In the last 2 weeks Brendan has made such amazing progress. It is so fun to watch him learn and accomplish new things everyday. One of his habilatation therapist who works with him 4 days a week said to me today that he keeps changing every time she works with him. He is tackling so many new things. We have now been doing the PECS(picture exchange card system) for the last 2 weeks. He is responding so well to it. He knows that if he wants the tv on, a snack and or his milk he will get the picture of the card and bring it to you. He gets so excited when it works for him. His face just lights up! It makes me tear up with joy every time. His therapist have told me that the progress he has made so far is extremely fast. I am so glad to hear this. This makes me think that he can do anything we challenge him with. I might be jumping a little ahead but I can dream big right? We are starting to get adjusted to his crazy therapy schedule. But I would take this crazy schedule anytime if he keeps up the progress he is making. He has learned to say "go". He is starting to wave "bye bye". He knows where is his "head" and "eyes" are. He has mastered a lot of object imitation which he struggled with the first week. He has learned to do the big floor puzzles that are recommended for ages 4 and up. His love and ability of puzzles amazes me. He can also do some of the hardest puzzles on the iPad. He loves the one where the vehicles are moving and he has to match them up. It is even hard for me. lol. Since he has learned to give kisses he will try and use his kissing giving to get him something he wants. I LOVE IT!!!!! We all give kisses all the time. But unfortunately Haley was sick, two of his therapist have been sick and then Brendan was sick 2 weekends ago. So this kissing is spreading a lot of germs around.
The dreaded appeal decision came on Thursday. As I suspected they denied me everything. I wasn't shocked by the decision however I was shocked that they told me the reason of the denial was because his previous team (Sunrise) never submitted quarterly reports. So like I said before they didn't like me and this was proof because now they were sabotaging me. This is what made me really ANGRY. Those papers were out of my control. To my understanding they had to submit reports. So my next move was to get a hold of Brendan's file that the state has for him and find out what was submitted and what is missing. The state is so shady and has had the reputation of tampering with files so I was going to have to show up there unannounced in order to make sure nothing in his file was tampered with. That is what I did, friday afternoon I made my way to the states office where his file is located. I asked for his support coordinator and she wasn't in for another 30 minutes so then I asked for her boss. She came out and asked me what she could help me with. I asked her if I could get a copy of my sons file. She said that I need to go through the legal department and it has to be in writing and that I need permission for his file to be released. She handed me the phone number of the person I needed to contact so I stood there and called while she was in my presents. The lady on the phone confirmed that is what I needed to do. Which was fine so I left and stood in the front of the building and made a call to my parent mentor Trisha(Autism Society of Greater Phoenix) and she immediately told me not leave and she will find out exactly what my next move is. She then got 2 other women from the Autism Society group on the phone to help us. They told me that in the Early Intervention law it states that as a parent I have the right to see my child's file at anytime. So they said I needed to go back in and tell them I need to see the file. That is what I did. I asked for my supper coordinators boss again and told her that I wanted to see my son's file. She immediately gave me the same response as she did prior. I then began to read her the law, she started to tell me that I was reading the Early Intervention part of the law and they were DDD and they have different laws and they could not show me his file. She then said well we don't have all his file here and start telling me where all the different places his file was located. At this time I knew she was completely lying so I asked her to go and get her DDD law book and show me in writing where it says exactly what she was telling me. She disappeared for 25 minutes and when she returned guess what she had,"Brendan's file." So once again I called them out on this game they love to play. It seriously makes my blood boil the non sense they try and pull. I sat there and went through every page in his file. I found out we were missing reports from Sunrise from November 17th-January 15th. So I asked them to write an email demanding these files. They did do so and copied me on the request so we will see what happens. In the meantime I will write another appeal to the state telling them I disagree with the decision and from there they will assign me a court date. We will go to court and a judge will decide what services Brendan will get.
This year we are honored to be part of the Marriott Photography Spring for Charity Event. For the last 3 years I have participated with Haley and then last year with both kids. I LOVE the kids pictures with the bunnies and chicks. Picking out spring Easter clothes is a blast. This year the charity they have chosen is Autism of Greater Phoenix. I have told you all before about my parent mentor Trisha who is on the board of the Autism Society. She has been my rock the last 6 months. She has helped me become the fighter I need to be. If you have kids I hope you participate. You get the benefits of having adorable easter pictures and then you get to give to an amazing group. Here is the link to find out more information.
http://marriottphoto.com/blog/6th-annual-spring-for-charity/
Here is last year Spring for Charity Easter picture!
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