Services/ New beginnings

Cole has a list of services that we have elected to have on top of what the school provides. The list always seems like its never ending and I wonder sometimes when Cole gets to be a boy. There is a fine line between getting the help and letting him enjoy his childhood.  With that said I'm still trying to see where that line is. With that said lets talk services.
For school Cole has the basics: Physical Therapy 1 time a week, Occupational Therapy I believe 2 times a week and Speech Therapy 4 times a week. Cole is also on a trial for his Augmentative Communication Device. Right now he has an IPad with the Lamp program on it. We are 2 weeks in and I'm not sure what the trial will bring at the end. We started the process because Cole has had some self aggression and the Behaviorist at the school believe that this along with meds would help this aggression. It seems that now its more for function of Cole being able to get help if he is ever lost.  in this process Cole has had some aggression towards the tablet and that's what we are hoping to lesson. With all this going on PT has now told me that Cole needs outside PT and possible leg braces from his toe walking. It seems he is losing his endurance and that is now an issue. We are now working on getting into PT but its amazing how the waitlist for everything.  That sums up the school services
Home Services are different. We are currently involved with CMO (no clue what that stands for right now) which is working on providing at home ABA and we have Nurturing Parent (family counsuling) I am also part of the PPP (Public Partnership) program and home respite. Its amazing how many programs are out there that you don't know about unless you are connected with people who know these stuff. Once again when it comes to home programs its amazing how many hoops you have to jump through along with the lack of workers they have.  Currently ABA is waiting on techs so once Cole is approved we need to have that happen. PPP program was almost a year wait and a lot of messed up paperwork. Apply for that was a job within its self. Thankfully I refuse to give up on something that would help Cole. The PPP allows me to hire or provide service myself on helping Cole learn skills he will need for life. It was worth the wait but my hope when I actually write about it in a separate post that maybe it will help other parents apply to not lose hope.  Last service is respite and probably my favorite. This allows me to have a much needed break from life. It allows me to go out alone or maybe with friends. Without having CMO in the house I would have never known about the PPP program but am so thankful that they shared. I know being part of Preform care has other benefits but the important one for me right now is respite.  I'm pretty sure I went over all services Cole has. I know that that ABA is a new chapter along with this communication device. I cant wait to see what Cole takes too.
What programs do you have for your child?  When you tell other parents are they surprised about the program?  I've had mostly good feedback on the programs when talking to people. Of course there is always one who overhears and tries to spin it in a negative way. Remember to not listen to them, you know what's best for your child and what needs to be done.  

Return

It's been a long time since I wrote. I'm not even sure what my last post was about. I kept trying to get back into this but it's been rough. We had a lot of changes and I think talking about it made me realize we had some regressions. So I'm going to to be honest my goal is really to catch everyone up that checks this blog and then to help with the education on programs that we have.
Catch up time:
I'm now raising not only Cole but his little brother(yes I was crazy enough to have another) as a single mom. Dad is in and out and we are at the point of only video chatting for now. Cole is now 9years old and in 4th grade. He is in an autism class but goes to mainstream for elective classes.
I've jumped on the CBD oil for Cole and has helped so much with the migraines he gets. Oh yes cole has been getting migraines. The CBD oil has been keeping his migraines at bay and we are lucky for that. I will do a CBD post soon.
Cole has started having self aggression of hitting himself or punching his legs, or scratching. We called CMO which is a division of Preform Care (NJ Division of Developmental disability). We have had In House Support, Nurturing Parent and a advocate for mom (not sure what the real title is for this person).  I am so thankful for this support.  We currently are in the process of ABA therapy through CMO for home.
With that the two month we also have done the evaluation for a communication device and are now on our 4 week trial to see how cole does with it. I will be posting about this process in a seperate post. Along with Coles school PT talking about Cole starting outside therapy for PT due to toe walking. She has talked about foot braces and that it may be something we need to look into.
With all this I think I gave the cliff notes or quick notes on what ibe lacked on bloging over times.  I am going to try and do at least one blog a week with everything we currently have going on and the process we went through.

Cole is amazingly strong and has continues to show me how strong we are.
I look forward to growing this blog and helping as many special needs parents as I can.

♡♡ I am his voice, He is my heart ♡♡