June 27, 2006

• EDIT ADD:
  -Starbucks has new drinks today...and they're delicious. So fruity and tasty! Go try one. Tangerine and Pomegranite. I swear they're good...
  -There are about 12 people that are going to Superman Returns tonight with me, not to mention Joe is bringing another 7 or so...It's gonna be sooo good.
  

  ---

  First off, a huge thank you from the bottom of our hearts to
  Uncle Lee and Patti who have personally funded Noah’s entire first month of the
  extra 10 hours per week of therapy from Lovaas. We are tremendously blessed.
  Thanks.

  Secondly, if you’ve read Christy’s blog then you know that
  we are getting a parent advocate (lawyer) for Noah. This lawyer is different
  from the one that we will be meeting with on July 24^th (please pray
  for that meeting). This lawyer will fight the regional center for us to get the
  additional hours for Noah during this time before he turns 3. She has never
  lost a case, and specializes in these types of cases. She also says that often
  they will just settle out of court before the hearing. Great.

  Here’s why it’s important to get the hours approved before
  Noah turns 3. When he turns 3, financial responsibility for his care gets
  turned over to the public school district, who will provide what they call
  “adequate” care for Noah by putting him in a classroom with 8-10 other special
  needs kids, and one or two teachers. Obviously, this is unacceptable for us,
  especially since Noah would probably be fairly quiet and not demand a lot of
  the teachers attention (he wouldn’t be throwing fits or punching the wall,
  etc…like some other sp needs might). This class basically just becomes a full
  time babysitter, and one that doesn’t interact with Noah much at all. We desire
  the one-on-one interaction, with specific goals developed with Noah in mind. We
  desire the training given by Lovaas, a company with decades of research behind
  it—research that proves their methods work.

  In order to continue with Lovaas beyond Noah’s 3^rd
  birthday, we will have to fight the school district for funding. This is
  becoming more and more difficult all the time. Lawyers are losing more and more
  cases due to slight changes in the law and in the verbiage pertaining to the
  school districts and their responsibility to the children. It’s a tiny bit
  frustrating.

  Even if we DO win that case, it will likely come with less
  hours than what we get going INTO the fight with--so having 35 hours (or even
  40) funded by the Regional Center when going into court may give us 25-30 when
  it’s over--IF we win. On the other
  hand, if we went into the court battle with 25 hours, we’d get even less…

   

  We knew when we started this that it would be expensive. We
  also made a decision that we would do whatever it takes to get Noah the
  best care in the world, no matter what the cost or the sacrifice. So here we
  are. This parent advocate requires $5000 upfront, and she works at
  $150/hr—taken out of the $5000. If they settle out of court, and do it quickly,
  we could get a large portion of that money back (it’s kinda like leaving a
  deposit for a car rental or something). So please pray this is settled quickly.

  In addition, the lawyer we talk with on July 24^th
  is supposed to be more expensive than this lady. I’m praying about looking into
  some part-time church jobs. Anyone know of any?

  OK- that’s a lot of stuff to be praying about. Did you guys
  get all that?

  We appreciate your support and prayers. Thanks a ton.

  • 1:33 pm
  • 10 Comments