The Dublin Branch of Down Syndrome Ireland invites all paid up members of the Dublin Branch to apply for a subsidy to help cover the costs of therapies or classes that might be needed for your child. The subsidy is not restricted to ‘traditional’ therapies (OT, SLT, Physio). The branch committee will consider any form of therapy that you, or your medical practitioner, deems necessary for your child. If the proposed therapy is, e.g., one to one swimming or gym sessions we may request a letter from your medical practitioner to confirm that the activity is medically advisable for your child and why.
The branch offers a 50% subsidy, up to a maximum of €50 per session, for a maximum of 26 sessions of therapy. You may use the subsidy for one therapy or split it between two or more therapies (e.g. 10 sessions of SLT + 16 sessions of OT). Due to the high cost of assessment for certain therapies, the branch also offers a 50% subsidy, up to a maximum of €250, against one assessment in a calendar year.
The scheme works as follows:
The scheme is open to applications all year round and applications are reviewed for approval at the start of each month. When you submit receipts please allow 30 days for us to process the therapy rebate.
Down Syndrome Dublin is run by parents just like you and we receive no Government funding or funding from Down Syndrome Ireland. We rely solely on branch fundraising events to offer this subsidy scheme to our members. We would ask if your family are receiving the subsidised therapy sessions please try to fundraise for the branch at some point during the year to help keep this scheme going for other members in the future.
John is an 8 year old boy who is a member of the Down Syndrome Dublin Branch, his mother Mary finds a registered Speech and Language therapist in her area for John and fills in the subsidised therapy application form with the Dublin Branch to help fund the private sessions. After the application is approved Mary takes John to see the therapist who completes a Speech and Language assessment and recommends 6 further 30-minute therapy sessions over 12 weeks.
Mary and John attend the sessions and Mary holds onto the official receipts from the therapist which have Johns name on them. She takes a picture of the receipts and sends them to therapies@DownSyndromeDublin.ie
The receipts show that Mary spent the following at Johns therapy sessions (note these prices are examples only and prices may vary depending on the therapist/clinic):
1. Full Speech and Language Assessment and Written Report
Cost: €510
Rebate: €250 (50% of the cost of the assessment up to a max of €250)
2. 6 x 30 minute Speech therapy session (€80 per session)
Cost: €480
Rebate: €240 (50% of the cost, up to a max of €50 per session)
In this case Mary paid a total of €990 and after submitting the official receipts for verification the branch paid €490 into Marys bank account to help cover the cost of the therapy for John.
In this example, John has used up his maximum amount for the assessment rebate for this calendar year. He has also used up 6 of his 26 subsidised therapy sessions so he has up to 20 subsidised therapy sessions remaining. Mary and John may continue to use this therapist for further sessions during the year or Mary may apply for a different therapy type for John, such as Occupational Therapy. For a new type of therapy, Mary would fill in a new application form and apply again.