I just found out that we are eligibile for the Gardiner Scholarship. This is something I have thought about but never been in the right place educationally to apply and follow through with changing from the McKay to the Gardiner.

My primary reason for switching is money.

Unfortunely for many people with children with special needs realize that the best therapy, ecuation or medicines are often the most expensive. Many parents do not have insureance that provides for the hours of needed behavioral therapy (ABA) or the expensive developmental pediatriatns in order to get the medical diagnosis to give you that access card. Having the medical diagnosis, austism (ASD) is a huge help in gaining access to much needed help for families.

Commerical health insureance can easiliy have a $4,000 to $7,000 deductible with out of pocket max over $10,000. Today, private school with average an additional $10,000 per year. If public schools do not meet the needs of your special needs child and you need a specialized learning environment for your childr’s success money is the solution.

That’s the power of a special needs scholarhip like Gardiner. Allowing parents the power of choice, the power to think outside the recommendation of a public school IEP team and th power to build a custom learning path is an opportintity unique to Florida.

Still in the process…more to come on how we use this opportunity!

~Ruth