ABA Therapy

All of the books that I had read up until this point really pushed ABA therapy. Citing study after study about how many children can live a “typical” life with early and intense ABA therapy (see here  http://www.lovaas.com/research.php ) There was just one problem…ABA can cost $35,000 or more per year. How on earth could we afford it? 

The first time I read about ABA was in LeeAnn Whiffen’s book, A Child’s Journey out of Autism.  She and her husband were faced with the same dilemma, and her husband made the analogy that if a kidnapper was holding their son hostage, they would pay any amount to get him back. I think of that analogy every time we are faced with the financial burdens of raising a child with Autism. It sums up the way I have always felt about Autism. It kidnapped my son when he was just 2 ½, and now we are fighting like hell to get him back.

We had put Aidan in a local non-profit program twice a week that used ABA methods during Occupational Therapy. It seemed to really help him, but 2 hours a week would not be enough.

I began researching Floortime and ABA to see if we could get either covered by insurance. I found that ABA would be covered if Aidan had a diagnosis of ASD (including PDD or Aspergers). I realized that we needed to get him a full blown diagnosis before he would be eligible for the services he would need to excel.

I tried to get an appointment with a Neurologist or Developmental Pediatrician, but needed our primary doctor to write a referral. When we went to Aidan’s primary care provider, again I had to fight. I showed him the evaluation that illustrated just how far behind Aidan was, but he still looked at me like I was some obsessive mother trying to find SOMETHING wrong with her child. I almost broke down crying in his office. Here was my son, almost 3 ½ years old at this point, and he couldn’t even tell you “hello” or “good-bye” he couldn’t answer what his name is, or how old he was. It does not take a genius to see that this child is not where a typical 3 ½  year old should be! He finally agreed to give us the referral, but made it very clear that he thought we were too concerned with Aidan’s development.