There are so many different decisions Scott and I need to make that it is all very overwhelming at times. Right now I am mainly focused on two main decisions: 1) where to send Zoey to school, and 2) what type of treatment to get her involved in. These decisions seem to get more complicated whenever I talk to someone else about them. For instance, Zoey had her first session of group speech on Monday and one of the other moms and I started talking. She was asking what we were doing in regards to school and ABA therapy and sharing her feelings of uncertainty. While this mom wasn't trying to persuade me in any particular direction (we were both equally unsure), I do feel that my thoughts on both of the issues started to change a little bit and some of the thoughts I had before I started to second guess. So then I go home and I start doing research (mainly regarding ABA treatment) and my mind starts to go in a totally different direction.
Tuesday I had a visit to one of the special Autism schools that were recommended to us by the psychologist who did Zoey's evaluation. She didn't actually recommend that we send her to a special school, she just let us know that it is an option. Anyhow, I made an appointment to tour one that is close by. There are two main issues that I keep coming back to. The first is cost. If we decide to send Zoey to the special needs preschool through our district it is completely free. The Autism school costs $20,000 for part time and $28,000 for full time. There is an Autism Scholarship that covers $20,000. Finding out that cost difference between full and part time kind of threw a wrench in my thinking because the preschool through our district is part time, so technically both part time programs are free to us.Actually that's not completely true because the Autism school provides speech therapy, but it is not included in tuition, so it would cost extra. So then it comes down to looking at what program is right for Zoey. Honestly I have no idea. I think if she were lower functioning I would be leaning more towards putting her in the Autism school. However, the fact that she is pretty high functioning makes me more hesitant. I think Scott and I are on the same page that when Kindergarten comes around we want her to mainstreamed as much as possible, so we would not be planning on keeping her at the special Autism school anyhow. On the other hand, I wonder if I would be giving her a better head start if we enrolled her in that school for her two years of preschool. However, then when it came to transition her to kindergarten the school district wouldn't know her so her IEP wouldn't be an individualized as it could be. See how all of these thoughts just cancel each other out and drive me crazy? I wish someone could just tell me "This is what is going to for sure be the best choice for Zoey". Sadly, no one can do that, so I just have to guess.
Now in terms of her treatment options, I had been pretty settled on doing ABA treatment with her. I'm not exactly thrilled with the way it works here in Ohio. However, I'm starting to think that most states work the same way. However, I work in Pennsylvania, which I like to say has a messed up mental health system, but for kids with Autism it seems to be a pretty good system (once you fight to get the managed care company to approve the hours). They have what are called Behavioral Specialist Consultants and Therapeutic Staff Support workers, who go to the home, school, or community to work with the children. The TSS workers are employed by an agency and supervised directly by the BSC. Here in Ohio, they offer the same kind of program, but the difference is that the agency employs the BSC equivalent, but you have to find a person to do the actual therapy (the TSS part), pay them out of pocket (not covered by insurance or county funding), and then the agency will train them. I have a really hard time with that because the random person I hire has no background in psychology and I can't see the training provided by the agencies as being all that comprehensive. There's also the fact that I'm not really sure what behaviors I would have them work with Zoey on. Her behaviors are really pretty good most of the time. It's mainly social skills that I am concerned about. I think we do a pretty good job of handling the minor outbursts we have.
During Wednesday's JAM session, we started talking about county funding and what is and isn't covered. I haven't met with our supports coordinator yet and the one mom had just met with hers, so she was sharing with me what she found out at her meeting. However, we live in different counties, so there are differences because of that. It's all so complicated. This service is covered, but only under these circumstances. I think I might pull my hair out before the month is over!!!
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| Cuz a blog post isn't complete without a picture of Zo :) |
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