I try not to think too much about how much we shell out for Max's therapy, because obviously that is the most financially responsible thing to do. Right. Really, we don't have much choice. He needs extra speech and occupational therapy sessions at home, besides the ones he gets at school, especially while he is still young. An so that's priority spending in our house.
The insurance company pays 70 percent for speech therapy, but has been bouncing back all of the occupational therapy bills because supposedly it's not covered under our plan. (Which means we're in the process of trying to figure out which diagnosis codes will work.) I've never bothered trying to get reimbursed for music therapy because for sure we would get back an Explanation of Benefits that read "You've got to be kidding."
What we pay for Max's therapists (we're in the metropolitan NY area):
Speech therapist #1: $110 for 45 minutes
Speech therapist #2: $110 for 1 hour
Ooccupational therapist #1: $100 for 1 hour
Occupational therapist #2 (who's part of a practice): $155 for 1 hour
Music therapist: $100 for 1 hour
Art therapist (more on her another time, just found her!): $100 for 1 hour
Spaghetti therapy: Free
A few weeks ago, we met with an occupational therapist who works for herself and who charges $155 an hour. Sigh. But then again, good OTs and STs who come to your home are at a premium and because I work, we have no choice but to use them.
Hey, I've got an idea! We should start charging the kids for all the therapy we do for them! Max, you owe me millions.
OK, what do your child's therapists charge?
Flickr/Brockney52
