Joe's 6 Month Review - Part 1

The other night all of Joe's girlfriend came to the house to do his 6th month therapy review.  By girlfriends - I mean Sarah his occupational therapist, Kim his physical therapist, Amanda his speech therapist (she was not there but was in spirit), and Jennifer our Birth to 3 case manager.  Birth to 3 is a program in SD that is FANTASTIC!  I have nothing but wonderful things to say about it and honestly it makes me love living here. This state provides such an incredible program and I would never move because I want Joe to have these ladies in his life.  Birth to 3 is basically what it says - children from the ages birth to 3 years old that have special therapy needs are eligible for this program.  You coordinate with your case manager the types of services your child will need and how extensive the therapy will be.  After that is determined they contact the therapist the state has a contract with (at least I think they have a contract or get referrals? Something like that.....) and set up at home therapy sessions.  Each one of Joe's therapist owns a therapy business and travels around doing in home therapy for children.  They come to your house or they will go to daycare whichever works out best.  They are wonderful!  They are wonderful people but most importantly wonderful therapists.  Raymond and I love them and so does Joe ;)  When I moved here I had a bad experience with therapy in ND and I was really not sure about using any therapy services here.  I was thinking I should just take Joe to the hospital weekly to work with therapist.  Kim and Sarah completely worked around my schedule and they come at 6pm so I can be there to do therapy with Joe.  I do not have to miss out on it or take time off of work.   Kim (PT) and Sarah (OT) have been working with Joe for just about 2 yrs.  Amanda started her services this past July 2011 when I noticed that Joe isn't talking.  Amanda didn't have any evenings available, but she sees Joe in daycare.  We communicate well and often so that makes it nice. I always feel in the loop.  These ladies and I communicate about Joe AND everything else in between!  I have became good friends with them. In fact, Raymond told me - in a nice way - I need to shut up when they are trying to work with Joe because I probably drive them nuts.  Hehe - I don't though Raymond is wrong.  Joe also has an awesome daycare provider, Kathy,  that works on the therapy with him.  Jennifer our case manager coorindates everything - making sure that Joe is getting all the services I think he needs.  She keeps track of our goals and outcomes.  We meet up every 6 months with the therapists to discuss those things.  I can email or call her anytime with questions or concerns.  The best part about this program is it doesn't cost us one cent!  They bill insurance and whatever insurance doesn't pay for the program picks up the tab.  They also accept medical assistance and pick up the tab if assistance doesn't cover the entire bill.  If you have nothing - no insurances - no medical assistance they pay for the entire thing.  It's truly important to the state that children get the therapy they need and they do not want people to skip out on it because they cannot afford it.  It's great to live in a state that cares about children that much! 

Since I don't want to make this post too long I will elaborate on what we discussed during the meeting later on this week.  Lots of good things and lots of goals for little Joe :)