Hello to you all,

I am Shelley mom to Nevada who has mild cerebral palsy and was also
born with unilateral cleft lip and palate. Nevada will be 3 years old
on April 2nd. We live in NC.

Our main issues with Nevada concerning his CP have been learning and
developmental delays, walking on tip toes, and his inability to eat
age appropriate foods. He had Botox injections in his calves in
January and wears AFO's. He is still getting up on tip toe on his
right foot when he is not in his braces.

The eating problems are the most troubling for us though. Nevada just
doesn't seem to grasp the concept of chew and swallow. His diet is
mainly smooth textured foods with a few textured things. We have
looked into a feeding clinic in Richmond, VA, but our insurance does
not cover and it is a very expensive program.

My main question today is if anyone knows of any funding programs
that is available for special needs kids when insurance doesn't pay?
We are looking at $40,000-$50,000. That is for a 6 hour a day, 5 day
a week, 6 week program. That doesn't include motel or apartment while
there or travel and food expenses. As you can see that is a lot of
money that most people just do not have. We are just in such need of
getting him the help to get him to eat normal foods. It is trying and
difficult to try to get him to eat age appropriate foods and know
that he just doesn't get it.

If anyone can give me some suggestions I would greatly appreciate it.
Thank you all.

Shelley
mom to Nevada Storm, 4/2/02, uclp, cp
Donovan Gage 6/2/04