Autisim Update

Since its been a while since I've talked about how Kaden's doing with his autisim I figured it would be a good time to do one.  The last few weeks have been tough on us and not because of Kaden, but due to his therapy being cancled.  If there is one thing I'm learning through this process its that the military needs to get their behinds in gear and start finding ways to get inside help for kids with special needs so that we don't go to the civilan sector for it.  The reason I say this is because of what we've had to deal with lately with Kaden's therapy.

ABA therapy is expensive.  As I was just told in the civilan sector it costs almost $13,000 a month for this therapy that Kaden is going through.  We are tremendously blessed that we have Tri-care which is covering the costs and that we don't have to figure out ways to cover them.  Military insurance is one of the few that do cover these types of costs in the insurance.  Most civilains insurance companies don't.  However that also means that we get a lot of crap along the way when trying to get these services too.  Unlike when you're a civilain and go to get a referal for medical services of any kind (I do know what I'm talking about here, we were at one time a civilian family) its super easy.  They check your insurance and see which drs you can see for that referal.  Military insurance is VERY different.  Your dr has to put the request into tri-care and then they pick if you can see that said specialist or if they will deny what you need. 

With Kaden, we had to fight to even see an autisim specialist to get his diagnosis then we had to fight to get the services he now has.  However some of the services were cut off just as fast by tri-care as they approved of them.  With ABA we've not had a problem with them accepting the costs or any of the things that go along with it.  We have had issues of the civilian agency kicking us out due to "budget cuts".  Now if you don't know CA can't budget to save their lives.  So last month during an contract renewal (his contract was only for 6 months) the agency that we've been going through for his services told me that after a 3 month renewal Kaden would no longer be recieving services with them due to budget cuts oh and that we're military and they have been ordered by the state to cut off services to military families first.

Yeah that was a lot of fun to hear come from the very place that we were told to go to for the therapy by the Navy, because the Navy doesn't have the ability to do this therapy at all.  We are now going through a phase out program for Kaden's therapy as a result of CA's budget issues and that we're military.  To make things all that more fun I came to learn more of why Kaden was being kicked out by the supervisor over his ABA therapy and that ticked me off even more.  Its not just the money or that we're military that we're getting kicked out but because Kaden is now 5 years old and they don't do services for kids over the age of 4.  With autisim there is only a short window of opportunity to help them out before the help will no longer work. 

Kaden has 3 years before that window of opportunity closes on him.  Now, he's come a long way in the last year with the ABA, school program he's in (which is actually been a world of good for him), and simply because Jay and I refuse to give up on him or his potential but he does have more work a head of him.  In just the time Jay's been deployed (which thankfully is coming to an end) he has grown in ways that I never could have imagined.  His vocabulary and speech have dramatically improved (we still have some work to go in this area), his behaviors are getting better, his compliancy issues are slowly going away and he's all around acting and behaving more like your typical 5 year old boy than the autism side that we've seen for so long.  Mind you, that side does show up when he's frustrated of focused on something like a movie or video game, but most of the time unless you know he has autisim you can't tell.

In just the last 6 months Kaden went from very little potty training to he's now fully potty trained, which was a goal I had from the start of this deployment for him.  He'll be fully potty trained, and already is, by the time Jay gets home.  And that brings me to Jay and Kaden.  Each port Jay has hit he's tried to get on the webcam to see me and the kids some.  Most of the ports Kaden wouldn't say much beyond a "hi Daddy" and then go off and play.  The last two ports have been an entirely different story.  I've had to fight for time with Jay via webcam because Kaden just had to tell Jay everything that was going on with him.  Had to tell him all about school and his new toys and just talk to him.  This is a huge change for all of us and its been an amazing process to watch.  Jay will be blown away by the changes he's seen in Kaden via webcam and I know that once he's home those changes will be even more evident.

So due to his therapy getting cut off here in 3 months the fight to get him the help he needs begins once again.  We're lucky that his autisim dr is a great dr and works for the navy so we'll have his help in getting things fixed and the help Kaden needs back.  Over all we feel truly blessed to be living here in San Diego where they have some of the best resources in the nation (VA is the only other place that offers the best quality of care for kids with autisim, military wise) and know that its where we're supposed to be for the time being.

Olive Garden with the girls

Yup went out to lunch with my fellow Navy wives again to Olive Garden.  It was a really enjoyable time and it felt great to get out of the house.  I really enjoy these get togethers since I don't get out of the house much with Kaden's current schedule of ABA and school.  The kids had fun and for the most part they behaved.  Kaden just had a hard time sitting still while we waited on the food. 

 Annabelle was happy just to sit with me at any time.

 Jen and Amity

 Whitney and Brandi

 Kaden beeing a goof

Nicole and Jen

 Sarah and Katy

These get togethers are so much fun and they wipe the kids out completely.  After we were done with lunch the kids and I went over to the book store and got a few new books.  It was a really nice Saturday outting.