United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

My son is transferring from Early Intervention for the school system. They aren't wanting to offer him therapy since he is doing really well right now. Any suggestions? He's doing well because he's had therapy and he needs it to continue to make progress!

I remember when the same thing happened to Amaya. Because she was so "functional" they denied her through the school system even though she still needed therapy. I was able to get it for a whil through our insurance company but it has been a constant battle for us and she is 9 years old now. I really wish I had some great piece of advice to give you other than to keep fighting for the needs of your child. We continue to do excercised at home, I keep Amaya in physical activities and she plays the clarinet.

My son is 12 1/2 and school is wanting to stop OT...he has had several surgeries and I think that is how we have been able to keep it for so long, and we are in a relatively small school. He still goes to Easter Seals for formal therapy. He has a 504 plan in place for his disability, I will never let them try to drop that!! I understand why they want to drop him from OT at school, he is functional in the classroom, they only "monitor" him on a quarterly basis. I am going to ask them to "monitor" him on maybe a 1 per semester basis, so they won't try taking his 504 away next. He is in 6th grade and I know will need the 504 through high school.


http://specialchildren.about.com/od/504s/qt/504faq.htm

The same thing happened to my daughter when she was turning 3 --we had her evaluated by the local preschool system and she functioned too well. (We had gone through 2 surgeries, plus extensive therapy ,NMES, etc. to get her to that point ) At the time, they said they could not guarantee that she would receive weekly therapy if we enrolled her in the preschool program due to them having so many other "needy" kids to serve. So we did not enroll her and her formal OT stopped at that point. She is now 8 years old and has not had any formal therapy since the age of 3. Right now, her "therapy" is swim lessons, dance classes, and piano lessons. However, I feel that she is losing some range of motion in raising her arm overhead and she cannot inwardly rotate enough with her left arm to touch her belly button, button pants, put hand on hip, etc. although she is close to being able to do these things. I would love to get her some therapy (even if temporary) to work on these things now that she is getting older. She funtions in the classroom and at school fine and we have not felt the need to get a 504 or IEP in place. Any suggestions on ways that we might be able to get her some OT by other means? Are there other options out there that have been successful for your children? I know that we cannot afford to pay $200 a session without any help from our insurance.

I live in Illinois and we have what is called the Division of Specialized Care for Children...they help pay for children with special healthcare needs. They pay after our insurance does so we don't end up paying any out of pocket for OT...I don't know what state you live in, Karen, but maybe they would have something like that where you live.

Hope this helps.