Tonight, Gopher called. Sounds like Zack did not have a good day at school at all. But Gopher recognized he started three new things today, and that it might take some time to get used to that (math, desktop, and advisory). He has a big writing assignment due for government too, so that doesn't help. He is supposed to do that on his own, but he told him that they would offer help again, even if he refused to accept it last time they asked.
We talked a bit about mathematics homework, Zack's psychiatrist had told me to hold off on that for a while. I told Gopher that, but also said we could try, and we could hold off if it became a problem. It didn't seem to be a problem today.
I took Zack to fitness center tonight, so hopefully he will sleep well, and do better tomorrow.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
A Bit Edgy
This afternoon, Zack was easily annoyed (including using a lot of 'FUCKING!' language when I asked him to clean up something. He also kept deliberately annoying people and starting verbal fights.
One change is that he started new schedule at school today. He starts at 9:20 now. 10 / 15 minutes of advisory, and adding an hour of mathematics. His keyboarding class got replaced by desktop publishing. When I picked him up at school, I asked how it went. He said 'Bad! Desktop publishing is boring and mathematics is too hard.'
On top of the school changes, he didn't get his prozac on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. I had other commitments this weekend, so my hubby was responsible for it. I guess it wasn't a high priority for him :p
We talked to the family therapist today and he sees enough issues in Violet (10yo) that he thinks an evaluation is warranted. Her anxieties are sky high. This is in line with what I discussed at family doctor last week. I filled out 241 forms today and hope to get her in within a few weeks.
One change is that he started new schedule at school today. He starts at 9:20 now. 10 / 15 minutes of advisory, and adding an hour of mathematics. His keyboarding class got replaced by desktop publishing. When I picked him up at school, I asked how it went. He said 'Bad! Desktop publishing is boring and mathematics is too hard.'
On top of the school changes, he didn't get his prozac on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. I had other commitments this weekend, so my hubby was responsible for it. I guess it wasn't a high priority for him :p
We talked to the family therapist today and he sees enough issues in Violet (10yo) that he thinks an evaluation is warranted. Her anxieties are sky high. This is in line with what I discussed at family doctor last week. I filled out 241 forms today and hope to get her in within a few weeks.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Zack's Reading Level
Today, Zack sat for his goverment midterm exam (at 8am!) and after that, they did some of the testing for the eval. His reading level was off the chart (reading comprehension and speed I think). He scored better than the what someone with a Master's degree would score.
This is the kid, which was in for reading help and dyslexia when he was 8yo. He sure has made progress.
They also did some math testing, which is a known deficiency. I don't have results of that, Gopher just wanted to let me know how well Zack did in the reading department.
Tomorrow, another exam ! (language arts)
This is the kid, which was in for reading help and dyslexia when he was 8yo. He sure has made progress.
They also did some math testing, which is a known deficiency. I don't have results of that, Gopher just wanted to let me know how well Zack did in the reading department.
Tomorrow, another exam ! (language arts)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
First Hospital bill
Today, the first bill (May 2007) of Zack's hospitalization came in.
Ten days of room and board for $747 per day, for a total of $7,470
Total Transfers Into Responsible Party (that's us) is $2,525
That is the one where my insurance said '2400 co-insurance' and 125 co-pay. It sounds like insurance expects me to pay that 2400 co-insurance.
Guess it's time to get some appeals in. This week has been crazy, haven't done anything.
But hey! At least i am opening envelopes!
Ten days of room and board for $747 per day, for a total of $7,470
Total Transfers Into Responsible Party (that's us) is $2,525
That is the one where my insurance said '2400 co-insurance' and 125 co-pay. It sounds like insurance expects me to pay that 2400 co-insurance.
Guess it's time to get some appeals in. This week has been crazy, haven't done anything.
But hey! At least i am opening envelopes!
Friday, January 11, 2008
More Insurance Mess
Slowly working through mail I have ignored for the last nine months. I found my health insurance explanation of payments for Zack's hospital bills
May 19 - 29
- Charges $7,470
- Deductible $125
- Co-Insurance $2,400
- Payment amount $4,945
- Patient responsibility $2525
Hmmm. That is quite high. I wonder what the co-insurance thing means. Katie Beckett had not kicked in yet at that point. I guess this has to go on my list of things to deal with soon.
June 17 - July 7
- Charges $14,238
- Not Covered $630 (Reason code 42: Service is not covered by plan)
- Payment amount $13,608
- Patient responsibility $630
Adding this to my mental list too.
July 27 - Aug 2
- Charges $3,780
- Payment amount $3,780
- Patient responsibility $0
I like that one.
Aug 4 - Aug 28
- Charges $15,120
- Not Covered $3,150 (Reason 42 again :p)
- Payment amount $11,970
- Patient Responsibility $3,150
Um... That is .. a lot of money
Let's do some quick totals
Total hospital charges : $40,608
Patient Responsibility: $6,305
although I am not sure what to think of the $2,400 for co-insurance. Would still leave $3,905 though.
The bad news is that that is A LOT of money. The good news is that I opened the envelope, and worked through all this and now know where I can start fighting. First I'll sleep though.
May 19 - 29
- Charges $7,470
- Deductible $125
- Co-Insurance $2,400
- Payment amount $4,945
- Patient responsibility $2525
Hmmm. That is quite high. I wonder what the co-insurance thing means. Katie Beckett had not kicked in yet at that point. I guess this has to go on my list of things to deal with soon.
June 17 - July 7
- Charges $14,238
- Not Covered $630 (Reason code 42: Service is not covered by plan)
- Payment amount $13,608
- Patient responsibility $630
Adding this to my mental list too.
July 27 - Aug 2
- Charges $3,780
- Payment amount $3,780
- Patient responsibility $0
I like that one.
Aug 4 - Aug 28
- Charges $15,120
- Not Covered $3,150 (Reason 42 again :p)
- Payment amount $11,970
- Patient Responsibility $3,150
Um... That is .. a lot of money
Let's do some quick totals
Total hospital charges : $40,608
Patient Responsibility: $6,305
although I am not sure what to think of the $2,400 for co-insurance. Would still leave $3,905 though.
The bad news is that that is A LOT of money. The good news is that I opened the envelope, and worked through all this and now know where I can start fighting. First I'll sleep though.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Family Therapy
Yesterday, we finally had family therapy again. It was a pain to get everyone out of bed and to therapy, but we did it. The kids were less than thrilled still. They all told him they didn't want to do family therapy. He asked them one by one, why they didn't. Most of the replies involved 'losing out on sleep and computer games', but Zack said 'We don't need it' and Victor came up with 'Have you ever been in family therapy? Was it successfull?' Dr Duck replied that that was a good question and that Victor actually was the first one ever to ask him. He said he had been in therapy like this, and that it had been successful for most of them. Victor also asked about his family (Dr Duck came from a family of six) and 'What are your credentials anyway?'
Hannah brought up hubby's yelling again, which is good, and eventually Dr Duck talked about things that you can do in a family and how it is not good if there is violence. When he asked whether there ever was violence in the family , answers ranged from 'yes' to 'no' and 'sometimes', all at the same time.
Next week we might make a book about what to do when you lose your temper, because Annabella made one for Hannah for Xmas, and Dr Duck thought that was an excellent idea and said maybe we should make a family book like that. He asked them to bring in the book next time as a starting point.
Some of Zack's bills have made it to collection agency, but I think some of those are the ones I paid already last week. I guess I will have to look that up. I got called by hospital last night, and gave them Katie Beckett info, but still got letter from collection agency from them today anyway. It is a mess, but I am sure it will all work out somehow. Just a pain. I did pay all hospital bills that were still open today, which was a total of $158. That is just the local hospital, not the psych one.
Dr Sloth hasn't shown any activity on updating psychiatrist, or sending letter to insurance. Guess I'll have to call him tomorrow again and ask for status update.
I feel overwhelmed again, but still more on top of things than I was a few days ago. Just need to figure out how to deal with the collection agency mess.
Zack's therapist is retiring, so he will start with new therapist next week. She seems nice.
Zack is working out at local health club twice a week now, which we help will also help with sleeping issues.
Rambling and feeling unorganized, and the WoW sounds next to me are driving me crazy , so this is it for today.
Hannah brought up hubby's yelling again, which is good, and eventually Dr Duck talked about things that you can do in a family and how it is not good if there is violence. When he asked whether there ever was violence in the family , answers ranged from 'yes' to 'no' and 'sometimes', all at the same time.
Next week we might make a book about what to do when you lose your temper, because Annabella made one for Hannah for Xmas, and Dr Duck thought that was an excellent idea and said maybe we should make a family book like that. He asked them to bring in the book next time as a starting point.
Some of Zack's bills have made it to collection agency, but I think some of those are the ones I paid already last week. I guess I will have to look that up. I got called by hospital last night, and gave them Katie Beckett info, but still got letter from collection agency from them today anyway. It is a mess, but I am sure it will all work out somehow. Just a pain. I did pay all hospital bills that were still open today, which was a total of $158. That is just the local hospital, not the psych one.
Dr Sloth hasn't shown any activity on updating psychiatrist, or sending letter to insurance. Guess I'll have to call him tomorrow again and ask for status update.
I feel overwhelmed again, but still more on top of things than I was a few days ago. Just need to figure out how to deal with the collection agency mess.
Zack's therapist is retiring, so he will start with new therapist next week. She seems nice.
Zack is working out at local health club twice a week now, which we help will also help with sleeping issues.
Rambling and feeling unorganized, and the WoW sounds next to me are driving me crazy , so this is it for today.
Today's Meeting
Today, we had an evaluation planning meeting at school. Zack will get an evaluation by a local psychologist, Dr Li, who is very highly regarded, and has tons of experience with autism. I am looking forward to the results, hoping to get some more insight on what is going on and how to best help him to reach his full potential.
The evaluation will include Woodcock Johson, writing evaluation, adaptive behavior skills, self care, daily living skills, negotiating the community. It also will include social emotional (phobias) and OCD issues. There also will be classroom observations to support his testing. I got 300 pages of forms to fill out, I guess I should do that tonight or tomorrow.
In addition, he will get OT and PT eval, and a general hearing / vision test. We know his vision has issues, and are working on contact lenses, but his hearing isn't clear. The hospital reported issues, but we never followed up on them, and there was suspicion that the result could have been related to the oppositional behavior, not as much to hearing loss. Still, will be good to check it again now that he is doing so well in school , and much more likely to cooperate.
Zack's mainstream language teacher came in and told some about how Zack is doing in class. He came in halfway through a book , didn't really participate. He sits apart from the other kids, but the teacher thinks he is opening up a bit more, saying things in class when prompted. When they work on vocabulary, he is very comfortable trying out sentences.
He had to do a research paper, which ended up more like a narrative. He had help from his spec-ed teacher, but looks like he wasn't sure what the structure of the research paper should be. His current grading would be B+, A-, which is not bad given the fact he came in halfway.
Peer relationships haven't really happened in the language arts class, but the teacher will shake up seating arrangements for all at the next trimester, and put Zack closer to possible friends.
We talked some about next semester. We are going to add another class in the morning, and advisory before that class. He will start around 9:40 I think, maybe 9:30am. The new class will be Desktop presentation, which includes learning to use Photoshop and Pagemaker, to make web pages. I think he is done with the keyboarding skills one, and they will start some one-on-one mathematics (Integrated Math I) during the time which frees up. That will be interesting.
His therapist talked about reinforcing good study habits, since he is so bright that everything comes easy to him. It felt like no one really wanted to tackle that right now yet. I didn't push, I think more than enough is going on. Baby steps.
His psych evaluation with Dr Li will be on Jan 31st, and we'll have a meeting on March 17 to talk about it.
My parent advocate person was there, which was nice, he brought up some good stuff. Hmmm, I am sure I am forgetting things, but it will have to do for now. I don't feel particularly organized and I want to write a short post on yesterday's family therapy.
The evaluation will include Woodcock Johson, writing evaluation, adaptive behavior skills, self care, daily living skills, negotiating the community. It also will include social emotional (phobias) and OCD issues. There also will be classroom observations to support his testing. I got 300 pages of forms to fill out, I guess I should do that tonight or tomorrow.
In addition, he will get OT and PT eval, and a general hearing / vision test. We know his vision has issues, and are working on contact lenses, but his hearing isn't clear. The hospital reported issues, but we never followed up on them, and there was suspicion that the result could have been related to the oppositional behavior, not as much to hearing loss. Still, will be good to check it again now that he is doing so well in school , and much more likely to cooperate.
Zack's mainstream language teacher came in and told some about how Zack is doing in class. He came in halfway through a book , didn't really participate. He sits apart from the other kids, but the teacher thinks he is opening up a bit more, saying things in class when prompted. When they work on vocabulary, he is very comfortable trying out sentences.
He had to do a research paper, which ended up more like a narrative. He had help from his spec-ed teacher, but looks like he wasn't sure what the structure of the research paper should be. His current grading would be B+, A-, which is not bad given the fact he came in halfway.
Peer relationships haven't really happened in the language arts class, but the teacher will shake up seating arrangements for all at the next trimester, and put Zack closer to possible friends.
We talked some about next semester. We are going to add another class in the morning, and advisory before that class. He will start around 9:40 I think, maybe 9:30am. The new class will be Desktop presentation, which includes learning to use Photoshop and Pagemaker, to make web pages. I think he is done with the keyboarding skills one, and they will start some one-on-one mathematics (Integrated Math I) during the time which frees up. That will be interesting.
His therapist talked about reinforcing good study habits, since he is so bright that everything comes easy to him. It felt like no one really wanted to tackle that right now yet. I didn't push, I think more than enough is going on. Baby steps.
His psych evaluation with Dr Li will be on Jan 31st, and we'll have a meeting on March 17 to talk about it.
My parent advocate person was there, which was nice, he brought up some good stuff. Hmmm, I am sure I am forgetting things, but it will have to do for now. I don't feel particularly organized and I want to write a short post on yesterday's family therapy.
Monday, January 7, 2008
New Card!
Today, I found Zack's new social security card in the mail. Something else to cross off from my list of things that need to happen. I immediately put it in my purse, so that it won't get lost again.
Baby steps ^^
Baby steps ^^
Friday, January 4, 2008
Plodding Along
Baby Steps.
I found one more ambulance bill, and we told them to bill Katie Beckett (thank you sis) to get them off my neck for a bit. This one has 285.50 left.
I have been opening mail all week, which is pretty darned amazing :)
We called insurance (again a heartfelt thank you ^^) and they will actually PAY for the light box if there is medical necessity. The dr needs to fax them a letter. I left a msg at dr Sloth's office to ask them to do so. Will follow up next week if I don't hear anything.
Today I feel pretty stressed for no good reason at all, will have to try to find my calmness again. But even in the stress, still got those important things done, so that is good.
Zack might take normal school bus home today, Gopher will meet him at our bus stop to help him walk home. I hope it goes well.
I found one more ambulance bill, and we told them to bill Katie Beckett (thank you sis) to get them off my neck for a bit. This one has 285.50 left.
I have been opening mail all week, which is pretty darned amazing :)
We called insurance (again a heartfelt thank you ^^) and they will actually PAY for the light box if there is medical necessity. The dr needs to fax them a letter. I left a msg at dr Sloth's office to ask them to do so. Will follow up next week if I don't hear anything.
Today I feel pretty stressed for no good reason at all, will have to try to find my calmness again. But even in the stress, still got those important things done, so that is good.
Zack might take normal school bus home today, Gopher will meet him at our bus stop to help him walk home. I hope it goes well.
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