The advice we were given, by tzoya here & our advocate, was to NOT
mention any private therapies our dd would be receiving. The IEP should
provide all the services your child needs. Whether or not you supplement
w/ private is up to you & this does not determine what's included on the
IEP.
If they are giving you a difficult time, you may want to find an advocate.
It's been a relief having one, especially b/c we disagree with the district at
this point. Good luck!
ALSO--one last thing from personal experience...don't make the point to
them that your insurance is paying for therapy. They will simply say that
the 'medical need' for therapy vs the 'educational need' is much different
and/or their guidelines are different than private therapists. Hope this
helps some!
If you want private services that is none of their business. You can do it w/o even mentioning it to the school district.
Okay...got it now. You may have accidentally signed something OR the
school is doing it illegally
From www.oradvocacy.org/pubs/SpecialEducationGuide/idea.htm:
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE?9
The child's resident school district is responsible for assuring that the
child is receiving an appropriate special education program. The school
district has the option to contract with other private and public schools
and agencies to provide services to your child. The IEP determines the
type of services your child will get and where these services will be
provided. See IEP, and Placement.
WHO PAYS?10
Students with disabilities are entitled to a free appropriate public
education. The cost of implementing a child's IEP cannot be passed on to
parents or guardians. This includes the cost of related services and
necessary assistive technology. With parental consent, school districts
may bill a third party, such as a family's private health insurance to offset
certain costs.
Third-party billing: In order for school districts to bill a family's private
insurance, the parents must voluntarily consent to the billing. School
districts cannot force parents to consent if the billing would cause
financial loss to the parents. Financial loss may include:
Decrease in available cap or lifetime coverage;
Increase in insurance premiums;
Termination of the insurance policy; or
Payment of expenses such as deductibles.
If parents refuse to allow the school district to file a claim against the
family's private insurance, the district is still responsible for providing the
student with special education services. The school district cannot require
parents to consent as a condition to providing special education services.
And more info from www.pacer.org/health/healthbilling.htm :
How do I give consent for the school to bill my child's insurance?
You give your consent by signing a written form given to you by the
school. The form must explain what the school plans to do, tell you how
your child's insurance might be affected, list the records that will be
released, and tell you to whom the records will be released. The form
must also explain that your consent is voluntary and that you can take it
away at any time.
What if I sign the consent form but then change my mind later?
You can withdraw your consent for the school to bill your child's
insurance at any time. If you do, then the school must stop billing your
child's insurer. The school must continue to provide the IEP services to
your child at no cost to you. The IEP health services cannot be decreased
or stopped just because the school no longer bills insurance for the
services. Any changes to your child's IEP are made by the entire IEP team,
which includes you.
Example: Sam's IEP says that he is to have 30 minutes of speech therapy
every week. In September, Sam's parents gave permission for the school
to bill Sam's insurance for the speech therapy. In December they changed
their mind and wrote the school to say that they no longer wanted the
school to bill insurance. The school had to stop billing insurance in
December. The school was still required to provide Sam with 30 minutes
of speech therapy each week. The school cannot try to change the IEP to
remove or decrease the amount of speech therapy services that Sam
receives even though they can no longer bill Sam's insurance.
Hope this helps. Sorry the forum codes were messing up the links.
GOOD LUCK!
for the OT and ST and all that then why is it sooooo hard to get it threw the board? I mean if we are paying then why the case of funding????
See what I mean is, they are billing my sons medical for the therapy that the school is giving and some of the testings.Is that right? Or have I signed something I shoudlnt have????
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