When you have a child, other than gifts at the shower or birthdays, you don't expect someone else to help you buy the things you need or help you financially with some of your expenses in caring for and raising that child. You take on the task of being a parent knowing that this child's well being falls under your direct emotional, physical and financial support.
But change your kids needs to moderate and the equipment, toys and supplies become ridiculously overpriced. Now, change your kids needs again to significant and you've reached a place where even the basic things like a chair are several hundreds of dollars.
In a world where adaptive equipment and toys are the norm for us now, it still doesn't feel like this is our normal.
It is a frustrating feeling to know your child needs something and not have the money to pay for it. And it isn't like we are needing something extravagant! Just basics. Just a chair for Liam to sit in that would allow him to sit at the table with us or play at floor height with us is $400. And this is for a chair made of mostly high density foam and plastic! When items can't be manufactured, reproduced and sold in bulk at low cost retailers like Wal-mart, the costs go up significantly.
I know most people think that insurance and medicaid pays for these things that special needs kids need, but they don't. Our insurance and medicaid will pay for only 1 large piece of equipment that provides seating/mobility every 3-4 years. One. That leaves anything else we would like to have or need in order to make Liam's and our lives easier up to us.
Insurance and medicaid think that leaving a child in the same wheelchair/stroller all day long is sufficient.
We are in the process of trying to get Liam an adaptive stroller. Insurance needs more information as of right now in order to proceed, but I am hoping Liam will have it by Oct or Nov. That will make a big difference for him for when we are out running errands.
But we still have the problem of seating for in the house. His new stroller is a Kimba. It's German made, very nice, and big. Too big for our home.
For now he sits in his too small tumbleform seat until we can figure something out.
