Bennett has been in school for 4 months now. We have had our ups and downs with navigating having a 3 year old in school, but we are managing. We had some issues with communication with his teacher, but after the last parent-teacher conference, I feel like we are finally on the same page and are working together to figure out what's best for Bennett and to keep things consistent between school and home. Our biggest concern with school right now is that Bennett has been escaping the classroom down the hallways as well as outside into the playground from an external door in the classroom. We are really trying to be patient and work with his teacher to prevent this from happening and keep Bennett safe. He has also been acting out more in the classroom to get attention when he is bored. We see this at home too when he isn't being engaged or challenged and we feel he isn't being challenged enough in the classroom. He knows all of his ABCs, can count to 20 (or 30 if he wants to), counts by 10s to 100, spells, knows his colors, knows his shapes, etc. So, we really don't think the curriculum is challenging enough for him.
His speech has really taken off in the last month; it's incredible the leaps he is making. He is still spelling with his letter boards and learning new words every day. We are working on using spelling as cues for him because it grabs his attention and it seems to be working well so far. He really enjoys watching himself say new words in a mirror, which is so adorable! He is starting to do a lot of echolalia (repetition of another persons spoken words), which is common with autism.
Cody and I have had several long discussions regarding Bennett's schooling for next year and we have decided that he will not be going to the public school program he would be in next year. It's an all day (6 hours) program and we are just not ready to send our (then) 4 year old all day, along with him being stuck in a classroom all day and struggle with not being challenged enough. We are looking into homeschool programs that have a good system for kids on the autism spectrum as well as trying to figure out how he will get speech therapy. We have options and we will definitely continue with speech, just have to figure out the best fit for Bennett and our family.
We have really been looking into getting a medical diagnosis of ASD by a certified doctor, but our insurance won't cover any services for autism. No coverage is available for diagnosis, speech therapy, physical or occupational therapy, ABA therapy, etc. I recently spoke with a benefit analyst at my insurance company about why these services aren't covered and how we can change that. I was told "there isn't enough research that supports these services and early interventions result in improvements for children with ASD". Umm, what? We have been told all along how important early intervention is! So, long story short, after talking with the analyst and the CEO of the hospital, I am looking to meet with some people in hopes to get autism services covered by our insurance or have it be an optional add on package (at a cost) to those who need it on their health insurance plan. So, I'm trying to find time to get as much research material and studies to show how important it is for these services to be covered for children with ASD. Let the fun begin, right?
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