Doggie Trolley, Autism Insurance and Soccer?

My wonderful husband installed a dog trolley. I LOVE it! He added a retractable leash, so I just grab the end of the leash, hook up Scotty and send him out the back door! Since August, I have taken him out multiple times a day - on his leash. Not fun in 4 feet of snow or other icky weather conditions. This is so awesome. It will get even better in the Summertime. He is getting use to it, and doesn't love being out there alone yet, but in time- maybe he will!

I went to an Insurance Reform for Autism press conference today. Michigan is one of those states that excludes the diagnosis of autism from its policies and refuses to cover any services related to the disorder. Its a neurological disorder, and I think it is horrible that people pay for private insurance and then their child's medical condition doesn't get covered.

For the record, I really hate Big Government. I don't like that the state government it trying to force insurance companies to cover autism. But, I'd rather see it happen at the state level, than the federal. And, I think this is discrimination. Did you know that diabetes wasn't covered by insurance, not long ago? And psychiatric disorders- like bi-polar and anxiety? Its all about the almighty dollar.

So, I sat in the press conference feeling like a bit of a hypocrite, but I don't think this is the government's job, but in our country, its come down to this. If the issue isn't forced, it won't happen. And, my child got the services she needed (Applied Behavior Analysis- because teaching kids with autism use to be my career, so I provided the therapy myself for two years), and she is doing fantastic. My friends and neighbors children with ASD aren't able to afford ABA, and so their kids lose out. It makes me so sad. Here in Northwest Michigan there is no one to provide behavior therapy- but, that could change if the money to cover services became available.

In two weeks, my daughter's ASD educational diagnosis will be removed. Then, we cut the cord with the public school- hopefully forever! Can you tell that I really don't like public education? I really don't like it. No more OT. No more Speech/Language. No more feeling like I have to tell new people I meet that my child has an Autism Spectrum disorder. I am still retraining myself. We had a play date with a new family on Saturday, and I zipped my lip. It really wasn't necessary to expose.

I signed the kids up for soccer. It starts in a couple week. They have been kicking around a soccer ball. My son loves it so much! He carries the ball all over the house. (Its a Nerf, so it hasn't broken anything yet.)

That is all for now- off to exercise (I got a new Leslie Sansone DVD- I'm addicted! And down 29 lbs!)