Jam is currently 5 years old.
I thought I had posted this way back in April, but just now saw it sitting in the Draft folder. Which is what I get for not actually looking at my site after I post something- oh well!
Here are the details of our therapy costs in case they're helpful. Though now we're in August and, since then, we've dropped occupational therapy and soccer so our costs are somewhat reduced right now. Though I've already got something else in the works, of course....
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In a recent post about Jam's various therapies and activities, I vowed details on costs and here they are, along with how we manage to afford it:
Occupational Therapy- twice weekly We are so extraordinarily fortunate to have good insurance coverage. For neurodevelopmental therapy, they cover up to 60 appointments a year until Jam turns 7. Each 50-minute OT session cost is $125 and we pay a $25 co-pay per session. Unlike previous years, this year we won't be paying out-of-pocket for additional sessions past the covered 60 as our therapist is retiring.
Cost: $25 x 60 sessions = $1,500 out-of-pocket annually
Hippotherapy- once weekly Due to the generally high cost of this service, our therapeutic riding center generously subsidizes every student, bringing our cost down to $115 per 50-minute session. I'm not even sure any insurance carrier covers hippotherapy. Ours doesn't but it would cover the physical therapy portion of our session (roughly $34) though it would count against our 60 NT appointments a year so we don't run this through insurance.
Cost: $115 x 42 sessions= $4,830 out-of-pocket annually
Integrated Movement Therapy- once weekly $60 per each 45-minute, one-on-one session. Definitely not covered by insurance, but worth it.
Cost: $60 x 48 sessions= $2,880 out-of-pocket annually
Soccer- once weekly Offered through our local community center, sports classes are somewhere between $11 and $18 per class. We may switch up between soccer, tennis and t-ball throughout the year so I averaged it.
Cost: $14.50 x 24 classes= $348 out-of-pocket annually
Gymnastics- bi-weekly Normally, $6 for a one hour visit. We attend on a very regular basis so I buy the 10 visit punch card in order to get three free visits to bring the cost down. A great deal!
Cost: $4.62 x 24 visits= $110.88 out-of-pocket annually
Swimming- bi-weekly Normally, $9.75 per visit up to 5 hours. Like gymnastics, we attend on a very regular basis so I buy the 10 visit punch card in order to get one free visit to bring the cost down. Another great deal!
Cost: $8.89 x 24 visits= $213.36 out-of-pocket annually
So there you have it- about $9,882.00 a year. Or $823.50 a month. Or $190.00 a week. Out. Of. Pocket. And that doesn't even include gas, wear on the car, holiday gifts, etc. Sigh...
How do we do it?
Well, it's tight. My car is 10 years old. And, being dyspraxic with the attendant sensory issues myself, I loathe everything about shopping. So no shopping for me. (Thank the sibling gods for my sister and her hand-me-down clothing gifts for Jam and me!) Living in the already amazing place that is Seattle, we don't need to vacation a lot and because Jam has such a limited palate right now, we don't eat out much. Also, I recently started back working 10 hours a week at my 'before-Jam' job (which I love!) and it helps a tiny bit. And finally (and most sadly) our dog of 10 years died recently and that freed up a bit of money a month. So there you have it.
I look at this outlay of money right now as an investment against spending more, bigger money down the line. Hooray for early intervention!
If our financial situation changed for the worse and I had to make decisions on what to cut, here's how I would rank our current therapies and activities in terms of progress and value for the money for where Jam is right now:
1. Occupational Therapy
2. Integrated Movement Therapy
3. Swimming
4. Gymnastics
5. Hippotherapy
6. Soccer/ group sport classes
Hope that helps!
Friday, August 23, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Dyspraxia, SPD and Kindergarten Options
Jam is 5 years old.
So Jam is now officially 5 years old and you know what that means- kindergarten time! I'd finally get a few minutes to myself in a day or be able to pick up extra hours at the bookstore or whatever. Endless possibilities!
Except that I knew when we dropped out of preschool way back when that we wouldn't be doing the regular ol' kindergarten thing 'on time'. But still, I like to stay optimistic and informed so I researched options.
Public School
We did that whole IEP thing through our district last fall and that cemented for us what I had already suspected- that we would need to find a better educational match for Jam than our public school system. The class sizes were too big, the available resources too small and Jam wouldn't be able to hack full-time days without amping up his anxiety. And anxious kids already have a hard enough time. Having gone through the public system myself, I knew a major part of his day would be spent fending off sensory chaos and figuring out how to survive until the dismissal bell. And that's a terrible way to spend time.
Which is fine because I'd always wanted to send him to the little private school up the street anyway.
Private School
I fell in love with a neighborhood private school years ago when I tutored some students from there for our library's homework help program. It embodied all of my favorite pedagogical ideas at the time: small multi-age classes, an interdisciplinary approach, differentiated instruction, inquiry-based curriculum. All the right buzzwords. I knew that if I ever had kids, they would be attending this school.
So earlier this year, we went to all the Open Houses and tours and Q and A sessions for the school. We talked to current parents and former parents and teachers. Our OT had even suggested the school as her own son had gone there. I was getting very excited. Sure, we'd have to spend the entire summer prepping a very unprepared Jam for a very long school day. And get his memorization of numbers and letters down pat. And get him writing his name and maybe some sight words. And get the potty-training all finished up. And drop all the therapies at summer's end. There was much to do if I was going to make this work...
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See what was happening there? I was getting way too excited. And way too wrapped up in the idea that I could shove my kid on to a normal schooling timetable and in a normal schooling environment. And then I crashed back to earth and realized that if it was going to take so much work for this to happen, we just weren't ready.
The nail in the coffin? The last Q and A session where the school director, in response to another parent's question, kept repeating that this was 'not a special needs school'. Well, that sucks. Because I have a special needs kid so....
Redshirting
So if Jam wasn't ready for public or private school, another option would be to just hold him back a year, continue with his therapies, and keep working on some of those kinder skills in the hopes that he'd mature into readiness. And hope that his interest in letters and numbers and reading and writing and being told what to do all day magically appeared. Because it hadn't yet.
(Have I mentioned just how strong-willed my son is? And just how uninterested he is in doing uninteresting things?)
Of course, he did just turn 5. Maybe he just needs another year to get some skills and confidence and interest (and compliance) under his belt before heading out into the world of school. Except that I have a feeling another year isn't going to make much difference for what's going to happen to dyspraxic, dysgraphic, SPD, perfectionist, strong-willed Jam once he gets into a schooling environment. I do know it's not going to be pretty for anyone involved...
Homeschooling
So suspecting strongly that a formal schooling environment was not going to be ideal for Jam, I started to freak out. Like, major freaking out. And, of course, when I'm freaking out about something, I arm myself with information. Lots and lots of information. And there the answer suddenly appeared...
Homeschooling.
And I can't believe it took so long to have this epiphany because I wasn't new to the concept of homeschooling. In library school, about ten years ago, whenever we had papers and projects involving a demographic of people using the public library system, I would always use the homeschooling population. I had done tons of research into various homeschooling methods and styles, resources, local groups, pros and cons, everything. And I still had it all.
And I knew right away I had found the best choice for us.
So Jam is now officially 5 years old and you know what that means- kindergarten time! I'd finally get a few minutes to myself in a day or be able to pick up extra hours at the bookstore or whatever. Endless possibilities!
Except that I knew when we dropped out of preschool way back when that we wouldn't be doing the regular ol' kindergarten thing 'on time'. But still, I like to stay optimistic and informed so I researched options.
Public School
We did that whole IEP thing through our district last fall and that cemented for us what I had already suspected- that we would need to find a better educational match for Jam than our public school system. The class sizes were too big, the available resources too small and Jam wouldn't be able to hack full-time days without amping up his anxiety. And anxious kids already have a hard enough time. Having gone through the public system myself, I knew a major part of his day would be spent fending off sensory chaos and figuring out how to survive until the dismissal bell. And that's a terrible way to spend time.
Which is fine because I'd always wanted to send him to the little private school up the street anyway.
Private School
I fell in love with a neighborhood private school years ago when I tutored some students from there for our library's homework help program. It embodied all of my favorite pedagogical ideas at the time: small multi-age classes, an interdisciplinary approach, differentiated instruction, inquiry-based curriculum. All the right buzzwords. I knew that if I ever had kids, they would be attending this school.
So earlier this year, we went to all the Open Houses and tours and Q and A sessions for the school. We talked to current parents and former parents and teachers. Our OT had even suggested the school as her own son had gone there. I was getting very excited. Sure, we'd have to spend the entire summer prepping a very unprepared Jam for a very long school day. And get his memorization of numbers and letters down pat. And get him writing his name and maybe some sight words. And get the potty-training all finished up. And drop all the therapies at summer's end. There was much to do if I was going to make this work...
**********************
See what was happening there? I was getting way too excited. And way too wrapped up in the idea that I could shove my kid on to a normal schooling timetable and in a normal schooling environment. And then I crashed back to earth and realized that if it was going to take so much work for this to happen, we just weren't ready.
The nail in the coffin? The last Q and A session where the school director, in response to another parent's question, kept repeating that this was 'not a special needs school'. Well, that sucks. Because I have a special needs kid so....
Redshirting
So if Jam wasn't ready for public or private school, another option would be to just hold him back a year, continue with his therapies, and keep working on some of those kinder skills in the hopes that he'd mature into readiness. And hope that his interest in letters and numbers and reading and writing and being told what to do all day magically appeared. Because it hadn't yet.
(Have I mentioned just how strong-willed my son is? And just how uninterested he is in doing uninteresting things?)
Of course, he did just turn 5. Maybe he just needs another year to get some skills and confidence and interest (and compliance) under his belt before heading out into the world of school. Except that I have a feeling another year isn't going to make much difference for what's going to happen to dyspraxic, dysgraphic, SPD, perfectionist, strong-willed Jam once he gets into a schooling environment. I do know it's not going to be pretty for anyone involved...
Homeschooling
So suspecting strongly that a formal schooling environment was not going to be ideal for Jam, I started to freak out. Like, major freaking out. And, of course, when I'm freaking out about something, I arm myself with information. Lots and lots of information. And there the answer suddenly appeared...
Homeschooling.
And I can't believe it took so long to have this epiphany because I wasn't new to the concept of homeschooling. In library school, about ten years ago, whenever we had papers and projects involving a demographic of people using the public library system, I would always use the homeschooling population. I had done tons of research into various homeschooling methods and styles, resources, local groups, pros and cons, everything. And I still had it all.
And I knew right away I had found the best choice for us.
Labels:
dyspraxia
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homeschooling
,
schooling
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sensory processing disorder
Thursday, August 8, 2013
The Highly Sensitive and 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Books
Jam is currently 5 years old.
Remember those 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books from when you were a kid? I do. Well, actually, I don't. Not really. I know that I've read them all and I know that I loved them all. Because I remember my feelings and emotions about things well. But I don't remember anything more about them than that. No plots, no specifics, nothing. Dyspraxics are notorious for short-term memory issues but I think there's something additionally wrong with me. Not much makes it into short or long-term memory. But that's a whole other post.
Anyway.
Working at a bookstore has it perks and I was recently able to pick up the first twelve books in the original 'Choose Your Own Adventure' series. Before they even hit the shelves. They were used copies and in awesomely pristine condition. A few months ago, Jam and I had gotten Space and Beyond (#3) from the library and he had loved it. I read it to him and he got to make all the decisions and he made great decisions and it all ended happily. So today we did #2 in the series, Journey Under the Sea.
I'm just going to stop here for a minute to preface this by saying that Jam loves all things deep sea exploring and action and adventure and sea creatures and submarines and, yes, the idea of finding the lost city of Atlantis. And all of those things are in this book. And Jam's also at a big stage right now where he wants to be in control of everything that happens to him (which, while age appropriate and awesome, is also kind of annoying).
Adventure and control. Basically, this book was a perfect choice. In theory.
In reality, not so much.
In reality, Jam is a cautious observer. In his imagination, he's an invincible risk-taker. And in our Journey Under the Sea adventure, his risk-taking decision-making led to demise right off the bat. Jam, within pages, was shark dinner.
And Jam was not happy. Actually, 'not happy' is a major understatement. Jam was inconsolable. So here we are doing all of this in our tiny cramped bathroom on the potty (we're dealing with encopresis right now) and huge tears are rolling down his face and he's crying and yelling (in between gasps for air) that I'm the worst person in the world for ever bringing this book home. And then he banished the book forever from the premises. I think the fact that I was laughing hysterically about having just been 'eaten by sharks' made everything worse. But I couldn't stop laughing. Even after he starting bawling.
Poor guy!
And that's when I realized that Jam must still be highly sensitive. I mean, I know he'll always be a highly sensitive kid but I had kind of forgotten about that because it had been a long time since he'd seemed 'sensitive' about anything in particular. When he was younger, we'd have to turn off TV shows right before the credits rolled because the ending of things made him sad. And sad music made him really sad. And sad things happening in sad stories made him extra sad. But he hadn't seemed affected by those things anymore. Or rather, it seemed that he had shifted his sensitivity response from sadness to righteous indignation aimed specifically at the bad guys on his superhero shows or at unjust characters in our story books. Until now.
Thinking through everything later, I still couldn't have predicted his reaction would be so visceral. It was a surprising and much-needed reminder that my kid still has highly sensitive tendencies even if he has been developing good coping skills. He's also still pretty young. Sometimes he seems so sophisticated and mature that I forget he's only just turned five.
Another thing that came out of this was an old memory of mine. Well, again, not a memory, per se, but one of those strong feelings about the Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was reading them decades ago. And that is the feeling of anxiety. Overwhelming anxiety in every decision. All the minutes I spent mulling over every variable to make the best decision on each page. I probably spent more time getting through a book than it took to write the book! And I remember the failure I'd feel when I'd get one of the less than optimal outcomes. And then I'd start the book over, determined for the desired ending. I know the books were supposed to be fun, and they were, but I had really strong perfectionist habits growing up. It was a love/hate relationship I had with these books.
I still think they can be great fun, though. And I know that Jam will enjoy them when he gets older and is more emotionally prepared for them as we work on his own sensitive and perfectionist nature. Until then, they are safely stored away. But I also need to be careful because when Jam gets spooked by something he can hold the fear of it for a long, long time. So we're getting back on the horse quickly, this time with Choose Your Own Adventure for Young Readers, with more age-appropriate levels of action and decision making.
Except I think we'll be skipping #7- Return To The Haunted House. I'm not even going to mess with that one...
Remember those 'Choose Your Own Adventure' books from when you were a kid? I do. Well, actually, I don't. Not really. I know that I've read them all and I know that I loved them all. Because I remember my feelings and emotions about things well. But I don't remember anything more about them than that. No plots, no specifics, nothing. Dyspraxics are notorious for short-term memory issues but I think there's something additionally wrong with me. Not much makes it into short or long-term memory. But that's a whole other post.
Anyway.
Working at a bookstore has it perks and I was recently able to pick up the first twelve books in the original 'Choose Your Own Adventure' series. Before they even hit the shelves. They were used copies and in awesomely pristine condition. A few months ago, Jam and I had gotten Space and Beyond (#3) from the library and he had loved it. I read it to him and he got to make all the decisions and he made great decisions and it all ended happily. So today we did #2 in the series, Journey Under the Sea.
I'm just going to stop here for a minute to preface this by saying that Jam loves all things deep sea exploring and action and adventure and sea creatures and submarines and, yes, the idea of finding the lost city of Atlantis. And all of those things are in this book. And Jam's also at a big stage right now where he wants to be in control of everything that happens to him (which, while age appropriate and awesome, is also kind of annoying).
Adventure and control. Basically, this book was a perfect choice. In theory.
In reality, not so much.
In reality, Jam is a cautious observer. In his imagination, he's an invincible risk-taker. And in our Journey Under the Sea adventure, his risk-taking decision-making led to demise right off the bat. Jam, within pages, was shark dinner.
And Jam was not happy. Actually, 'not happy' is a major understatement. Jam was inconsolable. So here we are doing all of this in our tiny cramped bathroom on the potty (we're dealing with encopresis right now) and huge tears are rolling down his face and he's crying and yelling (in between gasps for air) that I'm the worst person in the world for ever bringing this book home. And then he banished the book forever from the premises. I think the fact that I was laughing hysterically about having just been 'eaten by sharks' made everything worse. But I couldn't stop laughing. Even after he starting bawling.
Poor guy!
And that's when I realized that Jam must still be highly sensitive. I mean, I know he'll always be a highly sensitive kid but I had kind of forgotten about that because it had been a long time since he'd seemed 'sensitive' about anything in particular. When he was younger, we'd have to turn off TV shows right before the credits rolled because the ending of things made him sad. And sad music made him really sad. And sad things happening in sad stories made him extra sad. But he hadn't seemed affected by those things anymore. Or rather, it seemed that he had shifted his sensitivity response from sadness to righteous indignation aimed specifically at the bad guys on his superhero shows or at unjust characters in our story books. Until now.
Thinking through everything later, I still couldn't have predicted his reaction would be so visceral. It was a surprising and much-needed reminder that my kid still has highly sensitive tendencies even if he has been developing good coping skills. He's also still pretty young. Sometimes he seems so sophisticated and mature that I forget he's only just turned five.
Another thing that came out of this was an old memory of mine. Well, again, not a memory, per se, but one of those strong feelings about the Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was reading them decades ago. And that is the feeling of anxiety. Overwhelming anxiety in every decision. All the minutes I spent mulling over every variable to make the best decision on each page. I probably spent more time getting through a book than it took to write the book! And I remember the failure I'd feel when I'd get one of the less than optimal outcomes. And then I'd start the book over, determined for the desired ending. I know the books were supposed to be fun, and they were, but I had really strong perfectionist habits growing up. It was a love/hate relationship I had with these books.
I still think they can be great fun, though. And I know that Jam will enjoy them when he gets older and is more emotionally prepared for them as we work on his own sensitive and perfectionist nature. Until then, they are safely stored away. But I also need to be careful because when Jam gets spooked by something he can hold the fear of it for a long, long time. So we're getting back on the horse quickly, this time with Choose Your Own Adventure for Young Readers, with more age-appropriate levels of action and decision making.
Except I think we'll be skipping #7- Return To The Haunted House. I'm not even going to mess with that one...
Labels:
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memory