Dad Writings » Special Needs

A New Resource For Special Needs Parenting

George — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 04:28:04 +0000

Recently, I picked-up a new writing client; they are a blog for children with disabilities. Since I have plenty of experience with this, I was more than happy to start writing for them. The site has recently launched in the last month and I would like to let you know about it.

When you get a chance, check out: ChildRC.com

As a parent to a child with Special Needs, I firmly believe in bringing awareness to this subject; I believe this site will help with that.

As I have written before, my youngest child is a Special Needs child. She has Ataxia and Hypatonia, No one can tell us for sure what is causing her condition. We have only one specialist tell us it seems like it is Ataxic Cerebral Palsy, a very rare form of Cerebral Palsy, but needs more research to be sure.

For anyone that is a parent of or works with a Special Needs child, I urge you to check out ChildRC.com and add it your list of sites that are helping to raise awareness of Special Needs and disabilities rights.

I am always looking to connect with other parents and professionals that work with Special Needs children. You can reach me at my contact page or on Twitter. I am working on a FaceBook page for this site and it will be up a bit later.

Photo credit: wricontest

What Are You Thankful For This Holiday Season?

George — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:53:08 +0000

The holidays are a time for giving and giving thanks. Too many focus on getting gifts and not enough on the reason for the season. This holiday season, we should think of those less fortunate; some families don’t have a roof over their head now.

I give thanks I have a roof over my family’s head, food on the table, and my loved ones are around for this holiday season. In my personal opinion, I don’t think many give thanks for what they have; they only focus on what they don’t have.

I recently wrote an article at Parenting Special Needs Magazine on giving thanks and how my Special Needs child helps me see things in a new light. Please give it a read here:

What Are You Thankful For?

During this holiday season, let’s focus on what we do have, helping those less fortunate and spending more time with our loved ones. You never know what could happen tomorrow.

Photo credit: Graham Lewis (Grinner)

Health Insurance – A Love-Hate Relationship

George — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:10:20 +0000

Health insurance.

Some love it. Some hate it. Most love AND hate it. There are some that even say it is a love-hate relationship. I have one of these relationships; for me, marriage is much easier!

The Need for Insurance

You get sick; you go to your doctor or your local hospital for treatment. You may have some tests done or told to get some medicine.

Now, how are you going to pay for it? You didn’t think it was free, did you? Of course not! This is where insurance comes into play. This is what you pay your insurance premiums for. There are some that can’t get health insurance. There is a big battle on this in Washington now; I will save that for another post.

When you have insurance, you usually pay the small co-pay and the insurance will get billed for the rest. For the rest, you will have to pay out of your own pocket. Usually, everything runs smooth and the bill will get paid but this is not always the case.

What about specialized treatment? Medical expenses can run from hundreds to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Insurance does not cover all treatments; such as specialized therapies. There is that love-hate relationship again!

My Relationship with Insurance

As I wrote in a previous post, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Review, I went into detail of my experience with this treatment and how it has helped my daughter. In that post, I mentioned the cost of the treatment is high and not usually covered by insurance.

What is the reason it is not covered by insurance? There are many things listed, such as: “there is not enough data to support this works”.

Bull!!

Through my experience talking with other parents, other medical professionals and finding a massive amount of data supporting positive results, I would say there is proof!

Don’t they say, “the proof is in the pudding?” Well, I got plenty of pudding and I will be sending it to my insurance company. We have statements from doctors, before and after videos of her progress and more; the data from the video alone is indisputable. How can you not see how this treatment has helped, not only my child, but also many other children with special needs conditions as well?

Yes, at times, insurance is good. Then there are those times you want to take a Nerf bat to their head and say “Listen to me! Why aren’t you listening to me? Is this what I pay my premium for?” This is MY love-hate relationship.

Photo credit husin.sani

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Review

George — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:07:31 +0000

As I wrote before, I recently finished doing Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy treatments for my youngest daughter. The experience was wonderful and the personnel there were great. I want to thank everyone that helped out during this time.

I have written a review of the experience on one of the sites that I write for. It details the experience and how I believe this treatment is something all Special Needs Parents should look at.

You can find the article in the current issue of Parenting Special Needs Magazine. Here is the link to the article:

http://parentingspecialneeds.org/article&article=166

For any any parent that is thinking of this treatment, I highly recommend it.

For anyone that would like more information or would like to get more information on my experience, please contact me at the following:

My Contact Page

On Twitter – @grpasswater

Email – dadwritings(at)gmail(dot)com

Updated – Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment

George — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 02:07:57 +0000

In a previous post, Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Time, I wrote on how we were starting a new treatment for my youngest daughter. The new treatment, Hyperbaric Oxygen, is not really new; it is something that has been around for years for treatments of wounds and more.

After 4 weeks of treatment with this therapy, I am happy to say this therapy is working and we will be continuing treatments. Others and me are seeing improvements in cognitive, physical and other areas of my daughter’s progress. I do believe this treatment is the start of getting my child on the road to a much improved life.

Everything is great with this therapy except one thing, the cost. It is a expensive therapy and insurance does not cover the cost. After all the improvements and testimonials from parents and others of this therapy, I would think the medical insurance industry would look closer into helping with the cost of this. Hopefully, someday this will change.

As we move into this second round of treatments, I will post another update on how the progress goes.

Are there any parents out there that are looking at this treatment or have more information on it?

Contact me.

I would love to converse with you.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment Time

George — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:47:53 +0000

I have written before on special needs and parenting. As one of my children is a special needs child, I am always looking for special needs and education information.

I have come across a relatively new treatment we are in the process of using to treat Ali’s condition. It is called: Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

It is similar to hyperbaric chambers that divers use. With this treatment, the child is in a hyperbaric chamber compressed with 100% oxygen for 1 hour with 15-minute compression and decompression intervals. This therapy has helped many other children as well as adults in the treatment of many conditions.

We are currently using this therapy for an initial 4 weeks. After the 4 weeks, we will check for improvements in her condition and see if more therapy will be needed.

We do hope this is the answer we have been looking for. I will update this blog with the progress and more posts on the hyperbaric process as well.

If anyone out there has any experience with this treatment, I would love to hear from you.