How on earth are you suppose to pay for Vision Therapy?

[CD'sMom]

My son who is in 1st grade needs vision therapy. Which is fine w/ me espcially if it will help. BUT it costs almost $6300! We can do payments of $180/week. But who has that extra cash laying around. We have been wracking our brains trying to figure out a way to pay for this. Does anyone have any ideas on how to pay for this or what to do? I feel so terrible for my little guy struggling like he is. And his teacher thinks he should be held back (hes already older than the other kids). Ugg! Any suggestions? 

Thanks!

[Jen Muise]

Does your insurance cover any of it?  Sometimes you can use your coverage to help as well if they cover you for a fixed amount - for instance, we have 500$ coverage for psychologists.  But they can charge dh & I for reports and interviews, and charge dd for the actual testing so it becomes 1500$.  Also, if we do it over year end so half the charge is in one year and half in the other, we can make it to 3000$.

Another option is to call your local kiwanis or lions or whatever you've got down there - sometimes they have programs or are willing ot do fundraisers for kids who have special needs.  Churches can sometimes helpb too.  Or, host a fundraising event yourself - garage sale, dinner whatever. 

[NiteNicole]

My daughter could use PT and OT but our insurance doesn't cover them (we were quoted $475 and $875/half hour each).  I totally understand.  It's very frustrating to know there's something your child NEEDS and you can't provide it, it is especially frustrating when doctors keep recommending it as if a. you're too stupid to remember the last time they brought it up and b. everyone just has that lying around. 

My only advice is call around and see if anyone will work with you on a low and long term payment plan or sliding scale.

We still haven't found a solution.

[rainbringer]

Will they let you use a computer program, rather than weekly office visits?  We have switched to computer and only go in for re evaluations, much less expensive that way.  Good luck!

[CD'sMom]

Thanks everyone. This is so frustrating. We are still waiting to hear back from the ins company, evethough the eye dr "does not accept assignment from insurance companies". What?? I mean how can she expect someone to pay that much? Someone with small children at that. We can make payments at $180 a week or $500+ a month. Insane!

There is another place that will work with us and our ins. company if the ins. company agrees to it. So we are looking into this other place and just waiting to hear back from the ins. company. Thanks again everyone.

[CD'sMom]

I'm not sure about a computer program...the eye dr. didnt say there was one so probably not. Hopefully this other place will have a few more options.

[summerlake]

My Dd went through 3 months of vision therapy last year and neither our main insurance plan or vision plan covered any of it. It was crazy expensive. We did in office visits twice a week and also bought two computer programs to use 5 days a week. The software was $250-300 each, but we used it ( and still do a year later) consistently.

I'm not sure what could help. Family offered us money to help. We only had one vision therapist in town and they did not do any sliding scales. It doesn't hurt to ask though.

[rskye]

If your son is visually impaired, the school district should be providing a TVI (teacher for the visually impaired) for "Vision Services," and adaptive equipment if he needs it.  If they're not providing this, you can certainly request an eval by a TVI.

..Or is the therapy you're talking about outside the scope of what a TVI (teacher for the visually impaired) can do?  

[annalaurabrown]

Try doing a fundraiser. You would be surprised how many people and businesses will donate items you can sell or food for a dinner, if you just ask around. You could raise a large portion if not all of the money that way. If you want more assistance with the how, I've done a lot of fundraisers and would be happy to help. You can contact me via my blog on my profile. 

[fairejour]

Can it be written into his IEP? Then the school must provide it for free.

[CD'sMom]

I have been trying to come up with a fundraiser of some sort. :) I was thinking a spaghetti dinner or something through the church (which is part of the school he goes to). Any suggestion I would appreciate because I have never done anything like that before.

 Rskye...he isn't visually impaired. It really doesn't have much to do with eye sight, weirdly enough. ;)

fairejour....Nope no IEP. The ISD does not support that kind of therapy. Very annoying!

But thank you everyone for your suggestions. We recently found out there is no way insurance will cover it. So we are kinda back to square one and looking into fundraising. I feel funny doing a fundraiser when it doesn't have to do with his health. kwim?

[annalaurabrown]

You can still do it. Here is what I would do:

Get a letter from the doctor who will provide the vision therapy that explains exactly how much it will cost and why your son needs it and how it will help him.

Then set up a day and time for a fundraising dinner. You can either use a church and get people to donate the food and to help you cook it or you can consider finding a restaurant that hosts fundraisers. For example, I know that Mimi's the restaurant does them. Once you have that set up then you can approach some small or medium sized businesses to help you by donating auction items. You can just walk in and show them the letter and ask if they can donate anything. You could also collect gift certificates. Another idea is to contact anyone you know who has a direct sales business like Mary Kay, Tupperware, Pampered Chef, Avon, Scentsy, etc and see about having them help you do a fundraiser. Most of these companies have a fundraising program and you can make quite a bit of money with these. You could do it as a separate fundraiser, or you could have 3-5 of these reps come to your dinner and sell products and then donate a portion of their proceeds to your fundraiser. 

[Emmeline II]

Originally Posted by CD'sMom 

I feel so terrible for my little guy struggling like he is. And his teacher thinks he should be held back (hes already older than the other kids). Ugg! Any suggestions?

Nope no IEP. The ISD does not support that kind of therapy. Very annoying!

But thank you everyone for your suggestions. We recently found out there is no way insurance will cover it. So we are kinda back to square one and looking into fundraising. I feel funny doing a fundraiser when it doesn't have to do with his health. kwim?

If he is in public school, under IDEA/IEP, if your child has a disability that adversely affects educational performance, your child is entitled to an education that is designed to meet the child's unique needs and from which your child receives educational benefit; and the services provided must have a researched based methodology (The IEP from A to Z). So, though the district may not have to provide a particular therapy, they do need to provide appropriate services (which may end up being that therapy).

Since it is getting to the end of the year and his teacher is talking retention, I would find the special education page of your state department of education and see what information they have in terms of a free or low-cost advocate.

Below are some links that may be useful. Wrightslaw has a lot of advice on creating a paper trail and how to handle a crisis situation (like retention) with the school.

I recommended reading "Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy"; the information from the book can be found on their site as well (Table of Contents). Reading "Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 2nd Edition," would be a good idea as well).

If you decide to request the school do an evaluation, you need to "start the clock" in your letter of request; the school has 60 days from the date they received parental consent for evaluation to do the evaluation; your written request should note that this letter is the consent for evaluation. (And, if you did not do it in writing, it never happened!).

Determining Eligibility: How Many Days is 60 Days? - Wrightslaw

The Art of Writing Letters by Pam and Pete Wright - Advocacy ...
 

Independent Education Evaluations: What? How? Why? Who Pays?

Independent Evaluations: Must Parents Select an Evaluator from the School's Approved List?