Dyspraxia and Detailed Therapy Costs

Jam is currently 5 years old. 

I thought I had posted this way back in April, but just now saw it sitting in the Draft folder. Which is what I get for not actually looking at my site after I post something- oh well!

Here are the details of our therapy costs in case they're helpful. Though now we're in August and, since then, we've dropped occupational therapy and soccer so our costs are somewhat reduced right now. Though I've already got something else in the works, of course....

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In a recent post about Jam's various therapies and activities, I vowed details on costs and here they are, along with how we manage to afford it:

Occupational Therapy- twice weekly   We are so extraordinarily fortunate to have good insurance coverage. For neurodevelopmental therapy, they cover up to 60 appointments a year until Jam turns 7. Each 50-minute OT session cost is $125 and we pay a $25 co-pay per session. Unlike previous years, this year we won't be paying out-of-pocket for additional sessions past the covered 60 as our therapist is retiring.

Cost: $25 x 60 sessions = $1,500 out-of-pocket annually


Hippotherapy- once weekly   Due to the generally high cost of this service, our therapeutic riding center generously subsidizes every student, bringing our cost down to $115 per 50-minute session.  I'm not even sure any insurance carrier covers hippotherapy. Ours doesn't but it would cover the physical therapy portion of our session (roughly $34) though it would count against our 60 NT appointments a year so we don't run this through insurance.

Cost: $115 x 42 sessions= $4,830 out-of-pocket annually


Integrated Movement Therapy- once weekly   $60 per each 45-minute, one-on-one session.  Definitely not covered by insurance, but worth it.

Cost: $60 x 48 sessions= $2,880 out-of-pocket annually


Soccer- once weekly   Offered through our local community center, sports classes are somewhere between $11 and $18 per class. We may switch up between soccer, tennis and t-ball throughout the year so I averaged it.

Cost: $14.50 x 24 classes= $348 out-of-pocket annually


Gymnastics- bi-weekly    Normally, $6 for a one hour visit. We attend on a very regular basis so I buy the 10 visit punch card in order to get three free visits to bring the cost down.  A great deal!

Cost: $4.62 x 24 visits= $110.88 out-of-pocket annually


Swimming- bi-weekly   Normally, $9.75 per visit up to 5 hours. Like gymnastics, we attend on a very regular basis so I buy the 10 visit punch card in order to get one free visit to bring the cost down. Another great deal!

Cost: $8.89 x 24 visits= $213.36 out-of-pocket annually

So there you have it- about $9,882.00 a year. Or $823.50 a month. Or $190.00 a week. Out. Of. Pocket. And that doesn't even include gas, wear on the car, holiday gifts, etc.  Sigh...

How do we do it?

Well, it's tight. My car is 10 years old. And, being dyspraxic with the attendant sensory issues myself, I loathe everything about shopping. So no shopping for me. (Thank the sibling gods for my sister and her hand-me-down clothing gifts for Jam and me!) Living in the already amazing place that is Seattle, we don't need to vacation a lot and because Jam has such a limited palate right now, we don't eat out much. Also, I recently started back working 10 hours a week at my 'before-Jam' job (which I love!) and it helps a tiny bit. And finally (and most sadly) our dog of 10 years died recently and that freed up a bit of money a month. So there you have it.

I look at this outlay of money right now as an investment against spending more, bigger money down the line. Hooray for early intervention!

If our financial situation changed for the worse and I had to make decisions on what to cut, here's how I would rank our current therapies and activities in terms of progress and value for the money for where Jam is right now:

1. Occupational Therapy
2. Integrated Movement Therapy
3. Swimming
4. Gymnastics
5. Hippotherapy
6. Soccer/ group sport classes

Hope that helps!