 |
Thai’s Story
Thai received a formal diagnosis at age 2 ½ years old. When she was about twenty-two months old we expressed concern of language development. We were concerned that there was some sort of speech delay. We quickly realized that there was a loss of language. Up until then Thai reached all of her milestones on time. More often, she reached them early. She sat up early, babbled, crawled and even walked at ten months.
Very quickly, something went wrong. She no longer recited he alphabets on the way to school or joined in when her brother counted, or answered to her name. We began to notice strange behaviour. It was as if she were in her own world.
At this point, I had no idea what was happening or what had already occurred. I obtained a referral from the paediatrician for a speech pathologist to evaluate her. During the evaluation, she therapist noticed some autistic traits.
When I left her office that day, I began to look into having her evaluated. We received a diagnosis and I hit the ground running. I had done much of the research already. However, I did not realize that the therapies and treatment options that most people seemed to have success with was not covered through health insurance.
Thai has speech therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy through her medical insurance. However, she is limited to the number of therapy visits she can have in one calendar year under one insurance policy. Therefore, our family has to carry double insurance coverage to meet her medical needs. In addition, she receives Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA), sees a Defeat Autism Now (DAN) Doctor, and a Naturopathic doctor. Thai is enrolled in a pre-kindergarten inclusion class with 3 and 4 year olds five days per week. She has made extraordinary progress during the course of one year. She has increased her language though the dialogue is not where it should be; we are making progress every day. She knows her alphabets and her phonics. In fact, she can read some three-letter words. Thai’s eye contact has improved tremendously and so has her digestive system. In addition to all these therapies, we have taken necessary measures to change her dietary intake. We understand that intervention is critical for children to develop adaptive skills and to become as independent and as successful as possible. We are doing all we can in order to achieve these goals. With all these efforts my family and friends are praying for and anticipating a full recovery.
|
