Finding Help in Random Places

I mentioned previously how a human services training I attended for work allowed me to help Primero. The training also put me in touch with a community liaison from the mental health provider of the kids’ insurance. I was able to express my frustrations in trying to find help for Love Bug over the summer and how I felt the agency we were working with at the time did not really help. In fact, I felt like leaving them for a different agency was part of the solution we needed. I know the mobile therapist we worked with did not really know what to do with kids on the spectrum. He admitted that to me. When I questioned why they did not list ASD on Love Bug’s file, he indicated it didn’t needed to be listed but it did inform his therapies. Only it didn’t. And the further we have moved away from the agency, the more evident it has become to me that they were part of the problem. Love Bug might not understand social interactions like a neurotypical child, but he is sensitive to how people act and react to him.  He is adept at picking up on the people who do not accept him in all his eccentric glory. He was picking up on the mobile therapist’s evident frustration and dare I say, dislike, of him. Me, on the other hand, I was drowning in the negativity. I would feebly try to point out Love Bug’s good points only to be shot down, in front of other people, and belittled for not choosing to medicate my child. None of this was helping us. None of this was making things any better for anyone in our family. In the thick of it, I couldn’t see the way out. I held on tightly to my beliefs about my child. He is capable of more than we give him credit for. Yes, he struggles and yes he needs help. But, he is not and was not the daemon spawn the previous mobile therapist made him out to be. He is not dangerous or maliciously focused on hurting someone, like the mobile therapist told the school during our IEP meeting, And, he is not ODD. I want that off his records because while he is defiant, he is not doing it spitefully, he is refusing because he cannot comply. In speaking to the representative who was at the training, she encouraged me to set up a meeting with the insurance company, the new agency and maybe even the school to see if we can get everyone on the same page. This is in the works for after Love Bug completes his neuro-psych evaluation. The insurance company also initiated a review of the agency, basically asking them to explain themselves and treatment of Love Bug and our family. I wasn’t looking to get anyone in trouble, but I see this agency showing up a Autism events and I would hate for another family to experience what we did. I have received a letter about the results of the inquiry, but I haven’t yet opened it. I guess it doesn’t so much matter what the insurance company decides, since we are with a new agency for both the kids. Love Bug deserved better. All children deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, no matter how defiant or troublesome their behaviors might be