 | I cannot agree more with Joanalyst!!! As a father of a 6 year old boy with AS, I have been through many of the things that were expressed here, I thought I was the only Dad to have to scrape his son's poop off the wall. The things that have really made a difference in our boy are; involved and committed developmental pediatrician, speech therapy, occupational therapy, mainstream education and lots and lots of floor time (see Dr. Greenspan's excellent book, http://www.stanleygreenspan.com/). Fortunately, my wife thought there was something amiss with our son about age 2 1/2. So that's when we took him to get tested for developmental delay, which led to seeing a developmental pediatrician. Even with this, there have been many trying times when it seemed there was no hope -- he still wets his bed on occasion.
As far as cost goes, depending on where you live you may qualify for aid (don't be proud, it is there for these kids and they need it, so do you). I live in Arizona where his diagnosis allows us to have 80% coverage of speech and occupational therapy in addition to in-home care and respite (parental time off). You should persue setting up a 504 plan for your child. This type of documentation is what most educators are looking for when you need their help. Under the 504 rules, they must not exclude your child based on his situation, loosely stated.
As for our son, he just completed his first year of public school in a K/1 class. The upside of his condition is that he is extremely bright, something we did not realize until we were able to get the behavioral issues under control. He is reading, writing and doing math at a 5th grade level now, and will be skipping 1st grade to be with his friends in 2nd grade. There is hope, lots of it, but be prepared (thank God for my wife), because it will likely be harder in the short term. If you would like to contact me feel free. |
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