Durable Medical Equipment

I am happy to say that we have had a rebound from last week's discouragement!  Saturday we had our first get together with other families with Apraxia in the area and it went really well.  There were members of five families there and while it was a bit crazy with the kids climbing all over the giant tunnel gym, it was so helpful for the parents to chat and compare treatments and progress. One of the moms said it was like a counseling session. :) We plan on getting together again soon!

Yesterday was a very big day for us!  Levi had his usual speech therapy appointment at Munroe Meyer and then right after it was his evaluation for an augmentative device. At first we sort of talked about what my observed concerns and needs were for him, and then we went into a room with toys and devices. The first thing they did was put a device on the table and ask him what he wanted to do. It literally took him no time to get things down. He tapped right on to the cars and they said "Oh, cars? OK! They are right here!" They went on doing a series of things like that, asking him questions and guiding him through the device to respond. Before we knew it, they were asking him "What do you want to do?" and he was tapping things like "car crash" and crashing the car into a block or "crash horse" and crashing the car into a toy horse. There was a monster on the hood of the truck and the specialist added a button for it since he was pointing to the monster so much. I sat across the table and it took everything I had not to start crying. He looked SO HAPPY. The specialist actually mentioned that when Levi tapped and 'said' "I want to play" he looked up with a face so happy and looking like 'I just said that!!'. It was so sweet. Best of all, he was mimicking whatever word he tapped and heard the device say. He actually said "bo" for blow, which is a sound that we had just literally spent a half hour trying to get out of him in speech therapy, but hadn't heard. Not only did he do amazing with the device and catch on with the communication assistance it provided very quickly, but it also was encouraging sounds and word approximations out of him beyond what I ever could of hoped. So, in a word, it went amazing! Levi tried out three different devices and did very well with all of them, but I settled on the one I felt was the best size, light weight, and made in Nebraska, which may save us some hassle. I hope to have pictures soon, but it essentially looks and works like and ipad mini with speakers mounted on the back and a handle on top.

The not as exciting news is that it will most likely be a bit of a battle to get insurance to come through on this. While they should approve it and cover it, they will most likely deny the prior authorization that they require and we will need to appeal, perhaps a few times. There also may be a battle to get the manufacturer considered "in network" for insurance. In theory they should be able to make it happen, but insurance companies can be.... interesting... to work with, and I'm not holding my breath. If it is not considered in network, we will need to cover 20% of the cost. Seeing they way Levi interacted with it, however, we would find a way to pay for it, whatever the cost. It is so exciting! Starting next week we should be able to get a two week trial of the device and then hopefully have our own with the next month or so, depending on how long things go with insurance. With insurance, the device is actually coded under "Durable Medical Equipment", the same categories as wheelchairs and other similar items. It is an odd feeling having a child need such a thing, however we still have so much hope that he will overcome this, perhaps faster than we could ever imagine, and I know that his need of it will be temporary. For the meantime, I'm so thankful that we have it as a tool to help him!  I can't wait to see him communicate in a new way I've never seen!


In other news..... Abby lost her first tooth! It was very exciting and the tooth fairy came, even though the tooth accidentally went down the garbage disposal. Whoops! Abby claims she was a topic of discussion at preschool. Tooth loss envy. #fiveyearoldproblems Our little girl is growing up!