Well, Daniel meets the financial criteria for SSI. So now we just need to wait for the medical portion. I think the hardest part about the application was that I had to tell how "functional" he is.. He can't dress himself, or say his name, or tell his birthday, but some how he can count to 10 and identify letters in the alphabet.. I know this is all very typical of an autistic child, but having to actually say it... out loud... and for people to review.
I keep saying in my head, "It's okay." "This is why we're trying to get SSI in the first place." "They will know this is typical for an ASD child." "They are not going to judge you." But good grief! I had to say it!
So now it's my 2-5 month wait. At least I have already signed and sent in the medical release forms, so it will be able to go straight over to the agency that studies the medical records. At least with him there are very few people they actually have to get medical records from. Hopefully this will all be over. He'll be eligible and we can get enough to pay for this very lovely ABA/RDI therapist.
Anyways, wish us luck. I feel like a great weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
They say it can take a few months to get a determination, but I applied for Skylar's in January 2007 and got his first check at the end of March. His case worker said that its kinda rare to get it so quickly, but his doctors really jumped in and got things done. I has really been worth the work though, since he is now on medicaid which covers ALL of the costs for medical care and prescriptions.
Congrats and Good luck on the approval.
I'm glad to hear things are starting to fall into place! When we applied for our states Medicaid waiver, I actually sent them all of my son's medical/therapy/school records in chronological order in an attempt to speed up the process. Surprisingly, it helped. Instead of months, the turn around for that portion of the process was only 6 weeks.
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