Posted by sunny10 on February 17, 2005, at 13:12:57
In reply to Re: i am confused and want advice,, posted by minarose on February 17, 2005, at 10:00:06
I don't know much about autism and dealing with "discipline issues", such as "no hitting, no kicking, no biting, etc.", but you should be able to get some help through your county offices. If I remember correctly, autism is on the list of "disorders" that the states consider "mental health disability".
If I recall, I made the call (my son had suspected ADHD, and I was unable to pay for the pyschiatrist, the therapist, et cetera) and had to answer questions over the phone. I then received lots of paperwork to fill out and sent it in. When it was received, I got a call to make an appointment to bring my son in for an evaluation. The end result of this long process is that my son had health insurance supplied by the state of Pennsylvania, he had wrap-around services to accompany him to daycare and kindergarten the following year, and we had a bit more peace of mind. In case you aren't familiar with the term, wrap-around services is used to provide all day therapy. It is emotionally supportive to the child and physically unobtrusive unless the child needs to be removed from the situation to deal with a situation one on one. This would be very helpful in the hitting situation like the one you mentioned. Not only does it "teach" the child, it also teaches YOU to become more of an expert by paying attention to how the professionals do it!
A caveat, this was nine years ago in the state of PA. This was for a child who had ADHD, not autism. But I would think that a child who has autism would have even more access to state care.
Toph, I was referring to the nephew. It seems very obvious to me that he is in an untenable situation with a mother who left him- and is now saying she wants him back- however, if you know anything CURRENT about the stuff I mentioned above, PLEASE correct me!!!!
-sunny10
poster:sunny10
thread:458797
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050215/msgs/459335.html