kirstee

I would suspect that every state has their own way of doing things. I found this out when my husband and I decided to move to a different state when we retire. I was hoping to move the current services for our son from the current state we live in to the new state. I hit a brick wall as not all states recognize Asperger's as a covered condition. Since that time, however, our son has dramatically progressed. . .

The way I obtained services was such a frustrating experience. Our son was not diagnosed with the correct disorder until he was 30 years old. I struggled and struggled to keep him going and not to give up, but 30 years worth of that can really stretch your faith. The way I finally obtained services for him was when I went to Social Security. After all their tests that they like to do, they recognized him as disabled and he started receiving benefits. Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out what steps to take next. One good thing that I did was take prolific notes from the school and physician so I had a good time line. I also had every bit of paper from the schools such as IEP papers. I decided to take our son back to a school for learning disabled children where he had been diagnosed at about 12 years of age with some odd thing that didn't make sense. But this time, the psychiatrist who had diagnosed him at 12 years was now reading all the papers I had acquired with time, and he was able to make an appropriate diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome. Once I had that diagnosis, I went to the local regional center for developmentally disabled and our son was accepted as a client. In the two years he has been a client there, he has obtained a full-time job and is living independently in a home with other DA adults.

A book that really inspired me once I knew what was wrong is "The Oasis Guide to Asperger's Syndrome". THis book is excellent and I would recommend it to anyone with a child in the school system that needs special care. It talks about dealing with the IEP process and different modalities that will help your child. ( REMOVED)

Blessings,
Kirstee