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What to spend my money on first!?!?



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amother
Purple


 

Post Thu, Mar 26 2015, 9:48 pm
One of my kids needs therapy, I've been pushing it off for a few years hoping the problem will solve itself but it's not. All the good psychologists/therapists do not take insurance, so we're talking about over $1000 for evaluation and 5 - 6 sessions. With all of this fire safety scare I realized that my house is not up to code for fire safety and we need to spend money making our house safe, how can we not? (smoke detectors are working but other things for windows etc). Then I want my kids to have a jewish education, so I work my head off to make enough money for tuition (and we still can't pay full). Then there's the basics such as food, shelter, and health insurance.
Help!!! Where should I put my money first???
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amother
Honeydew


 

Post Thu, Mar 26 2015, 10:00 pm
What kind of therapy? My DS has had speech, OT and behavioral therapy and it was all paid for by insurance. Maybe we didn't go to the top-top doctors, but they were still in the top tier. Keep looking into it.

As far as fire safety - as many people have mentioned on other threads - these tragedies are horrifyingly scary, but you cannot live your life in fear. If you have smoke detectors and other basic safety elements in your house, I don't think that's a place I would spend money on right now.
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amother
Purple


 

Post Thu, Mar 26 2015, 10:12 pm
My son needs social and behavioral therapy, my insurance only covers people without a good reputation unfortunately, all the good ones don't take insurance. It's different than OT, my other child gets OT and that is covered. As for fire safety, I know you are right logically, but I've hardly been sleeping well due to anxiety over this, and I at least have to spend some money on my windows upstairs. I don't know
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amother
Honeydew


 

Post Thu, Mar 26 2015, 10:18 pm
Did you speak to your pediatrician if they have any way to help you with regards to the therapy? They may be able to guide you in a way that your insurance would cover it.

I would also call up childrens' hospitals in your area. My friend got her son into a "study" for behavioral issues and is not paying a penny for his therapy.
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naturalmom5




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Mar 26 2015, 10:51 pm
Are you very adverse to homeschooling
Only because many ppl spend a huge FORTUNE and get very little to show for their $
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mirror




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Mar 26 2015, 11:57 pm
amother wrote:
My son needs social and behavioral therapy, my insurance only covers people without a good reputation unfortunately, all the good ones don't take insurance. It's different than OT, my other child gets OT and that is covered. As for fire safety, I know you are right logically, but I've hardly been sleeping well due to anxiety over this, and I at least have to spend some money on my windows upstairs. I don't know


What do you mean by "without a good reputation"? Can these therapists offer any benefits or do you truly believe they will destroy your child?
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lfab




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Mar 27 2015, 9:29 am
OP Where do you live? If you are in NYC you may be able to get something through the DOE. Not sure how great it would be but it may be better than nothing if you are cash strapped right now.
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TwinsMommy




 
 
    
 

Post Fri, Mar 27 2015, 11:44 am
if your kiddo needs social and behavioral therapy I assume he's on an IEP? If the IEP isn't enough (it often isn't with social/behavioral kids) you can request a FREE FBA/BIP. The district will bring in a behavioral specialist or if you don't like who the district provides YOU can have a behavioral specialist from your county board come in and do an FBA. (I assume that you HAVE a behavioral specialist with your county board with whom you've been working? That's a free first step--- ours was able to come once a week at the most which wasn't ENOUGH but it was FREE and she was GOOD! In our county (in Ohio) it's called BCIS. Might be called something else elsewhere).

Is he on waiver wait lists? If he is in desperate need of behavior therapy you might be able to reach priority status on waiver wait lists. Here in Ohio we have IO, Level One, and SELF. To get SELF, you have to be one of the most behaviorally challenging kids in the county. My daughter got SELF-- woo hoo! My son needs it too, but I have him on priority status. SELF waiver is paying for 8 hours of ABA therapy per week for my daughter. I get $25,000 a year to spend on therapies insurance doesn't cover.

What do you need for your upstairs windows? Are you renting or do you own? If you're renting, your landlord should pay if you're not up to code. If you bought I don't know how you bought something that wasn't up to code. All we have are smoke detectors on every floor. They work, so we're done--- don't know what else we would need...?!?!

So I guess I'd work on the fire safety and therapy issues first if it were me. Tuition is a luxury--- my kids go to public school and are happy. Would I prefer a Jewish school? Of course. But due to their special needs it's not an option now. If your kiddo with the therapy needs is in a Jewish school, perhaps switching him to public would make all the difference--- if he's in a Jewish school now he likely has a one on one aide rather than an intervention specialist--- the intervention specialists are SKILLED in working towards IEP goals and sticking to a BIP developed from a solid FBA.

As far as food, shelter, health insurance goes, you probably already know how to pay one credit card bill this month, and a different one the next month, and put these two bills on that credit card the next month---- that's gotten us through some lean years.
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amother
Purple


 

Post Fri, Mar 27 2015, 6:00 pm
Thanks for your detailed post twins mommy and others. I never considered tuition a luxury, but now that I have all these other issues cropping up it's becoming kind of like lets roll the dice. I did take my son to someone who took insurance, it was terrible and didn't help at all, and all of the recommendations I get are for non insurance people. Maybe I am taking the fire thing too far, but right now we just have a window upstairs, and nothing to help anyone get out of it. Plus it's locked for safety for kids, so that has to be dealt with. Also I kind of wanted to check our wiring just to make myself feel better, but maybe that's not necessary.
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amother
Floralwhite


 

Post Fri, Mar 27 2015, 6:24 pm
OP, you're right: most psychologists I know don't take insurance. However, your insurance plan may pay you something if you file a claim after you pay the dr. If you live near a med school with a child psychiatry fellowship program or near a university with a good grad program in psychology or social work, you may be able to go through the clinic there and have your child by an advanced student or fellow. They get close supervision by faculty. My husband supervises residents who see patients. The patients pay less and essentially get 2 doctors.
Window: if smoke detectors are working and in the right places, you should be ok. Are your children even old enough to climb down a chain ladder?
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