Developmental optometrist questions

seeker

Tue, Jan 13 2015, 3:10 pm

1. Is developmental optometry evaluation and/or vision therapy ever covered by any insurance/DOE? If you know anything about this can you please reply in detail.

2. Can anyone recommend someone good in NY? Manhattan or Brooklyn preferred? I would like to know if there is someone who doesn't prescribe vision therapy for everyone. I wouldn't be surprised if my child needs it (obviously there is a reason I'm seeking the eval) but my feeling is that this is the type of field where some people just prescribe their therapy for everyone or tend to see issues even when the "issue" is really developmentally OK and doesn't really require therapy. I am soooo not interested in starting a new kind of therapy unless it is really truly indicated by someone who really knows.

Thanks for sharing.

amother

Tue, Jan 13 2015, 3:49 pm

DOE only pays for vision eval, when there is a problem such as nystagmus or blindness etc. Your health insurance should cover a conventional eye exam by an optometrist/ophthalmologist. The old-schooled ophthalmologists will probably not recommend vision therapy based on their exam, if they see that the eye muscles are working in sync etc. Somebody like Dr. Ruttner, Dr. Hazai etc. at Ezra Medical in Brooklyn would be the right address if you're looking to get it covered by your insurance. They definitely believe in vision therapy. They are accused of overdiagnosing, however, with my own child, I found that they were honest. I asked about the severity of the problem, and whether or not we could possibly wait a bit before initiating therapy, as I couldn't possibly manage it at that time. We were told we could wait, which we did. If you're thinking of seeing somebody like Dr. Seeworf (sp.?), (the "prism glasses expert" in NJ), that would not be covered by insurance, as far as I know.

seeker

Tue, Jan 13 2015, 3:53 pm

No no, prism glasses and developmental optometry are a whole different ballgame. I'm talking about things like eye tracking, convergence, that type of stuff. There were also concerns about not differentiating between colors that are close but not the same (e.g. pink/purple, orange/yellow) which I have no idea what anyone would do about that or why/how much it would be a concern, but the question was whether it is a vision thing or something else.

Coke Slurpee

Tue, Jan 13 2015, 5:24 pm

I think some insurance companies do cover vision therapy partially, but definitely not all do. I don't know anything about the DOE.
I'm not on the east coast so I can't give you any reccomendations. The DO we used is known to not be vision therapy happy.
Vision therapy really made a huge difference for my kids.
Good luck!

bnm

Tue, Jan 13 2015, 5:27 pm

my kid got seen at Ezra and they DIDN"T perscribe vision therapy. Maybe New York Eye and Ear hospital has a division that takes insurance? I seem to remember seeing a Dr. Freidman there many years ago.

amother

Tue, Jan 13 2015, 6:32 pm

Developmental optometry and vision therapy can overlap with prisms sometimes.

I know you want Brooklyn or Manhattan, but my kids went to Dr. Bruce Meyer in oradell, nj. (Thats northern, near teaneck).They got covered for about half with a special way of billing. You can google him and call and ask what code they use to bill.

It did take awhile until it all processed, though, and I had to pay out of pocket before that.