Our Diagnosis, March 2010

This post has been copied from our care page from March 25th, 2010

Dearest Friends and Family~
I am sorry if this seems an impersonal way of telling you all what I must share, but I just can't handle saying what I have to say over and over because it breaks my heart everytime I think about it.

On March 11th after multiple appointment​s throughout February and March, we got the news that confirmed our fears. Brady was diagnosed with Autism. Brady is 2 years and 9 months old and only says a few words. He does not make any verbal attemts to communicate. The sounds that he does use only come from babbaling. He says "yep" but not in any context. He babbles ma ma, Da Da, and ba ba ba, but again not in context to Steve or myself. Brady will not make eye contact with any one person for longer then just a few seconds, and he does not respond to his name. The professiona​ls we have seen have suggested that early interventio​n is the key to minimizing the severity of his disabiliy. They suggest he immediately start center based ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) at 20-40 hours per week which is the suggested amount of time required to hopefully get him ready to "mainstream" with his peers by the time he is school age. ABA is learning through play therapy, and is one on one with a therapist who specializes in autism. This comes at a cost of $60 per hour and SHOCKINGLY is not covered by Mayo insurance. In fact it is not covered by MANY insurance companies! So while Steve and I are both working professiona​ls with what we thought was good insurance coverage, we now need to apply for medical assistance for Brady to cover his ABA. He will fall under a program called TEFRA which looks solely at his income to determine if he qualifys. Which with NO income he will qualify, and then thankfully the therapy will be covered 100% after our parental co pay. I am just very frusterated that our insurance will not cover something that is clearly in the best intrests of a child! So, if he gets the help he needs now when he is little and his brain is still in "sponge" mode he is less likely to need as much help later in life. He can possibly "overcome" this diagnosis to the point where he could no longer be classified as "autistic". We are hoping that our wonderful, loving little boy will overcome this thing and can join his peers in a normal classroom by the time he is school age. The world can be SOOO cruel to even the normalist of kids. And he is such a special loving little boy, who's favorite spot is to cuddle on Mommy or Daddy's lap...I just can't bear the thought of ingnorant people being mean to him because he sees the world differently then they do. We are not going to let this thing be a life sentence for him, we are going to do everything we can to help him overcome the obsticals this diagnosis has placed before him. With heavy hearts we move forward into our new world.

Disclaimer: The information on this blog is NOT intended to take the place of diagnosis and treatment by a qualified licensed healthcare provider. Any recommendations are for educational purposes only and are believed to be effective. However, since USE of any information provided herein by others is beyond the control of Michelle Bacon, RN, no expressed or implied guarantee as to the effectiveness of this information can be given nor liability taken.