Re: New and would love advice!

March 9, 2010

There is a Cranial Tech office in NJ:

115 W. Century Road, Suite 160Paramus, NJ 07652Phone: 201-265-3993Toll Free: 866-265-7730 Fax: 201-265-8142Clinic Hours:Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Molly

Novato, CA

Nicolas, STARband graduate

On 9 March 2010 14:08, <ecmarmara@...> wrote:

Hi everyone, I'm from NJ, and I just discovered this group today. Last week my daughter Katelyn, who is 4 months old, had a dr's appointment, and our pediatrician recommended we take her to a cranial specialist to evaluate her head. She definitely has a flat spot on the right side and her ears are a little uneven. I don't think she has any trouble with her neck muscles because for the last few days I have been making sure I turn her head to the left instead of the right and she is perfectly happy that way. The doctor gave us a prescription to take her to a Cranial Remolding Center nearby, but it is not a doctor's office, it is a center where they do a STARscan and I assume get a STARband. Now I am wondering if I should ask the doctor to send us to a neurologist first, or try to see if there is a Cranial Tech center anywhere near us? I called my insurance company and they said the place we are going is out of network, but could not give me any names of places that we

re in network. And I am not sure if the place we are going will give us a realistic picture of what we should do, or if they are just interested in selling their product and will tell everybody their baby needs it. I would appreciate some advice from anyone who had had a similar experience. Thanks!

------------------------------------For more plagio info

March 9, 2010

Hi ,Im in Philly and am having my daughter treated in Blue Bell PA by Kimura, from MedEast Post Op and Surgical - she has 11 years of experience. She was referred to me by someone on the group and a former client of hers that went to NOPCO at CHOP but had a bad experience. My daughter is starting on the star band next wednesday. She had her scan this saturday. From the one visit ive had with her she was able to see the asymmetry and brachiocephaly from first glance. They are in network if you have blue cross blue shield so there shouldnt be a problem. Cranial tech was too far for me to go, but i have also heard good things about them. Not sure where in NJ you are so wanted to let you know about MedEast if you were nearby. Our physician was Dr Bartlett, he's a craniofacial surgeon at CHOP who was able to give me a letter for the referral, Dr Whittaker is also at CHOP, both are experts in plagiocephaly - i would go to a craniofacial surgeon if you cant find a good neurosurgeon to check your daughter. The NS at HUP are notoriously rude, so wouldnt recommend going there. Good luckOn Mar 9, 2010, at 5:08 PM, wrote:Hi everyone, I'm from NJ, and I just discovered this group today. Last week my daughter Katelyn, who is 4 months old, had a dr's appointment, and our pediatrician recommended we take her to a cranial specialist to evaluate her head. She definitely has a flat spot on the right side and her ears are a little uneven. I don't think she has any trouble with her neck muscles because for the last few days I have been making sure I turn her head to the left instead of the right and she is perfectly happy that way. The doctor gave us a prescription to take her to a Cranial Remolding Center nearby, but it is not a doctor's office, it is a center where they do a STARscan and I assume get a STARband. Now I am wondering if I should ask the doctor to send us to a neurologist first, or try to see if there is a Cranial Tech center anywhere near us? I called my insurance company and they said the place we are going is out of network, but could not give me any names of place s that were in network. And I am not sure if the place we are going will give us a realistic picture of what we should do, or if they are just interested in selling their product and will tell everybody their baby needs it. I would appreciate some advice from anyone who had had a similar experience. Thanks!

March 10, 2010

Our ped refered us to a specilist after I specifically asked for it

and we waited for 2 months for that appointment. They said they don't

want to see her when she is too young (she was 4.5 months) and all he

did was to refer us to the ortho from Hanger present in the room with

him... No x-rays no MRI or anything... We could have gone to Hanger

way before and not wasted our time. This is just our experience,

though.

We started Hanger helmet 2 weeks ago and my daughter is 7.5 months old now.

Good luck...

Sevin

Mom to Eda 7.5 months old, Hanger helmet since 2/25

On 3/9/10, christineashok <christineashok@...> wrote:

> generally the band providers are not doctors. The doc writes the

> prescription, then may periodically check on progress. The band providers

> are orthotists at most places (star and hanger plus others). The staff at

> Cranial tech are generally either nurses or physical therapists, who have

> been trained by CT. Check the reputation of the starband office you were

> referred to. We went to a very good starband ortho in the San Francisco Bay

> area and had good results. In general I don't think the band providers are

> interested in " selling " . You could ask your ped to a referal to a cranio

> facial plastic surgeon or a neurosurgeon if you want a specialists opinion.

> Our ped referred us to a cranial facial plastic surgeon since she wasn't

> familiar with banding.

> -christine

> sydney, 4 yrs, stareband grad

>

>>

>> Hi everyone, I'm from NJ, and I just discovered this group today.

>> Last week my daughter Katelyn, who is 4 months old, had a dr's

>> appointment, and our pediatrician recommended we take her to a cranial

>> specialist to evaluate her head. She definitely has a flat spot on the

>> right side and her ears are a little uneven. I don't think she has any

>> trouble with her neck muscles because for the last few days I have been

>> making sure I turn her head to the left instead of the right and she is

>> perfectly happy that way. The doctor gave us a prescription to take her

>> to a Cranial Remolding Center nearby, but it is not a doctor's office, it

>> is a center where they do a STARscan and I assume get a STARband. Now I

>> am wondering if I should ask the doctor to send us to a neurologist first,

>> or try to see if there is a Cranial Tech center anywhere near us? I called

>> my insurance company and they said the place we are going is out of

>> network, but could not give me any names of places that were in network.

>> And I am not sure if the place we are going will give us a realistic

>> picture of what we should do, or if they are just interested in selling

>> their product and will tell everybody their baby needs it. I would

>> appreciate some advice from anyone who had had a similar experience.

>> Thanks!

>>

>

--

Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

March 10, 2010

Hi everyone, thanks for all your advice. I have been doing some more research

and it seems? like our insurance should pay for some of this at least, and since

none of the in network places are within 50 miles of us, we are hopefully going

to get an out of network authorization. I would love to have the money to take

her anywhere and not worry about insurance but unfortunately money is extremely

tight for us right now. If others have had success with the Starband I may try

that because the Paramus Cranial Tech would be at least an hour away and my

daughter and older son are only 15 months apart, so our lives are extremely

hectic right now and it would be much much easier if I could go somewhere

closer. We are in Northern NJ, so Philadelphia and other PA places would be

very far for us.

Sevin, that was my concern about going to a specialist - that it would take

forever for an appointment and that they would just send me to the place my

pediatrician referred us to initially. I would like to get going on this right

away while she is still young.

So, I think my plan is to see if insurance will pay for her evaluation at

Starband, and if not I will take her to Cranial Tech for the free evaluation. I

would like to see what they say because after all my pediatrician only said she

thinks it might be good to have her evaluated and I know nothing about this, so

I don't even know if her case is severe enough to require a band.

After the evaluation we will take it from there. From what I saw online, it

looks like in NJ the insurance companies require that you try 2 months of

repositioning therapy before any other treatment if the child is under 6 months

old. So maybe that is what we'll be doing for awhile. Does anyone know if

repositioning ever works enough to eliminate the problem?

Anyway, if you read this far I appreciate it, I know I have been rambling on and

on. I find all of this to be very overwhelming and a little confusing. Thanks

for the advice!

> >>

> >> Hi everyone, I'm from NJ, and I just discovered this group today.

> >> Last week my daughter Katelyn, who is 4 months old, had a dr's

> >> appointment, and our pediatrician recommended we take her to a cranial

> >> specialist to evaluate her head. She definitely has a flat spot on the

> >> right side and her ears are a little uneven. I don't think she has any

> >> trouble with her neck muscles because for the last few days I have been

> >> making sure I turn her head to the left instead of the right and she is

> >> perfectly happy that way. The doctor gave us a prescription to take her

> >> to a Cranial Remolding Center nearby, but it is not a doctor's office, it

> >> is a center where they do a STARscan and I assume get a STARband. Now I

> >> am wondering if I should ask the doctor to send us to a neurologist first,

> >> or try to see if there is a Cranial Tech center anywhere near us? I called

> >> my insurance company and they said the place we are going is out of

> >> network, but could not give me any names of places that were in network.

> >> And I am not sure if the place we are going will give us a realistic

> >> picture of what we should do, or if they are just interested in selling

> >> their product and will tell everybody their baby needs it. I would

> >> appreciate some advice from anyone who had had a similar experience.

> >> Thanks!

> >>

> >

>

> --

> Sent from Gmail for mobile | mobile.google.com

>

March 10, 2010

On Mar 10, 2010, at 9:00 AM, wrote:

> If others have had success with the Starband I may try that because

> the Paramus Cranial Tech would be at least an hour away and my

> daughter and older son are only 15 months apart, so our lives are

> extremely hectic right now and it would be much much easier if I

> could go somewhere closer.

I'd look at it this way: Cranial Tech costs more, but it's worth

more. If insurance pays a percentage, you're getting more return on

your investment. Drive at nap time.

I have had major frustration with STARband: too big initially,

orthotist incompetence (may not necessarily apply to you, but

generally more likely under Ortomerica's business model), irregular

adjustment intervals -- all adding up to a fundamental problem, that

the helmet hasn't held my daughter's head in a good position to

receive growth for probably more than two weeks at a time.

--

Thad Launderville

Montpelier, VT

Clara age 23 months, in STARband 6 1/2 months

March 10, 2010

Repositioning didn't work at all for us and we started trying when our baby was 7 weeks old. Also we did a scan every month from 3 to 6 mo of age and though her head grew, it didn't round out or correct as much as a single mm. From this and other feedback, I think once the shape is set at six weeks or so, it would never correct without a helmet. Sent from my iPhoneOn Mar 10, 2010, at 6:00 AM, "" <ecmarmara@...> wrote:

Hi everyone, thanks for all your advice. I have been doing some more research and it seems? like our insurance should pay for some of this at least, and since none of the in network places are within 50 miles of us, we are hopefully going to get an out of network authorization. I would love to have the money to take her anywhere and not worry about insurance but unfortunately money is extremely tight for us right now. If others have had success with the Starband I may try that because the Paramus Cranial Tech would be at least an hour away and my daughter and older son are only 15 months apart, so our lives are extremely hectic right now and it would be much much easier if I could go somewhere closer. We are in Northern NJ, so Philadelphia and other PA places would be very far for us.

Sevin, that was my concern about going to a specialist - that it would take forever for an appointment and that they would just send me to the place my pediatrician referred us to initially. I would like to get going on this right away while she is still young.

So, I think my plan is to see if insurance will pay for her evaluation at Starband, and if not I will take her to Cranial Tech for the free evaluation. I would like to see what they say because after all my pediatrician only said she thinks it might be good to have her evaluated and I know nothing about this, so I don't even know if her case is severe enough to require a band.

After the evaluation we will take it from there. From what I saw online, it looks like in NJ the insurance companies require that you try 2 months of repositioning therapy before any other treatment if the child is under 6 months old. So maybe that is what we'll be doing for awhile. Does anyone know if repositioning ever works enough to eliminate the problem?

Anyway, if you read this far I appreciate it, I know I have been rambling on and on. I find all of this to be very overwhelming and a little confusing. Thanks for the advice!