The Monster plays with a lot of toys. His favorites, though, are the electronic ones – be they his iPad, my Nook, or the computer.
My biggest problem is, despite the huge number of applications out there to encourage children to model social behavior, there’s yet to be invented one that really encourages and rewards proper social behavior. Continue reading
When we had the initial IEP meeting a little over nine months ago, one of the biggest changes was the removal of the Monster’s physical therapy.
According to the reports, he didn’t need any further physical therapy – the schools are primarily concerned with his ability to walk normally, ascend and descend stairs, and handle himself with his class at a ‘reasonable pace’. The fact that he’s still clearly delayed, because he doesn’t ascend or descend stairs with alternating motion, doesn’t seem to factor in to the decision, and despite our best efforts to keep it in the plan, the schools put their collective foot down. Continue reading
The Monster had another speech evaluation yesterday.
I find it interesting, as we go from therapist to therapist, at the differences in opinions as to his level of function. (For a basic level of evaluation – they require a ‘greater than 25% deficiency’ in function here for services.) He is currently just shy of 55 months, which means that he needs to be speaking at less than a 41 month level to be getting speech services in the schools. Continue reading
Today was our first visit to a behavioral psychologist for the Monster.
So far, we’ve been really unable to find an ABA practice that is covered by our insurance (as mentioned previously – ABA is not required to be covered by law here in Maryland), and we’ve been working with Kennedy Krieger for a number of studies and for developmental pediatrician visits. As part of the battery of these services, we finally got the Monster in to see someone on the psychological side of the house to start working on the other issues. Continue reading
I’ve posted several times before about how the insurance coverage I have through work (a company based in California) in theory covers treatments such as ABA, and yet there are no providers in my state (Maryland) that are on the insurance plan. The reason for this is simple – here, ABA is not defined as “appropriate and medically necessary”, so insurance providers are not required to cover this proven treatment.
To be fair – our current insurer has told the wife that if we can find a provider here who is covered for other services, they would be amenable to discussing payment. I have no idea if the new provider in January will feel similarly, but I can fight that battle when we get there. Continue reading
I think I’ve been very good about trying to emphasize my son’s strengths as much as his weaknesses. All kids are a nice balance of pluses and minuses, and the Monster’s no exception to that rule.
One of the things that comes with going to public preschool is homework.
This is the first time the Monster’s had homework assigned on a regular basis. This is, therefore, something unfamiliar to him and we’re still working out how best to handle it. Continue reading
I don’t know if this would actually surprise people who know me or not. It probably shouldn’t be a shock, but who knows?
When the Monster had his IEP meeting a few months ago, one of his providers had recommended an end to his physical therapy.
Now, he’s hardly uncoordinated or a threat to himself when navigating around. The boy does like to run, and he’s got decent motion even on uneven ground. Our major protest was the fact that he’s still not doing some of the age-appropriate behaviors, like switching feet while ascending/descending stairs. Continue reading
All of us have heard the phrase ‘you are what you eat’ at some point in our lives. Mostly, this has been an admonition against eating loads of junk-food, but there is a little bit of credence to the phrase itself on some level.
And of course, as most parents are aware of, kids are a bit less self-regulating on this account. Continue reading