it seems like there have been a lot of posts lately about alternative therapy from the blogs that i follow. now that milo has been doing pt, ot, and st for a while i have been thinking about alternative therapy and if there is more i could be doing. so now where to start? first of all i need to figure out what types of alternative therapy would be best for milo, there are a few that i am really interested in.
HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY -HBOT is a medical treatment that uses pure oxygen to speed and enhance the body's natural ability to heal. in many cases, children with brain disorders have brain cells that are "sleeping". they have enough oxygen to live but don't have enough oxygen to actually function like normal brain cells. these cells can't participate in the recovery process. with HBOT, oxygen bathes the brain cells, giving them enough energy to participate in the recovery process. HBOT also improves the blood supply to these nerve cells that are now awake but have no clear direction as what to do.
recently ellen over at To The Max mentioned how her husband squeezed himself into a narrow glass tube with max for his therapy, which made me want to learn more about HBOT, and now that i have researched it i think this may be a great therapy for milo.
CONDUCTIVE EDUCATION - the conductive education philosophy is based on the adaptive powers of the brain and neurological system. through repetitive tasks, the brain finds new ways to send messages to various muscle groups in order to execute and strengthen the desired movements.
holly over at Caleigh's Corner recently wrote about how caleigh started taking conductive education classes, and jacolyn's daughter grace over at Lieck Triplets goes to A Child Can Do All Things which is a non profit organization which teaches conductive education, it seems like a really awesome place and it happens to be in dallas, where i live.
ADVANCED BIO-MECHANICAL REHABILITATION (ABR) - and last but not least, ABR.
ABR is a method of structural correction of musculoskeletal deformities. it is a hands-on method performed by the parents who learn the ABR technique and individual prescription of applications from ABR professional staff.
so many parents of the blogs that i follow and look to for advice and guidance are involved in ABR. bird over at Bird On the Street recently wrote a post about all of the progress her son charlie has made since they started ABR. nelba over at Chocolachillie has a lot of information about ABR on her blog, as well as jacqui over at Terrible Palsy. i could go on and on because there are so many wonderful parents who write wonderful informative blogs who are doing ABR with their kids. it is something that i would love to do with milo, which brings me to the next part of my post.
how does one go about paying for alternative therapy if it is not covered by insurance? i really don't know how to go about raising the money to pay for alternative therapy, i've racked my brain trying to come up with ideas, but i've got nothing. we definitely don't make enough money to pay out of pocket. any suggestions or ideas would be really helpful....
luvhellokitty3@msn.com
HYPERBARIC OXYGEN THERAPY -HBOT is a medical treatment that uses pure oxygen to speed and enhance the body's natural ability to heal. in many cases, children with brain disorders have brain cells that are "sleeping". they have enough oxygen to live but don't have enough oxygen to actually function like normal brain cells. these cells can't participate in the recovery process. with HBOT, oxygen bathes the brain cells, giving them enough energy to participate in the recovery process. HBOT also improves the blood supply to these nerve cells that are now awake but have no clear direction as what to do.
recently ellen over at To The Max mentioned how her husband squeezed himself into a narrow glass tube with max for his therapy, which made me want to learn more about HBOT, and now that i have researched it i think this may be a great therapy for milo.
CONDUCTIVE EDUCATION - the conductive education philosophy is based on the adaptive powers of the brain and neurological system. through repetitive tasks, the brain finds new ways to send messages to various muscle groups in order to execute and strengthen the desired movements.
holly over at Caleigh's Corner recently wrote about how caleigh started taking conductive education classes, and jacolyn's daughter grace over at Lieck Triplets goes to A Child Can Do All Things which is a non profit organization which teaches conductive education, it seems like a really awesome place and it happens to be in dallas, where i live.
ADVANCED BIO-MECHANICAL REHABILITATION (ABR) - and last but not least, ABR.
ABR is a method of structural correction of musculoskeletal deformities. it is a hands-on method performed by the parents who learn the ABR technique and individual prescription of applications from ABR professional staff.
so many parents of the blogs that i follow and look to for advice and guidance are involved in ABR. bird over at Bird On the Street recently wrote a post about all of the progress her son charlie has made since they started ABR. nelba over at Chocolachillie has a lot of information about ABR on her blog, as well as jacqui over at Terrible Palsy. i could go on and on because there are so many wonderful parents who write wonderful informative blogs who are doing ABR with their kids. it is something that i would love to do with milo, which brings me to the next part of my post.
how does one go about paying for alternative therapy if it is not covered by insurance? i really don't know how to go about raising the money to pay for alternative therapy, i've racked my brain trying to come up with ideas, but i've got nothing. we definitely don't make enough money to pay out of pocket. any suggestions or ideas would be really helpful....
luvhellokitty3@msn.com
9 comments:
I am hoping you get some great advice and I am keeping an eye on this posting! I have no idea how people pay for these alternative treatments and I would love to be able to afford them, too. We are struggling just paying for the deductibles, copays and out of pockets each and every year.
http://hollydgray.blogspot.com/2008/05/mdcp-bridgeport.html
Check out this post on MDCP. This is a program we did through the state to get Caleigh medicaid. Whatever our insurance doesn't pay medicaid picks up the rest. It won't pay for alternative therapies but it does free up extra money that would be going to doctors, etc. Let me know if you have any questions.
I also set up a paypal donating page for Caleigh and put it on our blog. So many people like family and friends want to help but they don't know how. This gave them a way to feel like they were helping out.
Holly
Honestly, we're not sure if HBOT worked, but who knows. We did it because we figured it couldn't hurt. I do know that the clinic we went to managed to find some code that made the insurance offices pay. It's all about finding the right darn codes!
We also did MEDEK therapy, a kind of pt (and the therapist was able to use physical therapy codes). It basically involves things like balancing exercises, getting kids to step in and out of wooden boxes (Google it, there's lots of info out there). I think that really was instrumental in getting Max to walk.
What a wonderfully helpful post!
I hope you might further consider Conductive Education (CE). A Child Can Do All Things provides CE programs in Dallas. For more information and an application form, go to www.accdat.org.
Hi! if you want more info on conductive ed give me a call 214-824-6014. Gave a Merry Christmas!!!
oop I mean have a Merry Christmas. btw....I heart Milo too. He's a cutie!
thanks to everyone who responded to this post, and jacolyn, i will be calling as soon as the chaos of the holidays is over :)
Ahhh. . . well, I think you know where I stand. I continue to be happy with the progress Charlie is making with ABR. There's an ABR satellite in Plano too!
I did a LOT of research into HBOT and a lot of the parents on the ABR support board were wild about it, but I decided it wasn't for us for a couple of reasons. One, the results seem to fade over time. Also, HBOT can present problems for the ears. Since Charlie has vision loss and relies heavily on his hearing, I decided not to mess with it.
I'm not familiar with Conductive Ed, but I have read some people who are big fans of it.
Paying for it. . . first and foremost, we've had some major donations from family members. WE're honest about costs and they've been generous. I used credit card miles to pay for lodging while we in Montreal, but some parents stay at the Ronald McDonald house. The best idea I heard for fundraising was to have a really big garage sale. Ask people to make donations and sell everything you can. We're planning one for March and I'm already starting to get donations. You might also contact local service groups to do things like car washes or bake sales. I know that when I was in college our service group was always looking for projects that were relatively easy and that a lot of people could participate in.
thank you so much for the advice bird :)
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