Tell me about Early Intervention

jennbent

Several of DS' doctors have suggested we sign up for BabyNet, the EI service here in South Carolina.  DS is 7 weeks adjusted/4 mos actual.  He already gets OT, PT and ST at a great private facility through the hospital. 

Initially, I was really turned off by the idea of someone I don't know coming into our home every week.  My feelings were further cemented by the fact that all three of his therapists warned us NOT to use the program due to inexperience of the therapists and a variety of other reasons.  However, recently I was reading on one of the preemie Facebook pages that I follow, and tons of parents spoke very highly of the in-home EI services that they receive.  It made me wonder if I should give BabyNet a second look??  I want to do what's best for DS, so I feel very conflicted.  Why are all of his doctors trying to push it if we already see private therapists outside of the home?  Especially if all of his private therapists - who work in the same hospital system as his doctors - are telling us NOT to do it?

I'm curious to hear about your experiences with EI in the home.  How old was your LO when you started using it?  How has it been?  Do you also go to private therapy outside the home?  Which do you like better? 

TIA!

Pips09

We have had a great experience with EI. It was recommended to us at our NICU follow-up clinic. We started at just under a year old actual for feeding issues. We have really made a lot of progress and we are now considering ending the therapy because we are doing so well. The therapist is definitely not inexperienced. She has been an OT for years (she is probably around 40ish). She is professional and is very flexible with scheduling, which is important for me because I work full time.

We have never seen a private therapist, so no answers for you there. But it doesn't surprise me that a private therapist paid for by insurance would look down upon a free state or county program. We found EI to be very helpful, and I'd recommend it (or at least our county's program). Good luck to you!

jennbent

Thank you all for your responses! 

Several of you have brought up a good point that I have wondered about.  Our insurance *does* pay for for private services, so there has been no out of pocket costs for us.  So yes, it IS in the best interest of these private therapists to keep us coming to their facility, rather than the state-run program. 

I have to admit that it would be nice to not have to drive downtown every week to the germy facility where he currently has all of his therapy sessions.  Perhaps I will check into it and ask his pedi at his appointment on Thursday before making the final decision.

komurphy

Hi, I just wanted to chime in because I think we had a different experience then many of the other commenters.

 

When my twins came home from the NICU we were refered to EI for PT, Speech and OT (for feeding issues, torticolus, plagiocephaly, hypotonia, ect).  In our state EI is "payment of last resort" meaning its only covered if you don't have private insurance or meet income requirements. So we paid $80 per session per kid. Which added up quickly.  Also, in our state their isn't many in home therapists so we ended up having to take our twins to the therapists offices several times a week. We also didn't get the same therapists every time which made it hard for our twins to bond with them. 

We ended up switching to the private therapists after 3 months.  We did this because our insurance covers PT, OT and speech with only a 20$ copay and we always saw the same therapists. We've done this for a year and have loved it. And the added bonus is that since our therapists are in the same hospital as the NICU they coordinate with my twins developmental pediatrician and NICU doctors on care.

 

Our pediatrician told us that in our state that our experience was pretty common.  Like other commentors have said every state is different.  

jennbent

komurphy:

Hi, I just wanted to chime in because I think we had a different experience then many of the other commenters.

 

When my twins came home from the NICU we were refered to EI for PT, Speech and OT (for feeding issues, torticolus, plagiocephaly, hypotonia, ect).  In our state EI is "payment of last resort" meaning its only covered if you don't have private insurance or meet income requirements. So we paid $80 per session per kid. Which added up quickly.  Also, in our state their isn't many in home therapists so we ended up having to take our twins to the therapists offices several times a week. We also didn't get the same therapists every time which made it hard for our twins to bond with them. 

We ended up switching to the private therapists after 3 months.  We did this because our insurance covers PT, OT and speech with only a 20$ copay and we always saw the same therapists. We've done this for a year and have loved it. And the added bonus is that since our therapists are in the same hospital as the NICU they coordinate with my twins developmental pediatrician and NICU doctors on care.

 

Our pediatrician told us that in our state that our experience was pretty common.  Like other commentors have said every state is different.  

Thanks for your response!  One of our private therapists told us something about this, but I didn't understand what she was talking about at the time.  Now I'm wondering if it's the same situation as what you describe - we would have to pay out of pocket to see them.  I'm not sure.  We have a pedi appt tomorrow so I will ask her if she knows about it at that time.