Thanks! One more stroller question

[Esmeralda123]

Wow! The replies to my questions about strollers for 1 70lb+ child were fantastic. Thanks everyone!

I have done some research and will probably purchase a MaCleran stroller. I know we will probably not be able to get our insurance to cover it. Does anyone know of places (possibly even online) that sell used equipment like this? I realize I will probably have to bit the bullet and pay the full price, but thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

We do not need to worry about her using the stroller on school transportation because she will not be attending public schools. She will be attending a private kindergarten and then I will have to home school her until 3rd grade when she will start a private school for children with exceptionalities.

I am amazed at all of you that have actually had success with the public school, it has been a total nightmare for us and I finally had to give up or lose what little sanity I had left. Maybe I need to move to another state!

 

[teri]

Originally posted by Esmeralda123
I am amazed at all of you that have actually had success with the public school, it has been a total nightmare for us and I finally had to give up or lose what little sanity I had left. Maybe I need to move to another state! [/B]

What makes you think I am still sane????? LOL!!!!
I fought like crazy for full inclusion. The crazy part stuck.

 

[SueM in MN]

You still might be able to get the McClaren stroller covered by insurance, so don't totally give up on that. It may take a few denials, but it's worth trying. The letter of medical necessity to ask for it has to state it is a piece of mobility equipment that is necessary for your child. If she is getting one of them that holds up to 100 pounds, that is certainly a piece of "durable medical equipment" (the term in most insurance policies). Sometimes you have to prove that this is equipment that people without disabilities would not use; well, not too many people are going to use a stroller for a child that size.
McClaren has been making special needs strollers for many years. I first became aware of the company about 20 years ago when I was in public health. For some reason (probably because it is a British company, as I recall) we always called them McClaren "buggies" even though they were what you would call a stroller in the US. The company may be able to help you with funding questions. A lot of equipment companies have funding specialists.

PS. We went with public schools because our DD is multiply handicapped, including cerebral palsy. If she went to a private school at the time she started school, they would not have been obligated to provide any physical, ocupational or speech thereapy. And our insurance would not pay for it, since therapy is a school responsibility for school age kids.

 

[Esmeralda123]

Thank you Teri and Sue!

I guess it is a stretch to call myself sane too....it's just that I am a single parent on a straight commission job, it was cheaper to put her in private school than to keep missing so much work.

Sue, you have me worried about the therapy issues. Currently Elayna is recieving weekly speech therapy, physical therapy and every other week psychological services through our insurance. She spent 1.5 years in public school and at that time she was getting both public services and private services. Is this something I need to worry about? Have I just been lucky and this could change in the future?

Thanks again for your help. Given my pediatrician's view that if it is too difficult to take her to WDW I should just stay home I doubt he will be to supportive. The task of finding a new pediatrician is a daunting one, but maybe one I need to consider.

Thanks again!

 

[SueM in MN]

Well, who said i was sane either?
I've just gotten thru a very stressful week, work related (averted nursing strike in Minneapolis-St. Paul), so take anything I say in the next 2 weeks with a grain of salt.

I wouldn't be too worried about the therapy issue. There are some church supported private schools that are not supportive of accepting government help (our situation and my DD entered Kindergarten 9 years ago), so I'm sure things have things have changed. We also belonged to an HMO, which didn't want to pay anything; they denied a CAT scan because it should have been done in the doctor's office (NO doctor has that equipment in their office). They also denied physical therapy a few weeks after she got her legs out of casts after surgery because it was summer and "many students request therapy during the summer, so we refuse them all". They actaully wrote that in a letter and would not budge on the denial.

For the pediatrician, I would ask the therapists or parents of other special needs kids who they would recommend. We had the same situation. Our pediatrician did't believe in Early childhood Education (he probably was of the "lock them away somewhere" mentality). What was really scary was that he ran for the school board and won a few years later. We were in an HMO and he basically turned our DD over to the neurologist (who was great) and the Neurodevelopmental Clinic at our hospital. That didn't really cut it with the HMO; she had to have a primary physician. We found one who was really great, but then we moved a few years later .
The pediatrician we have now is more just to have one than anything else. Her neurologist and a Physical Medicine doctor are much more important and are the ones we see.

 

[tammie]

hi........we were very lucky that our insurance paid for johnathan stroller........it took a letter from his doctor and the pt for us to get a stroller......basicitly it said that johnathan had autism and sometime very hard to control and we needed to keep him safe so he does not get hurt.........johnathan is a very fast runner and a stroller it the best thing to keep him in........and he love to ride in his stroller..........we have pretty good insurance and we have a great pt.........she allso wrote a note saying that johnathan allso need a stroller for safey resons.......we allso have a handycapp sticker for the car so when we go to disney we have that and for home allso.................i hope this helps tammie

 

[LvsTnk]

Esmaralda, I homeschool our DS and he still gets his services at our neighborhood school where he went when he was included. I do have to take him back and fourth but they have allowed us to paricipate in afterschool activities and to use their computers for special programs they have for them. It has been great because he can still socialize with the kids in the area and I don't have to loose my sanity LOL! I also just purchased another Maclaren (DS was very hard on the first one) from adaptivemall.com and I got it in 3 days. Just so you know if you need any of the accessories they were on backorder from 3 to 5 wks. Good Luck to you, Laurie.

 

[momejay]

School Systems are going to be one battle after another. Every IEP meeting I'm upset. (June 8th is next one) Our school system is hopefully sending my ds to a private school next year. They want to drug him & I won't allow it. I blame some of his problems on drugs they've tried in the past. Read up on everything, search the net, ask friends & other parents for opinions. I found out, after giving my son a drug for 18 months, that it causes neurological damage in pediatric cases. (he was 18 months at the time) I stopped giving it to him & went to another doctor. This one tried another drug. It took 4 aides to get him out of speech therapy. (he was 3 years old) I've been called to come pick up my son because he has behavioral problems. (he's autistic) For every hill my ds seems to climb he seems to fall down 1,000 times first. Our teachers are great, & in perfect world...