How much do you pay? | Autism PDD
Monthly for services, therapies, etc? I am going into some serioud debt over a push in increased speech therapy and OT. The insurance person at our hospital screwed it up for me I think. I'm scared about all we pay, I just wonder if its typical of what others are paying... We get speech through the school 2 x weekly, so that is free. Our insurance cover 12 OT visits, we pay the co-pay, so thats .00 per visit. After that, we will pay 6 per visit. I spend quite a bit on home therapy things for our DS..like today I bought these paint type things in a bottle with a roller, dot-to-dot book and a book that you use aspecial marker and the color "magicly"appears (all to help make his hand muscles work and get stronger) That was . So thats probably another 0 a month or so. That is all we get for services right now.
my girl gets an hour of ST and an hour of OT twice a week privately. That is covered by our ins (OT) and Medicaid (ST)
She also gets a 1/2 hr of OT in school, and one hour of speech (group) in school.
I, too, feel that isn't enough and the children need one-on-one therapy, so that's why she goes after school as well.
She is in psps, in sped, four days a week.
She is on the diet, and takes numerous supplemetns, which come out of our pocket (about 300 monthly) but are deductible on our taxes.
We are trying to get our school district to pay for a school that would help our son,,the cost is about 20K a year, (pretty cheap for the quality of services t hey offer),,however, I think we will probably end up paying for it ourselves unless we want to stay stuck in IEP meetings for the next few years....
Kelly
[QUOTE=jdecina]The school district covers Aidan's 20 hour week ABA program, 5 hours of speech and 1 hour of OT.[/QUOTE] WOW!
We have home based aba... enough said We have never paid a dime for any service for John from the time he was evaluated (2 years) on!!! Currently the program John is in and the services he receives cost approximately 0,000 a year and the district pays it willingly. I feel bad when I hear that others have to fight or pay outright what you are entitled to by law for no cost. It is called "a free and appropriate education".We pay 0.00 a week for a hour of speech.. That is the where he needs the most help.. But it is getting tough.. He should be getting ot, pt and speech privatley but we can not afford all that so he gets speech outside school and in school he gets speech and pt but we need to get him the ot soon.. that is another 0.00 aweek.. Crazy ..
I get a private hour of language therapy for Abbie that insurance covers to 80%, so I guess it's, like less than 0.00/month after re-imbursement.
I get 2.5 hours X 4days/week of developmental pre-school that includes 2X15 minutes of private language therapy for Evie and 2X20 minutes private language therapy for Abbie through the school system (free).
We've paid for some private assessments, but those were also covered by insurance.
I could afford much more, but I can't get anyone to convince my wife that it's needed (TEACCH, pediatrician, nuerologist all say we're doing enough), so the funds are intact, for now.
We have a good autism consultant coming over next week for a 2 hour consultation (to the tune of 200 bucks). She runs the speach and language (and other stuff) clinic that Abbie goes to. The girl's school teacher is going to be there, too, and together, we might decide to add some more stuff (or not).
I'm just so prime for being taken advantage of, financially :(
I would love that as I do my own taxes - that will probably change next year, but I don't have the time or energy to take all the stuff to an accountant when TurboTax is so easy! I probably don't get all the extra stuff that I should, but I need my refund yesterday to pay for repairs on our house before we sell it! If you would pm me, I will send you my e-mail address. Thanks so much!
I can't believe you just asked for the therapy and they agreed - wow! I would LOVE to move those people to Minnesota! Sorry, I don't want to live in New York - it is too far from family...
Believe me I appreciate all that John gets. I know we have it better in this area in terms of what we get. The disproportionate delivery of services for our kids is awful.
I asked my Child Study Team if they would pay for the 2 hours of Behavior Therapy and they agreed, it was that easy!
You need to consult with your accountant about the write-offs, I have a whole bunch of info on what you can write-off and the tax codes etc. My husband is an attorney and he works with families on Trust, etc, so I get allot of info from him.
If yuor child has an "official" diagnosis you can write off the extra's. I would be more than happy to email or snail mail so tax stuff to you.
Sandra
We pay about 1,500-2,000 per month for in home ABA. We are privately insured so it doesn't cover anything of course. We decided to keep him out of the special needs preschool in the school district. I personally know some people who like it and some who didn't. We went and saw for ourselves. I think the home ABA is better for him at this point.
Catmille
You did good keeping him in ABA and not in school yet..at 4 you have at least 2 years of intense therapy for him. We chose to not place Sarah in the public school too...we would of never seen her progress like we did with ABA. ABA taught Sarah so many programs that changed weekly in those two years time that we would of never gotten that 1:1 with the school. ABA taught her to learn like other kids and pay attention like other kids..at 3 she had no clue what kids were or even cared. Our consultant stated she would never put her child in ppcd if they had autism because they would not progress because they lack the tools to teach them to engage and listen and follow instructions.. this took many hours to teach- and reinforce...not something school teachers have time for.
Shelley
We live in Canada and it takes a long time till we get the public services. So we do it now from our pockets but I am not sure how long we can afford it. This is what we pay:
280 dollars per week for 14 hours of ABA.
At leaset 180 (or 270, depends on how many hours it takes) every 2 weeks for supervision of the ABA.
90 per week for speech therapy.
60 dollars per week for a few hours attendance at a special daycare.
We'll start RDI next week, God knows how much we should pay to the consultant....It's crazy!
Wow - 0,000 a year! I am amazed they are considering a program that costs like that as "appropriate" - not that it isn't, just that they are considering it so! Here, that would be considered "best" not appropriate. We just don't have much in the way of services here - and we have the 2nd highest rate of Asperger's in the entire country and the world-famous Mayo Clinic! Hah! By the way, Mayo insurance doesn't cover much for autism, but we do at least get OT and PT covered under a "lack of coordination" code. No speech (unless there is articulation difficulties, which there isn't on ds' part) and certainly no ABA! They will cover limited behavioral therapy, but to be perfectly honest - we haven't found it very helpful. I truly believe that the therapist needs to be in-home and they cover none of that type of service.
I am happy for those of you who are getting services and not having to go into tremendous debt and would like to move to your town! We are hoping things will get better with our move, but also terrified that dh's insurance won't even cover what we have now. I still have to get to that TEFRA application....
How do you write off gymnastics and private swim lessons? I would LOVE to do that! My son is in both and it is costing us a fortune. a week for private swim lessons at the Y and about a month for gymnastics (although it is also combined with a 3-hour a week preschool that has 45 minutes of tumbling involved and is taught at our gymnastics center by a gymnastics instructor who is also getting her masters in special ed). So, I figure in addition to the 0 a month I am paying for therapies, books and tools - I am paying ANOTHER 5 a month for these things. Not to mention that I have dd in an infant/toddler class (to promote peer interaction) and she takes the same pre-school/tumbling on a different day as it is for younger kids. So, about a month for the infant/toddler class and another a month for pre-school/tumbling. Wow, now I know where my money is going! For both kids, that's a grand total of 0 a month and I think I am underestimating. Of course, for dd there could be no write-off as she has no diagnosis and probably won't ever get one - but I am doing preventative work on this one! [QUOTE=MOM2Peter]MY son is 6 and he is in a public school that has an full day ABA classroom. He gets all of his OT and Speech at school. I have a Behaviorist that comes to the house for two hours on Saturday that my school district pays for.
I have him enrolled in a Social Skills class 2 hours a week that I pay for, I could ask the distric to pay but I don't want to be gluttonous, and it is a Tax write off. I also have my son in weekly private swim lessons and Little Gym gymnastics once a week all stuff I pay for but can write off.
[/QUOTE]Do most school districts pay for this.. I am having a big issue with my son.. He is fine in school but at home we have big problems.. If i sit down and talk with him is this something they can help me with his behavior is out of control at home and i am at my wits end..
MY son is 6 and he is in a public school that has an full day ABA classroom. He gets all of his OT and Speech at school. I have a Behaviorist that comes to the house for two hours on Saturday that my school district pays for.
I have him enrolled in a Social Skills class 2 hours a week that I pay for, I could ask the distric to pay but I don't want to be gluttonous, and it is a Tax write off. I also have my son in weekly private swim lessons and Little Gym gymnastics once a week all stuff I pay for but can write off.
Wow - see, we don't even get direct OT, forget PT and he gets group speech (which is actually what he needs - pragmatics and social skills). Music - really!!!???!!! I've never heard of a school district providing any kind of music therapy services. Counseling, training - hah! I am sure I could ask for it but they have really no one to provide the service. I had my daughter observed a week ago and the district consultant saw no issues with her other than a slow-to-warm up personality. She offered to send me some info on tips on helping her. It was a one-page sheet that had items like: help your child by going into a social interaction with her and helping her start the conversation, then back off, going in as needed to help keep the interaction going. REALLY? Wow! I would have never thought of that myself!
You have NO idea how fortunate you are. I have spent thousands on trying to get help for my son. I REALLY need to apply for TEFRA and get more stuff paid for. Hoping to do that right after we put the house on the market... Gotta get my taxes done first in order to get the refund and pay off some of the repairs we're doing... AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!
Yup and this is the norm for kids with autism in our area. We have 8 classes in my program with 6-8 kids each who are receiving that and at the same cost....the districts are fine with it as the program shows the kids making good progress. Most districts in our area know that if they were even to attempt having the kids in district the cost of the teacher, speech, OT, PT, music, counseling, training, consultants would outweigh that pricetag. Also I think our area of the country is ahead in providing the services. No one here questions giving a child ABA...it is a no -brainer. Again, lots of people have moved here from other parts of the country to get these services. It floors me though when I go into CSE and ask for these services for my students or my son and they are like "absolutely Tricia....that is what is best". I have one student who is getting all those services and his family will not even write in my communication book, they refuse team meetings and the parent training we can provide. So the CSE chair basically told his mom if you expect us to continue to fund the 0,000 and eventually by the time he is 21 ,000,000 price tag....you need to start getting involved with the program, if not he will be placed in a less expensive program. So the districts do monitor the costs.Ours is only through the school, which I'm not happy with. My insurance will not cover anything extra, they say it is the school's responsibility. (I should probably say we are in teh military). I am going to talk to the dev pedi though, they have a major university here and I was wondering about students, maybe the boys can be a case study or something. When we were still in DC I would get a call every once in a while from their old early intervention therapists about some grant or something if I was interested in getting them extra help. She also used them as a teaching tool for her therapists, they got extra therapy that way. Their speech is so bad though and the therapy they got so lousy and so little of it I will probably pay out of pocket for some. My plan is to set aside a certain amount and then try to learn from the therapist how I can help them myself.I'm in Texas - Dallas, to be exact. And yes, the school districts and ECI are supposed to provide therapies. However, what my son needs to receive and what the district determines as "appropriate" (based on their funding, of course) are vastly different. What my son is supposed to get as needed (based on ECI's ISFP) is 15 hours speech a week, 15 hours OT and ABA. What my son has gotten from ECI because of the overwhelming demand for services and lack of enough therapists: 45 minutes Speech one day a week. They have been unable to provide the rest.
We - me, my 15 and 11 year-old daughters and his childcare provider - have provided the extra hours ourselves, either through paying private therapists or learning basic techniques in PECS and behavior modification and using a combination of those. He ages out of ECI next month, and we are in the process of transferring over to the school district. What the school district has offered is even less than ECI recommended as appropriate, and what he will get in the classroom is less than that, more than likely once everyone has had their input.
As sole support for a family of 6, I'm grateful to have insurance that covers at least part of the OT he needs (I pay the copays at /visit) and after that it will be 0 per visit if we continue. Because of finances, we may do more at home and consult on occasion. Speech, because it is not caused by an accident nor a malformation, insurance will not cover. Therefore, I have to rely on what the system will provide or learn to provide it myself. Financially, it is out of my ability. The overall outlay for inhome "tools" for his therapy needs - the development of our own PECs system, his toys, etc. have run about 0 a month in the past year. Therapy copays or visits are on top of that.
My son's ST and OT are free. I havent had to pay anything. School district provides it.
AnamCara
I live in Lewisville! Both me and DH were born and raised in Dallas:) We had ECI for Sarah for about 8 months with only 45 min. of speech a week and that was it..it was worthless for her though as they had no clue how to engage her whatsoever just followed her all around the house dumbfounded. I never suspected autism till she was to phase out of ECI and then they mentioned she had some symptoms of it but they could not diagnose..I was shocked. Got her diagnosed and started in home ABA(30hr/week & speech 2hrs/week) for 3 years and she is doing great. I love your link:) I also have a 15 yr. daughter turning 16 in a few weeks:) She plays flute & piccolo in Marching band and loves Celtic music. Our ABA & speech is not covered and not even offered in schools here so we spent a small fortune to get her what she needed..she has come so far I could write a book just to try & recover mentally, emotionally and financially what we have gone through..I would do all again but it was extremely stressful. She is an absolute angel and that has never changed. Never dreamed we would be where we are now..she is totally mainstreamed and no supports at all. She lost her label last summer and is considered aspergers but I don't it see it yet:) She is very smart and unique individual. I have many resources if you are ever interested. Lots of stuff from therapy we no longer need anymore..just let me know:)
Blessings,
Shelley
Yes, I do know that the school system provides "free". But as the saying goes sometimes, you get what you pay for. This is Chase's 2nd year of pre-school. In his IEP for the last 2 years, he had speech in there, but there was no 1-1 speech. There wasn't a lot of fighting over it either.
My husband quit 2 jobs due to insurance changes and what wasn't covered for Chase. Unfortunately, his best job almost is the worst in insurance. We are paying for 2x a week private speech therapy since October. We just re-did the IEP and he will get an hour of speech a week, 1-1 for a 1/2 hour with the SLP and 1-1 for 1/2 hour with his teacher. I am happy about this, but how do I just let him get by with that alone and not try and do something ourselves?? Since he started 2x a week, his speech has probably quadrupled. Now, he doesn't have conversation, but he has a LOT more words. I made it very clear to the school system what we were doing and I mandated that the school talk to his private SLP and OT to all be on board. This way I know exactly what he is learning weekly. I am not wasting anymore time when he has a year and a half left before going into Kindergarten.
Next school year, since I am holding him back, I have also chosen to put him in a second pre-K class. The one with the school district is an autism class only, no peers. I think he REALLY needs to see how peers act in class so for next school year, he is enrolled an additional 2 mornings with an inclusion class. This will cost me an extra 5 a month, but in this school too, he will get an additional 1/2 hour of speech with a speech therapist he has seen over the last 3 summers and knows him.
I guess I feel a little guilty that we didn't do the ABA route. I was hoping that he would be communicating a lot more by now and I am trying to catch up. The school system isn't doing it all. I feel it is MY responsibility as his parent to go beyond just what they recommend because to them, he's a number. To me, he's my life.
Connor started private speech therapy and OT when he was 2. We did 1 hour speech twice a week and 1 hour OT once per week at around 0/hour.
Once Connor turned 3 he qualified for special preschool, where he received speech and OT as well. Once he started with services through the school, we cut back on his private speech and OT to 1 hour per week each. We still do this now that he is 6 and in kindergarten.
We are happy with our school district and services thus far, but we choose to supplement what the school provides for a few reasons. 1) Connor has a great relationship with his private therapists. School people come and go but these folks have been the constant over the past 4 years. 2) We want someone "outside the system" working with Connor so we can get objective/different opinions when we need it. Our private therapists know the school district, know what the menu of services are, and attend Connor's IEP meetings with us. 3) We've been fortunate enough to get most of it covered through insurance and we are can afford the remainder.
Shelley ... to post pics, what I do is put them in a password-protected photobucket.com photo album. After that, it is very easy to copy and past the link to add a picture to a post. Photobucket tells you what link to use for any place you want to add a picture.The school district covers Aidan's 20 hour week ABA program, 5 hours of speech and 1 hour of OT. We pay privately for an additional hour/week of OT at a private sensory gym we like. It is out of network but our insurance does pay a small portion I think after we submit the claim it ends up costing us about /week. We are doing a listening program so we paid a couple hundred for the tapes and purchased the headphones, fanny pack thing etc. We pay for a gymboree class once a week and a 2's class once a week - though in september we will pay for Aidan to attend a typical nursery school for 5X/week. Aside from the costs every 6 months from his developmental pediatrician which is $$$ but well worth it - that's about it.
Unless of course you count the bazillions of $$$ I spend on things for his home program. There is little left in any educational warehouse, toy store or book store to buy
This is just WRONG. We should have laws in place prohibiting this kind of variation based upon what health insurance you have or where you live. I think there is a mental health parity act before congress that states that you cannot charge different copays and have different maximum limits for mental health versus medical care. This is a great step forward, but I believe autism is still falling through the cracks. Autism needs to be treated and covered in the same vein as any other medical condition. Maybe in the distant past there was some notion that maybe nothing could be done for autism and the forecast was dismal enough that the policies reflected this, but there is no excuse for this now. How dare someone decide that a child who stutters gets speech therapy, but a child with autism learning to speak does not get that opportunity? I think I have to start writing senators...
Almost nothing
Karrie
I guess I spend a bit. We get OT and speech at school but in my opinion it's not enough so we spend 0 (co- pay) month on private OT , 0 on tutoring at the Emory Autism Clinic, 0 a year for play therapy through LEKOTEK, around 0 (1x) for at home theraputic listening programs, and 0 a semester for Karate at the little gym. Karate and music are not traditional therapies but they are highly recommended by Tony Atwood founder of the Asperger Institute and author of the TAO of Music. I saw him lecture and he was outstanding. We also do regular mommy teacher stuff like workbooks, puzzles, ectNothing out of pocket so far. However, I am considering trying to find a music therapist that I would pay extra for. My son LOVES music, and I have a piano, so it is just trying to find someone who does that kind of thing.Nothing right now. Ryan gets OT & ST through the school system x2 wk.I have been wanted to get him some ST but right now I just can't b/c I get off work to late.My son is 16. Over the years we've sometimes chosen to get him some sort of intervention that we know the school district cannot be made to give him. Also, we pay for his psychiatrist visits to supervise the meds he's now on (just copays). But, for the most part, we have never spent a dime for his therapies and interventions. They are on his IEP. If you don't know how to get your school to provide these services, your money might be better spent getting an advocate to force the schools to DO THEIR JOB and give your son the interventions he needs and they are REQUIRED to give, by law.
Sarah at 3 yr. old never qualified for services in public school for anything but 15 min. of speech a week! We chose to keep her home and did 3 years of ABA 30hrs/week and 2 hours of speech. This was completely out of pocket as our insurance would not pay for ABA at all and speech was not covered with an autism label. So half of my husbands salary paid for it. Some weeks were up to 0.00 and some were @ 0-0.00/week not including all the supplies and reinforcers we bought to keep her motivated:) It was worth it! Our house is over 20 yrs. old, my car is 13 yr. old we live very frugal and I shopped thrift stores for clothes, toys, books ect... we got help from family a few times. I am lucky my husband has a good job and was on board for this therapy and never complained about it once. We would of found a way no matter what job he had though to do this therapy...beg borrow or steal..she had to have it and I think it's criminal that the state of Texas puts the burden on the parents to provide it..many slip through the cracks that were more high functioning than Sarah but the debt would of meant being homeless for many parents esp. young parents.. Me and my hubby have been together for over 26 years since I was 14 so we never felt we had to give up anything. She doesn't get the 30 ABA hours no more and our lives are still the same...I still go to thrift stores and live pretty frugal. All our bills are paid and we have nothing but our house payment and basic bills. I think some parents would give their life to help their child be independent and have a good life...it was a easy decision. I would love to post a pic of Sarah before ABA therapy... and after therapy pic..as the saying goes.....priceless! If someone can pm their private email I can send pics of her before & after..I just can't figure it on this board..don't know HOW I got the one of her on here and still not be able to put other ones on.
Shelley
providing all the services our kids need under what's defined as as free
and appropriate education. Now, having said that, I will say that my
husband and I have made the personal decision to pay quite a bit out of
pocket to provide my son with what we believe to be the "BEST" as
opposed to what's considered "appropriate". We can do this because
we've opted to make some financial sacrifices in the short-term to get our
son "caught-up".
Most of our out-of-pocket expenses are related to my son's ABA
program. He would be able to receive ABA from the SD, but we started it
last summer when school was out (he doesn't qualify for ESY, and quite
frankly even if he did I wouldn't put him in it because the program is so
watered-down and most of the kids are pretty severe with quite a few
behavioral issues). I hired my own ABA consultant and therapists. This
ran us approximately 00 a month up until the end of the year. I did
not shift his ABA over to the SD once school started because things were
going sooooo well and he was improving so quickly, I wanted to keep the
momentum going. In addition, the individuals handling the ABA at school
are no where near as qualified as the one's I'd hired, and I simply chose to
continue to foot the bill because of the tremendous results we were
seeing. We're now down to about 0 a month for his ABA services,
with most of his therapies evolving around social goals. We also pay
tuition for a private pre-school he attends in the afternoon (goes to a
public SE program in the morning). We have ABA therapists with him
there 2 out of the 3 days per week.
In addition, I pay 0 a month in co-pays for private speech. Yes, he
does get ST through the SD, but again, a personal decision to provide him
with some quality 1:1 ST from a therapist who specializes in dealing with
children on the spectrum.
Most of these expenses will cease in approximately 3-6 months,
depending on what I decide to do with my son over the summer. I don't
regret any of the money we've paid out of pocket and truly believe my son
would not have made the amount of progress he's made without it. His
recent ST evaluations show him to now be in the low-end of the average
range for language, he will be going into mainstream Kindergarten next
year, has already mastered most of the Kindergarten academics, has
minimal behavioral issues, extremely good self-help skills, and for all
intents and purposes blends in well with NT kids. His greatest deficits
continue to be social, and this will be an area that we'll probably be
working on for the rest of his life.
DD gets OT/PT and speech in school as well. But, like most other have said here, it's just not enough. Right now we do OT weekly. Change in our insurance policy, so we get 20 sessions/yr and pay the co-pay of for those. After those 20 sessions run out, we're going to use Medicaid to pick up the remaining visits for the year. We'll see how that goes.
Leslie
Well, I'm in the same situation as Shenom and feel the same way she does. We pay about 00 - 00/month for ABA therapy and another 0/month for speech. He gets ST at school and social work. I feel his home ABA program is far better than anything the school could provide and I am willing to pay. His progress has been amazing. I wish I could afford all that. You are very lucky to be able to provide that for your kiddos. I live pretty frugally, but pretty much just make it.I've said it before, I'll say it again... Some schools don't have people who are EFFECTIVE in providing services to our kids. They may have a degree, but no understanding of how to relate to and engage our kids. I pay for private OT - a visit. My son just missed the cut-off for getting direct OT through the school, so this is something I feel I HAVE to do! Plus, our OT does sensory stuff, which the school will NOT do with him (they say that sensory stuff doesn't impact his education - this has been fought before and the school district won two years ago). We are moving, so I am not fighting and am hoping that life will be better in the Twin Cities (which I have heard it will!).
We also pay per visit for private PT. You CANNOT Get PT through the school district here unless your child is pretty much non-ambulatory. This also has been fought and the school district won. This is for pre-school services - my ds can get adaptive phy ed every 6th day once he gets to kindergarten. He gets it once a month in pre-school, which is not helpful. They won't provide him with direct speech services either as he doesn't have articulation difficulties and they generally don't test for pragmatics until age 6 or so. He DOES get social skills stuff at ECSE and Head Start does an hour twice a week for all kids. So, I haven't fought that.
I too, purchase quite a bit of equipment for our house - WAY too much and often stuff that ds ends up not liking or uses once and that's it. I am going to start selling a lot of the stuff on eBay after we move because it is taking up a lot of room and ds won't use it anyway - and we could use the money!
We spend at LEAST 0 a month for services and products/toys/books. But, my son who wouldn't go near a tricycle or big wheel less than a year ago (even though he could pedal) is working on taking his training wheels off his bike. He pedaled a bit by himself without training wheels on Tuesday and was SO proud of himself! I guess I'm doing what I feel like I need to do. Are we going into debt - you bet! I am hoping that once ds and dd are in school full-time that I can go back to work and pay it all off. In the meantime, like I said - I'm going to be selling on eBay and that will provide at least a little bit extra. I've sold about 0 of stuff this month, so that will help if I can keep that up. And the kids grow, so their clothes are always things I can sell...
Well, I think I was going to go clean after my last post - gotta go now!
Here in New Zealand its all payed for by the government. We do have to wait 6 months or so to see the ped. But we don't really have the resources here thats available in the States or the UK. We inquired into ABA but was too costly for us at around k per year (and we only have 2 places here that do ABA I believe - cant really shop around!) All I pay for is his Melatonin and fish oil.We did get Alex into a special needs school - had to really fight for it - and they do some ABA, PECS and other therapies as part of the school carriculum. Hasn't cost us a cent.
Don't get me started. We pay approximately ,000 per month out of pocket. Nothing is covered on insurance (well, the first 15 visits of OT for the year are covered), and he does not qualify for speech or OT at school. We will be tapering down his therapies next year since the school is going to start pulling him out 4x/week for social interaction help so we will eliminate his current social skills group. Medicaid in PA has a clause that it doesn't matter how much you make if you have disabled children you get medicaid. I think it would be that way everywhere. So, we use my husbands private ins. and medicaid which covers everything.Until I read some of the other posts I was starting to feel a little ashamed. Like should I be paying for something. Not like should I pay for some of the things he gets through the school, but like should I be getting him more intervention somehow. So far, I have not payed anything. I will start having to pay for ped neuro follow-ups now because they no longer do follow-ups through CARD because of volumne. They do the initial evaluation and then everything after that is at your expense if your insurance does not cover it, which mine does not.
Our biggest costs have come from gas $ driving our son to and from therapies! His medicaid covers 3 hrs./week private OT and SP. After a long wait, the school district has given him 5 days/week in pre-k autism class with 1 hr. group OT/week and 2 hrs. group SP/week. The teacher is from NY and is ABA certified, so they do some ABA. It is an ok class. Unfortunately, he is the highest fuctioning boy in there and we might have to rethink the placement. Gas $ really is our biggest expense because both the school program and the therapy office are in neighboring towns. We would do so much more if we had the means!!!
I have not had to pay for anything. PDD-NOS son, in PA because my son has a disability he can have our form of medicare (does not go on what we make-not a lot!) and they have paid for therapies, special nursery school and my full time TSS (BSC 3 hours) going to his kindergarten class with him. NOt to mention getting all of his dental, health and a wonderful Neuro developmental pediatrician; they even go so far as to pay for my gas to and from appointments (neuro is 2 and half hours away-but he's worth it)I am a Music Therapist in Virginia and am currently working with parents here to fight the school districts to pay for the services they are legally obligated to provide.
Music Therapy, Art Therapy, OT, PT, SLP, and many other "alternative therapies" are covered under IDEA as Related Services. The catch is that the law does not directly list every single service possible (this is physically impossible) and many school districts take advantage of this to say that the law does not cover it. As a member of the IEP team, the parents can request an evaluation by any of these therapists (demand a certified therapist). If the IEP refuses, there are steps the parents can take to get the schools to pay for the services. All of these steps are outlined in IDEA and in the copies of "Your Rights as Parents/Guardians" that you should get at every meeting you go to.
None of this will guarantee that the school will pay for the service, as many people have already learned, but hopefully it will help out a few. Good Luck!
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