worth the fight!

We had Holden's ISFP meeting with Early Steps last Monday. I brought up the fact that he was approved for 78 hours of ABA from April 2007 until October 2007. He only received 39 of those hours. Not because I didn't make sure he was here for appointments, but because it took TWO months to find a therapist to come out to our home. After having to replace 2 therapists, it left us with only having used 1/2 of what he was originally approved for.

I went into the meeting fully expecting to hear that I couldn't get those hours back. I had a behavior analyst (who is a dear friend / old college roommate) present with us, as well as Holden's speech therapist. His speech therapist is recommending an increase from 1 hour per week to 2 hours per week. We were told that in order for that to happen, be prepared to lose an hour somewhere else in his service plan. That normally, they will cut something to increase something else. That didn't go over well with me for obvious reasons.

2 days after our meeting, I got a call and was told that they wouldn't give those hours missed back to us. I was also told that since we were paying for ABA therapy out of pocket (we hired someone since I coudn't find a decent and reliable therapist through Part C), they couldn't approve "duplicate" services. That didn't go over well, either.

I called the program director and left a message. We played phone tag yesterday and I called her back today and spoke with her. After 30 minutes of conversation, I was able to get Holden's ABA hours INCREASED from 3 to 5 per week. Which means, in essence, that I DO get those hours back that he missed. I also fought to have them done in a clinic setting, instead of home, because the home therapy had been so unreliable over the past 6 months. I explained to her that he only has 6 months left in the system and I don't want to spend 4 of those looking for a competent therapist.

So. 5 hours of ABA at the clinic of my choice.

ROCK ON! Although, now I'm kicking myself for not asking for 10 hours.