Need advice re: paying out of pocket | Autism PDD

it is your 's and your husbands choice

if you can afford it then try it but it may not work anyway and when you get him in with the OT you are waiting for

they may do something completly differant to this other therapist then that will just leave confusion

though they have the same proffesion they all work in there own way

there are ways of dealing with sensory problems without any therapists at all

you just need to beleieve in yourself to try them

i do OT

i do speech therapy

i do phsiotherapy

i do play therapy

all without proffesionals

i do ring them or email what im going to start or change and ask there opinion but thats as far as it goes

ultimatly it all your familys choice ask everyone there what they think

As mentioned before, my son has started some sensory seeking behaviors that I absolutely know he should get OT for. I am waiting for his medical and school evaluation so we are probably looking out 3 months minimum before he receives services.

I am thinking about paying private OT until his evaluations are completed. When my dd was 2 she didn't qualify for EI, and I ended up paying for her speech until 3. It was costly, but I knew she really needed it.

I'm kind of feeling the same way about ds. I know he needs speech and OT, but I think the sensory stuff is the biggest issue right now so if I had to pick one I would pick the OT. He talks enough that I don't think he is too far behind for his age, even if 1/2 of it is repeating. He still has some good things he says on his own.

So, do you think I should pay for him to have OT for a few months. The difference between when my dd had speech and now is that we have another child and have way more expenses. My husband has opportunities to work overtime so we could cover it that way. I am just wondering what everyone else would do.

Thanks in advance.
This is going to sound crazy since I used to be a teacher, but my kids seem to work better with other people so that is why I thought I would do that. Plus, I feel like I can't do it all myself.

it does not sound crazy at all

and it promotes interaction from outside the home

i was so sick of therapists not turning up cancelling at the last minute

and though he is supposed to have ST 3 times a week they never showed

when i rang them they said it was a waste of services for them to come out because i was capable of doing it myself

so i did

and we are getting there they both have completly dofferant problems and it is hard work but worth it

you do what you feel is best for you and your family other peoples opinion are irrelevant

i wish you well

shell

You can see if your therapy center has any interns (is that what they're called?). We had one for speech and OT at different times when we lived in WA. Our normal therapists sat in on the sessions but since it was considered "training" they didn't charge us for those sessions. Just a thought. Do you have good insurance? Usually insurance will pony up for OT. (Speech is trickier to get covered.) Our insurance has covered our private OT for 4 years now.The place where my dd gets services offers a discount of 35% for parents who pay for therapies out-of-pocket...it might be worth trying to negotiate something like that for you son.

When we switched insurance carriers our new one would not cover speech, OT or PT. We did drop the OT and PT. But, with speech we found someone who worked on her own and comes to our house. So, she does not bill insurance, but costs so much less than going through a major hospital system. Some people will charge a lot less if they don't have to deal with insurance companies. We are talking with a PT who does some private clients on the side to set up an exercise program and the rate she is quoting us is much less than the hospital system. So, it might be more economical to find someone who works like this if you are going to pay out of pocket.

All of the above are good suggestions. Do you have a university close by? In our town, our university has speech centers and the like where you can take your children for therapies that you can pay for on a sliding scale. The therapies are done by students closely supervised by their instructors.

That being suggested, yes I would pay out of pocket for whatever therapies I felt my child needed if I could not get them covered any other way. I would beg my parents to help me pay also. This past May my child aged out of EI, and wasn't slated to started in the school system until fall. Dh and I paid out of pocket for 2 and a half months 2 hours of speech and 1 hour of OT a week. All I can say is OUCH!!! I would definitely check the insurance first, like Kristy said OT is much easier to get them to cover. Speech is more difficult. but if I had to yes I would pay out of pocket. maybe only a half hour a week. but do look into your insurance first. [QUOTE=JulieA]

That being suggested, yes I would pay out of pocket for whatever therapies I felt my child needed if I could not get them covered any other way. I would beg my parents to help me pay also. This past May my child aged out of EI, and wasn't slated to started in the school system until fall. Dh and I paid out of pocket for 2 and a half months 2 hours of speech and 1 hour of OT a week. All I can say is OUCH!!! But, he needed it and it had to be done. If we had to, we would've taken equity out of our house to get us through that uncovered time.

[/QUOTE]

Thank you Julie. I am thinking the same thing. I'm even thinking the speech would be good to get going on now. I just hate the thought of wasting time, and as I said before, all of my kids seem to do better with professionals. Plus, I'm about tapped out emotionally so I like the thought of the professionals doing the therapy.

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