WHY IS SN STUFF SO EXPENSIVE?

[stickyj]

Hi

Having talked to a friend/mum with SN child I wanted to try and make this a campaign ala nappies etc.

WHY are the toys/stuff/dvd's so expensive and so much more than ordinary toys? I used to work at SENSE and a lovely guy made those twirly round mirror and bell toys. He made them for years and then H&S stopped him, because they weren't "safe".

Does anyone else want to record their grievances and maybe try and sort something out? I know how much Children's Centres have to pay for their SN stuff, why is this happening and right?

Can MN work their magic?

Totally agree stickyj. I have bought all sorts of stuff for my dc's which is outrageously expensive. Financing even the resources for my dd's ABA programme alone has cost masses. We wanted to buy weighted blanket for ds as OT advised it might help him, but seemed so expensive for something that might or might not help we decided not to buy it.

I agree, a carseat for ds cost £500 it was just a carseat with a 5 point harness not an all singing all dancing just a bit bigger than a standard one so why the price hike? If you describe something as sn is quadruples the price it is disgusting.cansu my mum made a weighted blanket for ds, she got a pattern from the internet she said it was really easy but the plastic pellets that provide the weight cost about £30 for one the size of a cot quilt.

i agree
especially about car seats, the britax sn one for instance,
ffs it is juts bigger

That is one I have, the britax. £500-£800 for an f'ing car seat

It is ridiculous. I bought my ds a toy from john Lewis (so not cheap to start with) and then I saw the very same toy in a Sn catalogue for about 3 times the price. How can they get away with it?

How come a bike for a nt child costs £30 but for a child with sn we have to pay £1500 , do supports and harnesses really cost that much? Somebody some where is making a mint off our kids.

Yep I have found that I tend to source of eBay ,oncedid ask about the carseat and was told it's because they sell less of them so they need to make more perseat to cover manufacteur costs which is just rubbish

Think it's more because they know we don't have another option

Well, I do agree partly it's an economy-of-scale thing. If it costs £100 to design a toy and £5 to make it - if you sell 10, each one costs £15 to the person selling. If you sell 100, each one costs £6. SN is a much smaller market and production runs are tiny.

But I think mostly it's because they aren't marketing this stuff to families, like ELC or Mothercare. They are selling to schools, and hospices, and hospitals etc. if they pick up the odd family order on the way that's OK, but you're not actually important to them. And though school budgets are tight, there is a slight mentality of "well it is expensive - but we'll get loads of use out of it and it will last for years" not "What a rip-off! Tesco sell the mainstream equivalent for £30!" which is what you think when the money comes out of your own pocket. Not saying that people buying with government money aren't careful with it - budgets are very tight, of course - but I've noticed that the suppliers recommended to me by Social Services and School are always the most expensive ones. That can't be a co-incidence, can it?

Mothercate do sell the Sn britax seat but they don't advertise it as such

yet ironic there's a big Market out there fir Sn but there also savy enough to know no matter how much we moan about price we Dont have a choice and will buy it anyway

I'm fortunate ds is still small so can get him in a normal 5 point harness seat yet

by January thongs go to plan will have. Wav but will probably buy carseat to so have a choice

cansu I posted detailed instructions for making a weighted blanket, which will cost you about £20 all in (with loads of beads left over to make other stuff) here

The Britax carseats aren't even that good. DS2 has the junior traveller (the slightly smaller one that they no longer sell) and it doesn't even support his head when he's asleep :/

We'd do the crelling harness/high backed booster with him, but DS1 still needs his harness on some journeys and there's only one place in the car we can fit one without putting one of the kids in the front.

We received a grant from cerebra for sensory equipment for my dd. we got a wobble cushion, weighted blanked and a bear hug jacket. They were fantastic :)

Because it makes £££££ for greedy folk.
It suits many many people to turn SN into an industry and to disempower paretns and teachers by making them believe they need special equipment.
Nine times out of ten they don't.
I work in this field and it makes me very angry indeed.

I recently had to buy pjs that fasten up the back for DD. Website was full of we sell stuff to make your life easier, we are very caring and wonderful. Yet pjs cost £27 and the material bobbled within 2 washes . Sellers unfortunately take advantage of the fact that you can't get things readily and if you are looking at SN equipment it's cos you really need it.
I do understand that they probably have bigger margins as they sell to less people but keep it reasonable.

I think Moondog is right - at least about toys, there is a lot of kidology in that teachers/administrators in the industry think the toys should be expensive to make the 'work' they do seem more important. In the same way that no one will believe a perfume or handbag is 'exclusive' unless it is very expensive.

I agree that it is so wrong that the prices are hyped up, the market is smaller than for average childrens toys but it doesn't make it right, our expenses are so much more anyhow for things that parents of "normal" children don't have to tap into. If your child belongs to a special school or playgroup/nursery its worth circulating a notice for items you would like or have to sell, I've sold a Britax car seat to another parent and saved them hundreds of pounds, bought and sold bikes, harness and other items, keep this in mind as it may be a worthwhile first port of call and save you a small fortune...good luck x

Hi,

Here here!!! We luckily got funding for my son's car seat in April and it was £1200!!! Have recently heard from someone who got a quote for the same seat that it is now £1800.

Now I know inflation is rising but £600 increase in price in as many months is a bit OTT me thinks.

This also means we struggle as we can't afford a second one so I ALWAYS have to pick son up from school etc. His seat isn't easy to take out and in and so not practical to hand over to my mum for example and get her to pick him up. Grrrr!!!

Sharon x