I am so sorry how this was just handed to you. It does sound like you have a good plan. That is how you get the ball rolling. Start making phone calls, making notes, this place will direct you to another place and so on. I know there is an autism support group in Fort Wayne that meets once a month at the Dupont Library. I have not made it to any meetings yet but would like to soon.
Welcome to the board! I live in Fort Wayne! Glad to see some fellow Hoosiers here!
I had a similar experience with the neuropsych who diagnosed my son. I left there with a dx and nothing else.
OTOH, I've gotten a LOT of valuable information from these boards...check out the newbies thread....lots of good links there!
Welcome to the boards!
YOU can start doing ABA therapy with him right now by getting the book:
"Behavioral Interventions for children with autism" by Catherince Maurice..she also wrote "Let me hear your voice" about recovering her two kids using ABA therapy and speech~very inspiring book!
It is the better to have a trained ABA therapists do this but you can start until one is available..we started it along with speech right after diagnoses and she progressed completely out of it by school age and doing wonderful:) Best of luck and welcome!
DS was officially diagnosed with Autism and a Communication Disorder yesterday. The entire appointment took less than 30 minutes, and that was it. I got a little brochure about Indiana's resource center for Autism, and thats it. She did also encourage us to share this new Information with the school when he goes back in August. WTH???
So now what?? I'm at a complete loss. My plans for today are to 1. Call our insurance company and find out what all therapy's the cover. But my question here is What all should I ask them about?? I know ABA, OT, ST, but is there anything else?? Should I come right out and tell them he has autism, and ask what they cover in relation to it?? 2. Call his ped. and try to get an appointment to talk to her about what to do next. Plus I still need to talk to her anyways about his recent lead level that was a 7 and her nurse told me that was normal. So is there any certain tests I should ask the ped for?? I keep hearing about children on here having MRI's and EEG's, is this something I should also ask for?? And what about the special diet everyone talks about, should we try it to, do I have to ask the doctor first. 3. Call the resource center. Hopefully they will have some information as to what I should do. 4. Put our name on the waiting list for the closest Children's Hospital Autism center. It said online that they had a 6 month wait, but I don't care, that is better than nothing. 5. File for SSI. We are having finacial problems already. But I'm not sure we would qualify since our assets are more than 00 . DH has two cars and I have one, so I think that will automatically disqualify us. But I guess it won't hurt to try. I also need to send out his Medicaid papers. They've been filled out for a week, I was just waiting on the diagnosis.
I just hope I'm on the right track. I just can't believe she just sent us out the door with nothing. No mention of anyhting. Thank god I have found this site, and others to answer my questions and give me plenty of information. I"m sure I have more questions that were left out, but I think this is plenty to get me started. TIA!!
First of all..Welcome. From the things that you have listed, sounds to me like you are on the right path. You will be happy here and will get lots of much needed information and moral support.Who did the diagosis? The feeling of receiving not much help is common. I don't know what the people are thinking--
I like how you have listed what you need to do. It sounds like you have a great plan. Do follow through with applying, etc, even if you think you wont getit. You might be surprised. I wouldn't tell the ins company about an autism diagnosis. They commonly start denying everything for autisitc children. You can say he is developmentally delayed or has encephalopathy.
I am sorry you receieved this news. It wont always feel so sad and scary,
Hugs,
You referenced the Indiana Resource Center for Autism in your post. Are you from Indiana? We are in NW Indiana and if you would like to PM me, I will help you as much as I can. We moved here a year-and-a-half ago and I had to learn the ropes here really quickly. I would be happy to share my experience so that you can learn from my mistakes.
Indiana does have an Autism insurance mandate, but there are a couple of loopholes for the insurance companies. Self-funded plans do not have to provide autism coverage, nor do policies that were written outside of the state (i.e. a company is headquartered in another state and the policy is written in that state).
How old is your child? My son has just completed preschool and will be going to Kindergarten in the fall.
Yes I am from Indiana, about 45 miles south of Ft. Wayne. My ds is 3, and he just started pre-school in April.
Ok so I won't tell the insurance company about his autism. I'm getting ready to call his pediatrician to set up an appointment. It was a child pyschiatriest who gave the diagnosis.
Thanks everyone.
i'm sorry you're going through all of this. i'm kind of in the same boat. we started all of this back in may. we're finally just started OT, but we're still trying to work out a lot of other stuff. it is VERY frustrating. I can't believe how little help there is to coordinate all of these effort. . .i feel like i've been reinventing the wheel! i hope you find the help you're looking for. did you apply for medical assistance yet? I know a couple of parents of younger children in the Ft. Wayne area. If you want to PM your e-mail address, I could put you in touch with them.