would you go broke treating an HF child? | Autism PDD
Karrie, that's good to hear. It's pretty much the same message I'm getting from their teacher. They want them to go to a 'normal' kindergarten class next year, which, hopefully, will help some more.
It's hard not to second guess, though, as I'm sure you're well aware :).
Fred, my son met your criteria (he is 12 now) and even a bit beyond at your girl's age. He had no trouble transitioning to new tasks, and his IQ is in the gifted range (Lieter - Wechsler is in the normal range). Since he wasn't dx'd until 2nd grade I didn't really have the option of intensive therapy, I could only deal with the current issues on his plate, which were social, communication and learning disabilities. Never had a problem with difficult behavior, meltdowns or transitioning. I looked into an autism school. The school district refused to pay for it even during mediation, and quite frankly, I agree that a child that functions at this high a level should not be seperated from his typical peers, even if that can be a bumpy road at times. Bottom line is that we have made the most of the free services available to us, and my son is thriving. To the untrained eye, he appears to be NT, and improving with each passing year. Currently we are working on Executive Function (organizational skills and how he applies his social knowledge), conversational skills (he totally doesn't get and can't be bothered with small talk), group and individual therapy to help manage anxiety, and opening up his range of interests, which are, to put it mildly, restricted. Both DH and I, as well as our son, have nothing but the highest hopes for his future. His hopes and dreams include all the things we want for our children: career (he wants to work in the video game or computer industry) and marriage. He's not crazy about small children, so he isn't sure if he wants kids, but hey, he's 12. The future is endless with possibilities!
Well I will tell you what I am doing. My son is 4 and is High functioning and with speech therapy is now only 5 months behind in language and We don't do ABA with him anymore. My biggest concern for him now is Social which I feel he can only get from being around NT children. (For those of you who disagree I am fine with that too). Adam has made more progress socially around children that are NT than he has with any other form of therapy etc. He still needs other therapies...don't get me wrong here....and I don't have rose colored glasses either when it comes to my son's Autism. I know it's not going away....I know that educationally he may end up in a special education class down the line if he has congnitive problems that they haven't caught yet educationally which may show up by 3rd grade or behavior issues that can't be controlled with meds etc. But for now anyway he is playing with NT children on the playground everyday and it has made a HUGE difference in his social. Well he was until we started the moving process. He will be changing schools when we get to Ft. Campbell so he is having an extended "vacation" from the move right now. Everyone needs to do what they feel is right for their children and I feel that my son being around NT children all day every day has helped him tremendously.
Karrie
Assume a midly autistic child ...if there is such a thing...
Assume a four year old child on the AS. IQ is in the average range, school readiness skills are above average, no severe behavioral issues, no severe stereotypical behaviors (stims?) and no severe sensory issues.
Primary defecits are socialization, communication (esp. receptive), and trouble with transitioning from preferred task (i.e. - might tantrum (loudly, but not too severely) when asked to move on from a preferred center).
School readiness skills imply that the child is learning pre-school concepts readily, despite the disorder.
Would you go broke paying for intensive, 1:1 therapies for this child or, considering their relative high functioning, would you get what services you can from the school system, and let nature take it's course?
I know no one can predict the outcome, but there must be some ability to project what a HF kid might grow into as an adult. Does someone who functions on the level described as a young child, typically grow into a functional, though perhaps socially deficient adult? Or, could the disorder really turn (get worse), and the child might end up severely handicapped or institutionalized?
I have two children, twins, 4 years old, who meet the above criteria. I can probably afford to send them to an autism school or pay for ABA though NOT in the recommended dosage (2 years, 25-40 hours week), I would have to do with somewhat less than that. I would go broke in the process (think, draining retirement account and taking an equity line out on the house) and will, essentially, be sacrificing my families financial future for these treatments.
What would you do?
PS - forgive me for posting so much to this board. Like my children, I have obsessions - I can't move off the current topic of interest until it is resolved. I am dealing with one of those things now, so forgive me for all of these queries.
Fred - I can totally understand where you are at right now because I was there 8 months ago. It's a frustrating place to be in because you want to move forward, but you don't want to make the wrong decisions and lose precious time.
My son sounds very similar to your girls: high functioning, no behavior problems, normal IQ, socially challenged. While I did incorporate an in-home ABA program for him, it was no where close to the 25-40 hours a week recommended. Instead, I did 12 hours a week over the summer, and he'now as 6 hours a week while attending two different pre-schools. He's in an S.E. public school (12 DD kids) to address his autism issues, and he's at a private pre-school (18 NT peers) to address his social issues. I have one of his ABA therapists at the private pre-school 2 times per week to help with his peer interaction/social skills
I am not willing to go broke, but I am willing to make some significant short-term sacrifices to help my son (which is what we are doing right now)
In my opinion, I think the two areas you really need to address with your girls are their receptive/expressive language and their social skills. Here are some options you might want to consider:
1. There's a lot of good software you can utilize to help with language. Early on I used some from Laureate Learning Systems. Both girls can use the program, and you can be involved in helping them as they sit at the computer. Another program I'm looking very closely at for my son is "Teach Town". It's located at www.teachtown.com. I really like this particular program because it's based on ABA principles and it provides you with activities you can do with the girls that supports what they are learning on the computer. It costs a month, and I believe they give you a break on the second child.
2. If my funds were limited for hiring a therapist, I think I would focus on finding a good play therapist. I would use her to facilitate play dates with the girls; at least 1-2 a week in your home. You will need to tap into your friends, neighbors to find willing NT peers. This will significantly help with their social skills/interaction.
3. I would work very closely with the school on developing strong social skills goals. Do they have some NT peers in the girls class? If not, you might have a strong case for pushing them to pay for your play therapist that would come to your house. There's a lot of literature out there that suggests our kids need to be exposed to NT kids in order to help with their social skills.
4. Check with your local autism group to see if there are any other social play groups established. In my area, one organization has a monthly "Super Saturday" for kids with ASD, complete with therapists, etc to help out.
I think the key for you will be to first identify what you TRULY believe to be their deficits, then focus very closely on getting those needs met. There are only so many hours in the day, and none of us have money trees growing in our back yards. We have made financial sacrifices over the past 7 months for my son, but are getting ready to pull back on some of the services because he's made such good progress.
You will probably need to go with your "gut" on a lot of these decisions, because unfortunately, no one really has all the answers for you......just a lot of opinions.
This is the approach I've used with my son, and so far it's worked quite well. Having said all this, what works for one kid may not work for another. You may have to play around a bit with the therapies until you get them where you want them to be. There's nothing wrong with trying something, and if it doesn't work, stepping back and reassessing the situation. I know you feel like the clock is ticking right now, but don't let that put you in a place of "analysis paralysis". Make the best decision you can based on what you know now, and in a few months, if things are working, trying some different. That's pretty much what I'm doing, and so far things have worked out fine.
Yes.
Hi Fred - your girls sound a lot like my son (now 6, first grade) was at 4, so I will at least share what we did. We had A. in a very similar school situation. Long answer: We also supplemented with private speech therapy, some programs through our special recreation district, and some time in a typical preschool. We also hired someone to facilitate some playdates with another child with autism, and did some social skills groups. We didn't do ABA, but I have a friend with a child Alex's age who was an ABA therapist before she had a child with autism, and they have been doing a couple of hours a week with him in conjunction with school, OT, and speech therapy, and he has made a lot of progress with that combination. We also do a lot of floortime with Alex, and have since he was a toddler - I am a big Stanley Greenspan fan, and we even use a lot of his techniques with our NT 3 year old, who is doing great. (The Child With Special Needs, and Engaging Autism, I think are both excellent books with lots of ideas for things you could do at home and in the car with the girls).
Quick answer: I think you'll want to consider supplementing the services they get at school, but as noted above and in other posts, there are plenty of ways you can do that without financial ruin.
Good luck! Bridget
Well, no, but this is because of my own personal experiences. Certainly help your children with areas they are struggling with and which are making them unhappy but you don't have to sign up for every therapy. Problems with socialisation can be helped with social stories. Problems with co-ordination can be helped with being patient, giving them opportunities to practise things like drawing and writing when they're a little older. Problems with expressing themselves can be alleviated by giving them different means other than verbal talking to express themselves.
I haven't had a chance to read all of the above responses, so forgive me if I repeat.
If you live in the United States, you DON'T have to go broke to get your children appropriate interventions. If you can't advocate effectively yourself with the school district, hire a competent advocate. It will be cheaper than paying for services yourself.
Once you get as many appropriate services you can in place, give the services some time to take effect. You will be apprised of your daughters' progress. In fact, when it comes time to create a new IEP for the next year, the law REQUIRES that the girls' Present Levels of Performance be reported FIRST. If their levels of performance have not changed appreciably, the district will be REQUIRED to find out why not and to provide more or more appropriate services. So far, all you've paid for has been an advocate. ANd if you don't pay for the advocate because you've been successful at advocating yourself, you haven't paid a dime.
As time goes on, you may find that your children will do well or even brilliantly academically. But with the higher functioning forms of autism, that is the least of your worries. LEarning to negotiate the social ins and outs of the real world is harder for these kids and it is the thing that is less forgiven by the larger society. You will have to press the schools to give them appropriate social skills training. Just today I met an older man with 5 children (the youngest is 27, the oldest is 40). He suspects that his youngest (a woman) and his oldest (a man) are both on the spectrum. The youngest is single and has been going to college for 10 years and has never earned a single dime. The oldest is married and has an accounting degree but cannot keep a job because he can't tolerate being among other people. His wife works and he stays home to take care of their 4 kids, which he apparently doesn't do that well. This is what often happens with higher functioning kids who don't get the proper interventions and support. On the other hand, some kids who have Aspeger Syndrome find jobs that suit them, spouse that support them and live independent lives. Most of the success of high functioning kids depends on how much their social skills can be improved, not so much how good their academic skills are. The other factor is luck. We can't control luck, but we CAN control interventions.
Fred, the truth is that you will NEVER know how your girls will turn out until they get there. And I've got a secret --- that's true for parents of NT kids, too, only they are not aware of it. Ask ANY parent of a child who is 16 thru adulthood of that child turned out how they imagined he would when he was little. The answer in a lot of cases is no. We can't predict our children's futures. We parents of ASD kids just know that sooner.
Hey Fred, Our family is already at the border of broke, so we don't have much farther to fall. However, NO. I would not sacrifice your home or your future money on $$$ therapies that tout themselves as being "the only ones that work" remember the old "snake oil" theory? I like some of the other mom's that have posted am a realist, YES i am concerned for my child but making sure your child has a stable home is very important. If you're broke then you lose your house, and your child loses their stable home. We have made huge sacrifices(which really aren't "sacrifices" to us, but to others they would be) I don't work, I stay home with my son and drive him to school and pick him up. Although due to financial issues I have taken a job part-time working 2 days a week doing what I used to do Medical Assisting.
In addition to being home as much as I can, I do alot of stuff with my son that is therapuetic to his needs but looks like play. I know that there is and will never be a "cure" for Autism in my lifetime. But I am concerned about my son being able to be the best he can. We do what we can afford, I "turn off" the people that say he needs to be in more therapies. My son is talking(granted he's got a long way to go)he is happy and he is in school 5 days a week with OT,ST, and soon to be eval'd for assistive technology. IMO you shouldn't have to "go broke" trying to help your son and the people that are charging the $$ for some of these therapies if they really CARED about these children instead of their own profit then they would make the therapy available to everyone regardless of how much you can pay. If its that great of a therapy then why isn't it made mandatory that ALL ASD children receive it??
I just wanted to quickly add that you also might want to consider applying for waiver programs like TEFRA - where you pay a co-pay based on your income, but it will cover services like ABA (at least in Minnesota it does!).
In addition, I was told that with a very high-functioning child that you don't want to do 25-40 hours of ABA a week - we were recommended for 10. The reasoning was that my son was so verbal, intelligent and active that he would get bored doing more than that and resist it a lot more - and thus not get as much out of it. They thought the repetition would just bore the tears out of him if it was done more than 10 hours a week.
Also, I agree with sending to an integrated school - but one that has really good services. That you will need to do research on.
Gotta go take the little one to tumbling class!
You have a lot of replies, its a very interesting question. I'd say no too. I do ABA but if I was unable to fund it I'd get the neighbours kids round for some pro active babysitting instead. I've actualy done this in the past. It's not as effective but its 1:1 and a whole lot cheaper, so at least you can put more hours in there. I used to bring them along to OT and speach therapies so they'd know what to doLook into TEFRA if you can - we are going to start the application process very soon and I am looking forward to not having to worry about his insurance for the next 12 years at least.
Definitely get your kids into social situations as much as possible - this can be through tumbling classes (I'm a big fan of tumbling - but we are fortunate to have a tumbling teacher who has worked with kids on the spectrum for years and is just awesome!), dance classes, playgroups, going to the park, etc. Pre-school is huge as well. My ds went to an NT pre-school for 2 years and it was really helpful to him. He now attends Head Start 4 mornings a week and ECSE 2 afternoons a week. Head Start has been AWESOME in helping him - but every program varies. We don't qualify based on income - Head Start reserves up to 10% of their slots for kids with high needs. Helpful hint: the more community resources you are connected to, the more points you get to qualify! I used to work there, so I knew to put down EVERY single resource we are connected to - and we are connected to a lot!
It depends on your school, but ours is pretty lame about what services they provide. My son is one point above the cut-off for OT services, so we are paying for a private OT (thankfully, insurance covers all but 10% or we MIGHT be broke). We also pay for private PT, because the school won't provide that at all - even though he qualifies for adaptive Phy Ed - that doesn't start until he gets to kindergarten, though. And is only about 3 times a month. Private PT gets him one-on-one with learning how to catch and throw - which he is WAY below his age level in. The school does provide some language/social skills stuff. My son doesn't have a speech delay, but definitely needs pragmatics help. He gets a lot of social skills training at Head Start as they have a program all about social skills twice a week for an hour for ALL of the kids (this may be only our local Head Start that does it - it is in conjunction with our local Children's Mental Health).
Good luck to you - keep us posted!
Fred, my son is 12 and continues to struggle with social skills. He has been mainstreamed in a small private religious school since kindergarten. His class sizes were from 12 - 17 kids. Looking back, my advice to you would be to OVERLOAD them with social experiences where they get a chance to interact with there peers on a 1:1 basis. I have never heard of a play therapist, but if I had, I would have certainly looked into this. My son has always been outgoing, but had the usual difficulties of reading social cues, and as he gets older, his concrete thinking really hinders his social interactions. He tries hard to 'get it'.
I think this is a great topic .
If you're interested, our developmental pediatrician attempted to answer your question (how will ASD kids turn out?) in a paper he pubslihed. Here's the link where you can download the paper:
http://www.ndpeds.com/news.htm
Personally, we found that the 1:1 therapy we pay for privately far exceeds the services we got from our county. My son is also 4, and he also sounds like your daughters. We haven't gone into debt over his services, but much of the money we saved for his education was used for therapy. We also trimmed our budget a ton to accomodate the cost of therapies. However, what we found was that the private therapists could work on whatever aspect of speech and OT my son needed. The services he received in preschool had to be based on an education curriculum (I'm not sure I exactly know what that means, but I think it means the therapists range of treatment option are limited).
Basically, the county was fairly generous in providing services to us (12 hours SE preschool with speech and OT). However, the children in the preschool were all over the spectrum. My son had his dx removed in August, but he still attended the preschool because he still has issues (mainly social). We recently pulled him from the preschool because his behavior was backsliding. We chose to place him in a typical preschool with a shadow--a decision that has made everyone happy. In iyr state, his shadow is provided through his medical assistance card and not through the county.
I hope this helps!
BTW, my husband got his Ph.D. at NC State, so we also lived in Wake county. Now we're in PA.
tzoya - I guess in an ideal world that would work. However, in order to get appropriate services for your child, you have to have people who are actually trained, competent and caring to actually PROVIDE those services. Unfortunately, in our area - those people are very few and far between. And, we have the 2nd highest rate of Asperger's in the entire country! Our autism specialist for our school district - yes, there is only one and she covers K-12 in a community of 90,000 people - has no training in autism whatsoever. She wants to learn and she is trying, but she has almost 200 kids on her caseload! She has only been on the job a year and I think she is already burning out.
We are very fortunate to have been able to advocate very well for our child by ourselves - but it was a long, hard battle. And we also lucked into good circumstances and we have all sorts of connections in the community so we know who to ask and where to go to get answers. A lot of parents don't have that. We are moving in 6 months, so we will have to start all over - but fortunately, we already have established some contacts and have good ideas about where to go/where to live. And, the community we are going (the Twin Cities) is 10 times better in providing services than where we currently live, from what I understand. Not all parts of it, but again we are being given good advice as to where to live so that we get the best services for our child.
And, what do you do when the school tests your child for fine motor and he gets one point over the cut-off? In other words he is one point away from qualifying for services, but it might as well be 100 points away because they won't give them to him. Does it matter that he can't draw a square or triangle at age 5 1/2? Guess not! I could try to fight it - but the test speaks for itself. They simply don't HAVE to qualify him because he does not meet their criteria. So, do I go and get him private OT? You BET I do! Thankfully, he is also in an ECSE class and there is an OT in there - the same one who DID provide him with services last year until he tested out of OT services. So, she can do indirect OT (that is in his IEP) and also give the teacher helpful hints as to how to work with him.
And our school WILL NOT provide PT services at all. Once he gets to kindergarten, he can get adaptive phy ed (they tested him and he qualifies). So, do I just let him go and think - oh, well he'll catch up? NO! I go and get him private PT as well. We are lucky that our insurance covers all but 10% of it, but I would be out getting a job to pay for it if they didn't. There are some things that my son absolutely needs and OT and PT are definitely two of those. The more confidence he gets physically, it seems the more confidence he gets in social interactions - he can play more of the games and do more of the same things the other kids can. For him, that has been key. Now, would I send him to a special school for kids with autism - no. I personally feel he needs to be with NT kids as much as he can possibly do. So, he goes only 2 afternoons a week to ECSE and then 4 mornings (3 1/2 hours a day) to Head Start. I don't pay for either of those - they are funded by the state and federal government, in that order. We don't do ABA yet - but if we qualify for TEFRA (which I mentioned in a previous post) we will definitely look into it.
Hope this helps!
Snoopywoman made a good point that in a lot of areas its hard to find warm bodies to provide services. This is a bit off topic but a very relevant point. Even if you know what therapies your child can benefit from, finding good therapists with training in special needs kids can be tough. Just like finding a good pediatrician, dentist, etc.
As I have posted before, we have been very fortunate to have a CAP worker for Tony since he was about 4; he is now 12 so it has been a long time. Medicaid pays the hourly wage, but expenses incurred for "outings" to work on social skills, etc are out of our pocket. It may sound petty, but simple little things like dinner out to work on verbal interaction (placing an order, making eye contact with server, paying for meal to learn money functions) can get costly. Multiply that times number of other kids (gee, don't they get to eat out too??) and soon you have snowballed into a few hundred bucks a month spent. Not to mention money spent on supplies to work on goals even at home.
Yes, our kids are worth it. But I can tell you, even when I was working, we lived payday to payday. Now that I am home (divorced at that), there are a lot of beanies & weenies for dinner! Even with interventions that are sometimes (and sometimes not) paid for by insurance, there are plenty of hidden costs that can really stretch the old budget!
Mary
Fred is thinking about moving. What I've posted is about how to choose the place to move to. Clearly, ti wouldn't make sense to move to an area that did not have the possiblity of services.
About testing...if you don't agree with a school's evaluation, you have the right to ask for an Independent Evaluation at public expense. I find it hard to believe that any community that has a hospital does not have OT's and PT's who COULD perform an evaluation if paid. The school is required to pay or required to take you to a hearing. It would be the RARE hearing officer who would say "no second opinion." So the school would end up paying for the second opinion AND the costs of their lawyer (and possibly yours). Believe me, most schools don't want to go there, so they provide IEE's to parents who know their rights. If the school cannot hire therapists, they can also pay for the services to be delivered outside of school at the same rehab center that work with other sorts of people who need OT and PT. Lack of the services the child NEEDS to receive FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) means lack of FAPE which is CLEARLY against the law. Also, no single criteria can be used to deny a child a service. If a child is ONE POINT lower than the cut-off, you can put together your own report with evidence that shows that the child's needs are preventing him from getting educational benefit (this means in the areas of academics, development, social skills and physical ability). For example, you can put together a presentation of your child's handwriting on his schoolwork. Or take a video of your child having physical difficulties. The scores on any given test are a snapshot of a child on that day at that time. If you think a test does not accurately reflect the issues, put together a presentation for the IEP Committee (and, presumably a future Hearing Officer) that does. Ask for an outside evaluation. Not having access to the NECESSARY supports and services violates IDEA. If they REALLY cannot get these services, they have to create another way to give the child what he needs. What that might be I don't know, but they HAVE to. OTherwise they are robbing your child of his rights. Even if you live in the furthest reaches of Alaska. If your child is not getting FAPE, the school is liable.
Nowwhat
Well, my son has made huge improvements in fine motor skills. And his private OT is also impressed. The problem is - he is behind other kids his age, but state law requires you to be (I believe) 2 standard deviations below the mean. To give you an idea of his progress - last year, it was almost painful for him to write his name one time on one card (he was 4 1/2). We started writing out Christmas cards in November for his teachers, paras, etc. so that we could write only one card every other day. This year, he signed FIFTY Christmas letters in two sittings that will go out to our family and friends. With no complaining, except he said he was tired at the very end of each session of signing. He will also be signing the 20 some Christmas cards to service providers, teachers, etc. and probably do all of those in one sitting. And, he is now asking to make cards for people - like a teacher that was sick the other day. In addition, I know he gets indirect OT from the OT in the room - and his teacher has privately told me that if he is having real difficulty, the OT does step in and help (although she is technically not supposed to). In addition, he has sensory issues which our school district ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT provide services - other people have filed for mediation on this issue and lost. Since our insurance pays all but 10%, I am willing to shell out the dough for the only certified sensory OT in our area - and she doesn't provide services in the school anyway!
Since ds is still in pre-school, it is nearly impossible to show that this is negatively impacting his schoolwork as I think it probably isn't at this point - but it will next year, if his skills don't improve. We held him out a year, so he is doing okay for the grade - but not for his age (5 1/2). Which is a huge part of the reason we held him out to begin with (in addition to getting an additional year of social skills training before kindergarten).
By the way, our private OT performed the same type of test and he scored even a little better than on the school's test. But, he still can't draw a square correctly or even close to a triangle. He can draw a person with about 17 parts, though. It is a little bizarre looking, but you can tell it is a person. And his letters are fairly recognizable - way too big and he has little sense of space on the paper, but you can recognize them. And he knows how to write most of the uppercase letters and some of the lowercase ones.
I'm not saying there aren't warm bodies to do the work - I'm saying there aren't CAPABLE warm bodies to do the work. Just because a person has a degree doesn't mean they know how to interact with your child or get your child to progress. We have been fortunate to get people that, for the most part, are excellent. I was just saying that that isn't possible for everyone. I know lots of people in our community who are getting squat. They have services, but the people providing them just don't cut it. They don't have training in autism and thus have no clue what to do. And unfortunately, the school doesn't necessarily care if the people are capable or not, unless parents hold them accountable. A lot of parents don't know how to do that (we do thankfully!) and thus, their children lose out.
It is great that there are people like you out there, tzoya - because you help educate all sorts of people as to how to advocate for their child. I guess what I am saying is that even if you advocate like crazy - if there aren't competent professionals out there to do the work, you are lost anyway. The service providers DESPERATELY need education on autism - and not just a one-day seminar. It needs to be ongoing and they need support from autism specialists (not one who has almost 200 kids on her caseload either!) so that they can consult on a regular basis as to what to do and how to handle different situations.
We are moving as well, and I think that until you get into a community for a while - it is difficult to know if there are going to be competent providers or not. You can get a general idea (as we have already done), but even in an individual school, the teachers can vary widely in terms of competency and being educated about autism. I'm looking for quality and that is so hard to define! Someone else might think that a teacher is really good - but if s/he isn't effectively teaching my child then what good does it do us? However, we are fortunate that where we are going (Twin Cities - most likely Apple Valley area) is supposed to be excellent in terms of services and has a ton of stuff there. Lots more than where we are now and there is much more awareness of autism and how to work with kids with autism in that area. From what I understand, generally providers won't look at you with a confused look on their face when you mention Asperger's (which they do frequently in this community which has the 2nd highest rate of Asperger's IN THE COUNTRY - did I say that before?
Anyway, tzoya - it wasn't meant as a criticism to you. I just wanted to point out that I wish we could all just fix everything by going to mediation (which can get expensive if you lose!) but when it comes to reality, our kids don't always get the most competent, educated people that they deserve because those people are few and far between.
Edited to say - sorry Fred for hijacking your post! I would never go broke, but I have absolutely no problem spending what
would be his college fund for his education now. I also will pay out of
pocket for someone who is making extraordinary progress with my son,
based partially on their excellent bond--like my son's OT. I am not a
millionaire. A tiny bit of manageable debt never hurt anyone. And
downsizing is surprisingly easy and rewarding when you do it for the right
reasons. It's just unamerican, is all... 
.
Fred:
My son's DX is pdd-nos and he is very high functioning. He is 4.3. His main areas of concern are his language and social skills. His academic skills (if you can call it that at this young age) are great. He has come a long way in this past year. We started ABA in August and I LOVE it. He's learned a lot and his behavior is better. He doesn't really have any stims or serious behavior issues.
He gets speech therapy, occupational therapy and social work at school. He is in a blended setting - about 12 NT kids with 6 children who qualify for special ed services.
We pay for the ABA. He gets 10 hrs per week. We also private pay for him to get extra speech therapy but we go to a local university and he gets his speech therapy from a student under the direction of a speech path. He does great there and it's cheap (/hour).
I've drastically reduced the amount of $$ I'm putting into my 401K although I'm still paying into his college fund.
We also private pay for him to get extra speech therapy but we go to a local university and he gets his speech therapy from a student under the direction of a speech path. He does great there and it's cheap (/hour).
[/QUOTE]
We did the same thing when Connor was 4 1/2 at Cal State Northridge Speech and Language Center. It was wonderful, and very reasonably priced. As his speech therapy needs became more socially specific and less pragmatics focused, we switched to a private therapist with tons of experience working with ASD kids, and by that time my insurance covered it.
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