The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

So we had our meeting with Birth to Three. I want to start on a positive note and go from there:

• Little Bug will be starting Play Therapy this week- hopefully Wednesday if we hear from our FRC (Family Resource Coordinator) and Autism Education within the month. This is pretty exciting.
• We received good information and recommendations regarding school placements and IEPs (Individualized Education Plans). We realized that we get to start that fun in January- 6 months before Little Bug's birthday.
• We got the results from the cognitive evaluation and Little Bug averaged at 17 months. She felt that the test was not a true measure of his skills and that he has really good skills, but because the test had to be done in a very specific manner, his scores were lower.
• The wait for the Occupational Therapist will be 1 month. That isn't too bad. We should be getting a call from the OT to set up an appointment.
• The wait for the Speech Therapist is not determined but apparently is so bad, we were told to contact Mary Bridge and other private resources.
• We are now responsible for co-pays for both OT and PT. This was just changed and not told to us. This was a huge shock for us as when we began with our FRC, we were told that *everything* would be paid for- no charge to us. While we appreciate that they are asking us to only pay the co-pays, when you are looking at 2 to 3 (as OT is sometimes split into two appointments) co-pays, that is between $280.00 to $420 a month. This is not something we can afford.
• There is an option to apply to Pierce County to have them cover the co-pays. If they do not, then we will need to work with the Insurance Coordinator at Birth to Three.

So our general impressions were as follows:

• A good majority of this could have been done by mail- the results and letting us know when therapy would begin. There wasn't an option for discussion or give and take- it was this is what we have, take it or leave it. Advice- Find out what the purpose of the meeting is and decide if you really need to attend. This meeting yesterday was one where just one representative of the family could have gone.
• They were very surprised to have a family that actually knew about therapy tools and that challenged the status quoe. In fact, they had a really hard time dealing with confrontation and that is something they could improve on.
• There is nothing for children to do at these meetings. Either bring someone who is okay to have the information relayed later or hire a babysitter. Little Bug quickly became bored with toys- which is kinda typical of a kiddo with sensory issues- and began to wreak havoc.
• The communication is poor- we were not informed of the change in financial policy from Birth to Three. Birth to Three seemed very hesitant to give us bad news.

This has been an emotional roller coater. We are very frustrated that the area Little Bug is struggling is the last place to get help. To me that seems incredibly unfair and hard to swallow. While we are not stating that he doesn't have difficulty in social skills, stereo typical ASD behaviors, safety issues, self help issues, it seems that the more communication skills he gets, the more the rest of it will come together. For example, how do you teach a kid to put on their clothes if they do not understand the words that you are using?

We always have a backup plan. DN is calling Mary Bridge today to find out what the waiting list is and adding Little Bug to it. I will be contacting our FRC to begin the process of proving financial hardship for Little Bug's co-pays. Finally, we are going to be buying a HUGE amount of Signing Time! as Little Bug loves it and it is increasing his sign abilities daily.