Adding another therapist

An email dropped itself in my inbox from a bulletin board post at my company. An intern had a girlfriend who followed him to Syracuse for the summer and had ABA experience and was looking for a summer gig. Of course you know that I was all over that.

She will come tomorrow for an intro and start next week if all goes well tomorrow. That will get us up to the 30-35 hours of therapy a week. As much as this sounds horrible, and feels horrible, I know that it could possibly make the difference. This will also buy me time to find someone for the fall, and to train them as necessary. Research indicates that 30-40 hours a week is what is recommended. Here we go.

That brings up the other big event of the week - our first training session was Monday. I was able to attend a little more than half of the hour and a half session - had to be out of the room to help out with wee ones, but I believe it went OK. There is so much information and technical jargon, as with any specialty. We are hoping to conduct more sessions, so this was a good first trial run. One of the things I would like to do is start regular training sessions for those interested - therapists, teachers, parents. Oddly enough I liked doing it in my home. I guess I am a weirdo.

Zach is doing OK. No major jumps that I have noticed - but a slow and steady increase in using a few words more functionally. His use of "up" and pronunciation of "up" are right on. We lost a few sessions these past few weeks due to illnesses (therapists), appointments, and using some session time for planning the training activities and preparing materials for his therapy.

I would love to see another jump in some skill sometime soon - it always helps keep the momentum going.

Pretty intense week with meetings going on just about every night. Mon- ABA training, Tue - neighborhood watch, Wed - Families for Effective Autism Treatment (totally missed), Thurs - new therapist interview (likely will reschedule).

Need to start getting the medicaid waiver paperwork accomplished. Hoping to find out what agency can best support me with the process. We have a decision to make with whether or not to stick with the home based ABA program or send Zach to a school for the fall. This is a tough one. We will lose funding if we continue the at home program, and I am trying to determine if I can get the waiver to provide some assistance with that. Without it, we are looking at a $50,000 bill for his therapy alone next year - this does not include appointments, evaluations, biomed treatments, special diets, etc. - just his services. Can anyone say YIKES?

Totally did not sleep last night - just too wigged out about everything.

One of the therapists mentioned a family with a hot tub - and that is all I can think about lately. Steve seems to dig the idea. I just have to find out how much one of those bad boys cost. Could totally use it more year round which would help tolerate the rough winters around here. Once in awhile I see a twinkle in Steve's eye - and I think I saw one when I mentioned this. I have to find a way to make this happen before the winter comes.