Seating Clinic

After getting on the wait list six months ago, Mira's appointment with the seating clinic at Children's Mercy finally rolled around this afternoon. We met with several therapists, clinicians and seating specialists (Maureen - Mira's PT also graciously came along) and discussed what types of equipment Mira needed in terms of her positioning and overall functioning and mobility. Mira has long outgrown her bucket carrier car seat (yet we still use it around the house and trips to Target -- don't worry we don't actually use it for transportation in the van!). Occasionally we have her in a Tumbleform chair (which is on loan from the IDC) but mainly we have Mira in a space saver high chair that she eats and plays in, though it is not ideal for a lot of reasons.

The recommendation was for a KidCart, which is a sort of high-tech stroller. It's a piece of equipment that will offer her a lot of flexibility, mobility and is something that she can grow with over the next few years. It has two bases. One that is like a stroller ... for going out and about; the other is called the "High/Low Base" and is for inside the home. With the latter base we can have Mira at the table with us at meal time or alternately she can be closer to the floor during therapy or playtime. We also are hoping for a stander (one of Mira's current strengths is her willingness to bear weight through her legs) and an adjustable bath seat as well. She has been trying out the stander during PT and has been doing pretty well, although needs to grow about another inch to fully fit into it. I think we are going to hit our insurance cap with the KidCart right off the bat, since they will cost at least $4,100! There are some not-for-profit organizations that we are looking into to help us pick up the remainder of what insurance won't cover.

It should take about 6 -8 weeks for the paperwork to go through fully but we should be hearing something through the seating specialist about our insurance within a month or so. The irony is that going through the Seating Clinic at Mercy is supposedly the "streamlined" way to get this kind of equipment.