Updated

Melanie has made huge progress. Her vocabulary has exploded. She can now make 5 word sentences. My favorite one was said when Adam was putting the outdoor xmas decorations away. She looked out the window and said "what the f..k happened to my xmas trees." I was shocked that she used that word but was excited that she said a complete sentence. Later I found out that Adam had said that word. Melanies speech difficulties are in pronounciation and articulation. She will drop the last letter or omit a letter. For example IPAD. She will say IPA. She cant say sponge instead she will say onge. The therapist are working on that. In january we deceided to stop seeing JoEllen one of her speech therapist because Melanie was seeing 3 Speech therapist thats too much for a little kid. Now we are down to two. Curtis and Amanda (shes from the public school.) its working out better for us.

In Dec 2010 I applied fot TEFRA. I was told that it was a long process and difficult to get but I applied anyways. In Jan 2011 i had my appointment with them. By April i was told that she was confirmed to have a disability but that they are waiting for the level of care. Every month I would call my caseworker and no answers. Months went by and i could not get someone to tell me what the delay was. Finally in November I was able to speek to Debbie from TEFRA. She said that Melanie did not qualify because her IQ was too high. Mental retardation is of an IQ of 75 and below, Melanies was 79. So because she was over she did not qualify. I stayed on the phone for over hour advocating for my child. Debbie felt she needed more evidence so she requested that the therapist write a letter, which they did. After receiving the letters she said that a nurse will visit my home and if we pass inspection then we were approved. We had the visit at the end of November and by December we were approved. I cant believe that i had to fight hard for my child. It aggravates me how a child with a disability cant get help but a child of a mom who refuses to work gets everything. Thanks to TEFRA we no longer have to pay for speech therapy.

In Aug Melanie had her first dental appt. Liz one of her therapist came with us to the appt. Liz was great she had toys and an Ipad, she was prepared. Liz practiced with Melanie before it was her turn and she did great. I was amazed Melanie did so good with the help of Liz. She got her teeth polished and brushed. It was a huge accomplishment bc teeth polishing is difficult for children. Everything was going great until she received floride. Immediately she threw up all over the ipad, herself, my hands and the floor. Thank goodness for the ipad cover it lived up to its expectations and for me being a nurse. She will have another appt on 2/29 this time Adam will be going lets hope for the best.

My poor baby got her first ear infection and i felt so bad for missing the one sign that she gave. Most children with Autism dont sence pain or can't understand if they are in pain and if they do have something wrong they dont know how to say it. The sign was that she wanted a q-tip to put in her ear. (she never wants one)On 2/15 at 2330 she woke up screaming. I did not know what was wrong. After several attempts to get her back to sleep she finally screamed and cried like never before. I then asked whats wrong, what hurts? She cried my ear hurts take me to the doctor. I gave her tylenol and after a few hours she fell asleep. That morning i took her to the doctor. She had a really bad ear infection caused by the cold shes had for a week. Now shes on ear numbing drops and abx. She is doing so much better and no longer complaining of
pain.