs for specific business products, with conditions. Confirm the exact product and settings with the vendor before any client data goes in.