Advice on 21 month IEPFlorda is out of money because the state legislature is run by nitwits, and we have gotten tax cuts instead of government services for ten years now. Is it worth hiring an advocate for a 21 month old? Should I ask for more services even though they keep telling me how little everyone else is getting? Honestly, I hate to think I am taking services away from someone else, but everyone else is not my problem. Am I being unfair?Thank you for the advice. This visit turned out to be adjusting the hours we are getting, but not increasing anything. The Florida law on autism coverage kicks in on January 1, so some of the private therapy we are paying for might be covered by my insurance. Our company is self-insured, so technically, we are exempt from the new law, but I think the company is going to try to comply anyway. The therapy we are paying for costs $55 per hour, and I make about half that, so it is pretty tough to afford the therapy he needs without insurance, or some other kind of help. My wife can duplicate some of the therapy lessons, but honestly, it it too much for one person. I feel like every time we take two steps forward we take 1.9 steps back.It does not matter what others are getting. Fight, fight fight. Get all you can. We had music therapy, playgroup, speech, OT, Building Blocks intensive early intervention for 20 hours a week, and a few other random people who came to play and socialize. My 2 yr old had a full time job and he was and is just great. I know people who even got hippa therapy. Hi Dave, I would absolutely fight for more hours. You have the research, you know the more hours the better. I'm not too familiar with FL EI, but can you request an impartial hearing and present the program official with your research? It pisses me off that there are states that offer so little. I have a friend who's daughter doesn't have an official dx, but has some repetitive behaviors and a speech delay and was given 15 hrs without a dx I'm planning on hiring an advocate to sue the city of NY to pay for a 90,000 a year private school because there aren't any adequate programs for spectrum kids from 3-5. Absolutely look into it, if you can give your son the best start by getting him the #of therapy hours he deserves. Also look into other ABA options. Is there a university with a college of education that may be willing to have students do ABA in exchange for externship hours? Can you get any covered by insurance? Two hours per week of therapy does not sound like nearly enough. I would work to get him to into more early intervention whether it be through EI or through private. We never did EI, but have been with the school system since age 3 and through private speech since age 2. I cannot imagine where my kids would be with just the schools only. In my state, I have always relied mainly on private (fortunately our insurance covered most of it) and considered the school therapy as secondary. It really depends where you live. In combination, it has been okay. But if I had to do it over again (knowing what I know now), I would have fought for more hours of good quality intensive therapy in the earlier years. I believe 20-30 hours per week are recommended if you go the ABA route. I don't know the autism insurance reform law in Florida. But if you want to look it up, you can find it at www.autismvotes.org. Good luck. _____________________ mom to 10 year old boy/girl twins (Asperger's/PDD-NOS) Fight. What others are or aren't getting has no bearing on what your child needs. That's like saying, "we aren't going to put a cast on your child's broken leg because the people in the next room can't afford braces". One has nothing to do with the other. Fight for your child's needs. I do second seeing if insurance will pay for private. Our will after a large copay and the therapy center was very willing to work with us on an affordable payment plan for our portion. What our kids are getting there beats EI hands down. I say fight as well. But, I would take into consideration the cost it's going to take you to hire an advocate versus simply finding a private therapy some where. Do you have insurance? I would make sure private therapies aren't covered by your insurance first. And even then, my insurance doesn't cover the therapies, but our therapist are very generous about how they bill us so that it all gets covered. Who cares how little everyone else is getting??? You have to fight for your child. This is the time when the most progress will be made. Fight Fight Fight!!!!! |
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