WHY is getting Medicaid so…

unfortunately difficult?! BIG NEWS!  My son is now in the Medicaid Children’s Medical Services program of Florida Kid Care.  (I’m not even sure if this is the correct way to describe it).  This process was very confusing and lengthy.  There seem to be so many different parts or subgroups within the Medicaid program itself.  Just…

holy behavior plan, batman

Yesterday, I amended my son’s IEP and behavior plan.  It was another 2 hour meeting.  My last meeting was 2.5 hours and was to determine eligibility (the longest IEP…) At our last meeting, the behavior plan was so terrible that we had to agree to meet again to change it. A draft copy of the…

my 5 year old does laundry better than…

many adults! My 5 year old has ASD and has a great ability to do chores or activities that many can’t do at the same level.  He has an ability to observe an action or set of actions then repeat them.  He is able to create a system to complete the chore correctly and accurately…

dealing with denial sometimes divorce…

because of autism/special needs. Dealing with denial is a phase that everyone and every family will experience and decide to work through or not.  When you have a child with special needs there are definitely phases that you experience in finding  your path to advocating for your child.  In most cases, one parent will work…

the longest IEP meeting of my life!

IEP re-evaluation and eligibility determination   my meeting was from 2:30 to 5pm! This time of year is key for parents of pre-k students or students getting ready for kindergarten.  When a student is first eligible for services with the school they are most often labelled DD for developmentally delayed.  This label drops by age…

breaking up with your child’s therapist…

is hard to do. I quit OT and speech therapy today! It is never easy to break up with your child’s therapist.  I have sadly researched how to break up with therapists in the past.  I have broken up with therapists in the past as well as currently.  Various reasons can make you break up…

I read a book! I need cliff notes for next time…

So, I read my first book dealing with autism from cover to cover!  I’m not going to lie, about 1/3rd of the way through when it started getting all technical I started to think…where are the cliff notes on this book?! So, this book is very helpful in the understanding of the type of applied…

a day in the life of a 5 year old with autism, part 1

My son is 5 years old with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).  Behaviors have improved and advanced.  I have worked to document our first event of 2017 related to some of the ritual or obsessive behaviors that can be present on varying levels with people on the spectrum. The video is linked to my YouTube channel…

a reflection: alone with autism

Happy New Year! I was happy to celebrate at my Noon Years Eve party this year to bring in the 2017 year. Looking back over the holidays  and years I’m happy to be in this place.  I didn’t know how I would make it many days; even after the third day of winter break this…