My College Papers - New Tab Added

     I have added a new tab to the AOTA blog. It's called "My College Papers", and these are papers that I wrote for college about Teagan and his disabilities. There is a lot of good information in these, and I thought I would share them. Just click on the "My College Papers" for the link or click on the "My College Papers" tab at the top of the blog, then click on the titles to view the actual papers. Please respect my generosity, and do not copy these papers and submit them as your own. Thank you.

Special Services for Autistic Families

     This is a repost.  There have been several questions about services for Autistic children and adults, and I thought it would be good to repost this for those who may not have seen it, or don't know how to find it.

     I thought I would dedicate this post to special services for Autistic families.  Most Autistic children are diagnosed with other diagnoses, and depending on these diagnoses, your child may qualify for SSI benefits through Social Security.  Depending on your family's income, you may or may not receive a monthly supplemental check, but the real benefit of SSI for Autistic children is the Medicaid.  Medicaid will pay for nearly any and all services your Autistic child may need.  I highly recommend looking into it.     

     Another thing you may want to look into is sedation for simple services like eye and dental exams.  Teagan is very difficult to handle when having these simple exams done, and after many trials and errors, we were finally referred to a local hospital, where they will sedate your child in order to perform these exams.  Yes, I know, sedation is such a scary thing for a parent, especially when it comes to your very precious, special child.  But if you leave a doctor's office more frazzled than you would if you were in the middle of a war, you can imagine the peace of mind these types of services can offer.
     Occupational therapy can do wonders for children with sensory integration issues.  Teagan was in OT for three years, and he went from not being able to slide down a slide, swing, or even step onto grass and sand, to playing like a normally developed child.
     If you are looking for other services that I haven't mentioned, gods know we have been through the gauntlet with Teagan, please feel free to e-mail me and I will try to share what I know.  But I'm sure, eventually, I will post it here. :-)

tiffanywilson@triad.rr.com