They fly by! Before you know it, you're saying "Goodbye, Summer. Hello 'back-to-school' season". Ugh. (Cue the groan of everyone's favorite Krusty old clown. LOL).
My son is on a Level 1 waiver through our county, partly due to a really bad year of school going back to maybe 4th or 5th grade. (It's all a blur at this point, but it's been 3-4 years now). In order to keep the waiver, he has to use it. It's not as easy at it sounds, to do.
1.)You're approved for the waiver.
2.)You must use it by a certain time frame, or you will lose it.
3.)If you lose it, you lose Medicaid. (Regardless of whether or not you have private insurance, you come to see this as a huge help when dealing with the medical field!)
4.)You have to find a camp or some kind of company that provides an aide, or "buddy", or a social skills group, to spend your waiver on. (You can also choose someone willing to get qualified with the County, if they're not already on a provider list- this might be for someone to come in and watch your kid twice a week, for example. I think you pay them, and the County reimburses you. Possibly cuts them a check, but I'm not sure).
5.)You have to find something your child (if older, and especially if higher functioning!) will be okay with. For the last three summers, Jack has gone to a summer day camp for a week. It's a 6-week camp, but only one week seems to have an appealing theme. One year was computer animation, the next was videography, and this one was "Space Invaders". Unfortunately for my kiddo, he's probably one of the few kids who are so high functioning that they seem to get little out of it. This year we opted for going only half-day, because I knew he wouldn't care much for it. He even skipped a day, because he didn't like their field trip. LOL
So we're done with that for now, for the year. We just filled out the massive bundle of forms for Medicaid, which is a requirement to using the waiver. The nice thing is (I guess if you want to call it "nice") that you only need to give information on the minor child receiving it. Their social security number, their address and phone number.. but as they don't work, don't file taxes, etc.. there isn't much else to put down on their form. They do ask if you want to register to vote, but we're talking about a 14 1/2 yr old boy, so.. no. LOL Not yet, anyway. We'll see what happens in a few years from now. By then, who knows what this planet will look like. :(
I must admit, the nerves are starting to hit me a bit as we get closer to Freshman registration day. I've done this process with my daughter a couple of times now, and it's "no big thang". However, it's never a piece of cake with Jack. Forget the actual picking up of paperwork and whatnot, but we have to deal with the long lines. (Last year, he loudly pronounced - as we waited in front of the "spirit wear" section of the picture line- "Why would I want to wear any of this crap?" XD I mean, what do you say to that? All you can do is give a dirty look, ask him to shush, or melt into the linoleum tile. I can tell you for a fact that the first two will not go over any better, and he'll be loudly asking you why you're shushing him!)
There's also that teensy issue with his Afro. The same Afro he ends up with most of the year, as he's one of those kids who absolutely HATES getting his hair cut. This year he's refusing to have it cut until the day before school starts. Well, he registers (and gets his picture taken) on the 9th, and his first day of school is the 15th. You see how this is likely to drive me bonkers. I've already requested that he wash his hair before we go, so at least his curls will be "tight". Otherwise, he looks like Animal, from The Muppets. (This isn't to say anyone with an Afro looks like a Jim Henson muppet. Half of my family is African American, so honestly, he just fits in. But he isn't great with keeping up his locks- no combing through, issues with proper washing, etc).
I was going to type "I honest to God cannot wait for the day when I do not have to worry about my son", but that's never going to happen. This is our life, and this is his life. His life will always be more complicated than mine. As his mother, it (and he) will always give me anxiety. Whether it be high school, college or tech school, an actual paid job, his love life, friends, relationship with his sister, future family (I hope).. until I'm dead, I will worry. I'm gradually learning to give him a bit more rope as time goes by, because I know that only helps him in the long run. It's not easy, though. I will be feeling this anxiety deep in my gut for a super long time, I guess. Like the first day of school in a new building, with every new adventure in life.
My son is on a Level 1 waiver through our county, partly due to a really bad year of school going back to maybe 4th or 5th grade. (It's all a blur at this point, but it's been 3-4 years now). In order to keep the waiver, he has to use it. It's not as easy at it sounds, to do.
1.)You're approved for the waiver.
2.)You must use it by a certain time frame, or you will lose it.
3.)If you lose it, you lose Medicaid. (Regardless of whether or not you have private insurance, you come to see this as a huge help when dealing with the medical field!)
4.)You have to find a camp or some kind of company that provides an aide, or "buddy", or a social skills group, to spend your waiver on. (You can also choose someone willing to get qualified with the County, if they're not already on a provider list- this might be for someone to come in and watch your kid twice a week, for example. I think you pay them, and the County reimburses you. Possibly cuts them a check, but I'm not sure).
5.)You have to find something your child (if older, and especially if higher functioning!) will be okay with. For the last three summers, Jack has gone to a summer day camp for a week. It's a 6-week camp, but only one week seems to have an appealing theme. One year was computer animation, the next was videography, and this one was "Space Invaders". Unfortunately for my kiddo, he's probably one of the few kids who are so high functioning that they seem to get little out of it. This year we opted for going only half-day, because I knew he wouldn't care much for it. He even skipped a day, because he didn't like their field trip. LOL
So we're done with that for now, for the year. We just filled out the massive bundle of forms for Medicaid, which is a requirement to using the waiver. The nice thing is (I guess if you want to call it "nice") that you only need to give information on the minor child receiving it. Their social security number, their address and phone number.. but as they don't work, don't file taxes, etc.. there isn't much else to put down on their form. They do ask if you want to register to vote, but we're talking about a 14 1/2 yr old boy, so.. no. LOL Not yet, anyway. We'll see what happens in a few years from now. By then, who knows what this planet will look like. :(
I must admit, the nerves are starting to hit me a bit as we get closer to Freshman registration day. I've done this process with my daughter a couple of times now, and it's "no big thang". However, it's never a piece of cake with Jack. Forget the actual picking up of paperwork and whatnot, but we have to deal with the long lines. (Last year, he loudly pronounced - as we waited in front of the "spirit wear" section of the picture line- "Why would I want to wear any of this crap?" XD I mean, what do you say to that? All you can do is give a dirty look, ask him to shush, or melt into the linoleum tile. I can tell you for a fact that the first two will not go over any better, and he'll be loudly asking you why you're shushing him!)
There's also that teensy issue with his Afro. The same Afro he ends up with most of the year, as he's one of those kids who absolutely HATES getting his hair cut. This year he's refusing to have it cut until the day before school starts. Well, he registers (and gets his picture taken) on the 9th, and his first day of school is the 15th. You see how this is likely to drive me bonkers. I've already requested that he wash his hair before we go, so at least his curls will be "tight". Otherwise, he looks like Animal, from The Muppets. (This isn't to say anyone with an Afro looks like a Jim Henson muppet. Half of my family is African American, so honestly, he just fits in. But he isn't great with keeping up his locks- no combing through, issues with proper washing, etc).
I was going to type "I honest to God cannot wait for the day when I do not have to worry about my son", but that's never going to happen. This is our life, and this is his life. His life will always be more complicated than mine. As his mother, it (and he) will always give me anxiety. Whether it be high school, college or tech school, an actual paid job, his love life, friends, relationship with his sister, future family (I hope).. until I'm dead, I will worry. I'm gradually learning to give him a bit more rope as time goes by, because I know that only helps him in the long run. It's not easy, though. I will be feeling this anxiety deep in my gut for a super long time, I guess. Like the first day of school in a new building, with every new adventure in life.
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