I have added some more people to my mailing list in order to keep more of you updated. I will probably post this on a few of my blogs too so sorry if it is old news, whether you read it here or on the blog.
Dear Family,
I am sorry that I haven't not updated you on Danny's visit to the Orthopedist. A few of you have received personal updates as you have requested them. Basically, They did X-rays and found that Danny's heel chords are tight and causing him to walk on his toes which only makes the problem worse. They have offered physical therapy and the insurance would cover it but not enough and the orthopedist said that odds are, it wouldn't be very helpful. So, in the fall after summer is over Danny will go back to the orthopedist in order to be fitted with Stretching casts which he will have to wear for 6-8 weeks. They will have to be changed every week or two in order to stretch his heels more and more until they are nice and loose again. The Orthopedist gave several reasons as to why his heel chords are tight. He could have been born with tight heel chords but he didn't show any signs of it before and since he had been going to an Orthopedist before for his bowed legs, I don't think that was an issue. We believe that although he had been walking on his toes for a few years it got worse during this last year because he went through a growth spurt. He grew fast and his muscles and heel chords couldn't keep up and so he began to walk on his toes more to accommodate the shorter heel chords and keep his heels from hurting. The Orthopedist thinks that there is no relation between the toe walking and his Autism which is a good think since the Insurance wouldn't cover treatment if it was caused by Autism. YEAH! The Orthopedist also said that occasionally, there could be a chemical imbalance which could cause the toe walking or a problem in the lower spinal chord. We are pretty sure there is no chemical imbalance since there are no other signs of this. However we have been asked to see a Pediatric Neurologist to check on the issue of the Spinal Chord. There is every possibility that they will decide to give Danny a MRI. This gets complicated as a person has to be totally still during an MRI which is hard for an adult, let a lone a child with Autism and who is so energetic like Danny is and so the solution to his would be to put him under. Putting a child under can be very dangerous and so there will have to be a lot of thought going into this decision between Doug and I and the doctors. Daniel's pediatrician has been wonderful and I will most definitely ask her to weigh in on all of these decisions. I would ask that you pray for us in the next few weeks as all this will be happening along with the end of school testing, assessments and decisions that go along with the end of a school year.
AS to schooling, some thing have been developing in that area too. The pediatrician was thrilled with Daniel's progress over the past year especially since he has been home schooled. She told me that I am doing a wonderful job which was a great encouragement to me. However she also thinks that if Daniel were getting the specialized education that is possible, he could be doing even better and may be even grow out of his Autism all together. In discussing this, she told ma about a school in the Cleveland area called the Julie Billiart School. It has a website if you want to take a look. Anyway, this school is a private catholic school but it caters only to Special Needs children. Today my sister in law and I went to an open House in order to gain more information. The Tuition is astronomical for us but they are an approved provider for the Ohio Autism Scholarship program and so the tuition would be taken care of. As we are not Catholic, the religion portion of the curriculum is also a concern to us however, the biggest concern at the moment is distance and transportation. Okay, maybe that is MY biggest concern right now. I believe that in order to make a better informed decision, Doug will have to visit the school himself. The school classes have only 15 students and so the class sizes are ideal. They take only children who are Moderate to High Functioning which is also a good things as the severely handicapped need even more attention and specialized training and can be a great distraction to the other children. The facility is equipped with the latest technology and is a beautiful campus as it is a mansion that has been added on to in the last year or two.
The other option for us is to still apply for the Autism Scholarship program and continue to homeschool but get more of the services that Danny needs and have the scholarship pay for them. This will take some work as we need to get a lot of the issues back on his IEP. When he transferred to the Home school program they took off his Occupational therapy because they don't provide it. I am also trying to get Physical therapy put on the IEP since he has been having issues with his legs. This will take a lot of time but, if we don't send him to school, it will be worth it. The other benefit of home schooling him again next year will be the fact that the school (OHDELA) gives each student a certain amount of money for extra curricular activities such as music lessons or dance lessons. I think karate might count but I am looking more and more towards gymnastics for both children. If Danny goes to school, he will have gym class and so it wont be a big deal.
Back when Danny first went into the Early Intervention Preschool program, we asked to have him assessed by a physical therapist and they didn't think Danny needed any. We asked again later when the toe walking became an issue but again we were denied the therapy so now I am wondering if this could have been avoided if they had done as we had asked. However, it is over and done with and God knows best.
I will try to keep everyone up to date on all this but if you don't hear from me and want to know how things are going, please send an e-mail and ask.
