An Angry Rant

Owen is in speech therapy - or I should say was in speech therapy. He has an expressive language delay, which basically means that he can't speak well or say the things he wants to, which is extremely frustrating for him and for us. He can understand everything we say, follow instructions, listen to stories and understand everything around him. He just can't get the words out to express himself.

He was a late babbler and late with first words. We knew with NF that there was a possibility of learning delays and other developmental issues, and I thank God every day that all we really have to deal with is speech. Because of his NF his pediatrician was very proactive in putting him in therapy early, which we did. And then discovered that Aetna doesn't cover speech therapy unless it is a loss of speech due to injury, which obviously he doesn't have. So we quit private therapy and went through the state of NC. It was fabulous, it was easy, he automatically qualified for services because of his NF, and within 2 weeks of speaking to a case worker O started therapy at daycare once a week - free of charge.

We love his therapist, she is so great with him. And with us. She always sent home notes, ideas, tips, things to do to work with him. Owen began to make more sounds, try harder to talk and to imitate. Granted, he still didn't say much that made sense, but was making the effort to communicate with us a lot more. We had therapy for about 6 months and then our case worker called saying the state was doing a budget review and finances were being changed, so we might have to come out of pocket for some cost of therapy. They needed our 2010 1040 and insurance card and would work up the numbers. No big deal.

On July 1st, the CDSA changed how they ran the program and the way that services were charged. Since our insurance covers $0 of therapy, we were now responsible for a certain percentage of the cost of each session. To the tune of 80%, or a little more than $80 a week. We argued that our 2010 1040 was not accurate for our situation now since I no longer work and we are missing almost half our income, we argued that he has a genetic condition that puts him in the program, we argued back and forth with the people in charge for weeks about how he needs the services and we can't do $350 extra a month with me not working and quite out of the blue. What we were assured was a minimal change to services now means that Owen does not get therapy at all. We had to stop completely and it PISSES ME OFF to no end.

My child needs to receive services. Why is nothing covered by health insurance (that we pay a good chunk of money for)? Why did the state make cuts to programs that are so desperately needed by many children? Because of all of this, I get to feel like a crappy mother who can't provide the help that her child needs. Will Owen never talk? No, of course not. He is already talking more and making a lot of progress. And thanks to his awesome therapist, I have the tools to work with him. But still, there is something to be said for a state that cuts money and corners where it is most needed.