And it keeps getting better!
...For values of 'better' that mean 'why I am I fucking doing this again? Oh, that's right, because if I don't, the state reserves the right to take my son away because I'm refusing to cooperate!'
As you know, for the last several months, we have been engaged in the frustrating process of attempting to obtain educational wraparound services for Callan, which the school district insists he requires but which they do not wish to furnish themselves -- they want the state to provide, and pay for, these educational services. For arcane reasons beyond the ken of this mere mortal, the medical insurance for which I am paying through the nose cannot be applied to the state for the purpose of paying for or otherwise underwriting the cost of these services, instead we can only access them if my son has state-funded Medical Assistance. In order to acquire state-funded Medical Assistance, I have to have a professional evaluation of my son indicating a compelling need for Medical Assistance -- i.e., there needs to be a positive diagnosis of some physical or mental disability. The problem? Callan is healthy as a horse. He has no physical disabilities, not even asthma or allergies or near-sightedness. The other problem? The school district's own resident child psychologist evaluated him and found that his 'developmental delays' did not rise to the level of a learning disability. They have now begun testing him for autism but, frankly, I think they're grasping at straws. The extra problematical problem? We have to continue jumping through these hoops to try to get MA not only to please the school district but to satisfy the requirement of the Children and Youth Advocacy Office that we are "cooperating" with this process. Our actual assigned social worker, who has gone to the school with Callan and observed him there, is officially of the opinion that the school district is trying to punt its responsibility to educate our son sideways to the state because they don't want to have to deal with a child who is even slightly less than perfectly socialized by three years of preschool.
So we went to a private child psychologist who accepted our insurance and requested an independent evaluation. We had a meeting with him, where he discussed the situation with us and collected observations of Callan and assured us that he would send us a report of his findings. Fast forward to...today. We have still not received any such report. Our CYA caseworker indicated to us that she received a hand-written document from our evaluator but that it was not an evaluation report and inadequate to making any sort of decision or diagnosis. I get ahold of the doctor we spoke with, whom we fucking paid to conduct an evaluation and submit a report to us that we could use to apply for Medical Assistance.
Oh, no, I am told. That was not an evaluation. That was a consultation for an opinion only -- our insurance wouldn't pay for an actual evaluation. Despite the fact that he, y'know, told us he was making an evaluation of our son. And that we would receive a report detailing his findings. And that we fucking paid out of pocket for...essentially nothing, since he's going to send us a "note" detailing his "opinion" that we can submit to the Department of Public Wellfare with our MA application that will basically indicate...exactly what the school's evaluation already says, that he doesn't think that Callan has delays rising to the level of a learning disability. And now I have to call CYA and our social worker and tell them that the private specialist we hired to independently evaluate our son...didn't really evaluate him at all! Surprise!
::bangs head against a blunt object::
As you know, for the last several months, we have been engaged in the frustrating process of attempting to obtain educational wraparound services for Callan, which the school district insists he requires but which they do not wish to furnish themselves -- they want the state to provide, and pay for, these educational services. For arcane reasons beyond the ken of this mere mortal, the medical insurance for which I am paying through the nose cannot be applied to the state for the purpose of paying for or otherwise underwriting the cost of these services, instead we can only access them if my son has state-funded Medical Assistance. In order to acquire state-funded Medical Assistance, I have to have a professional evaluation of my son indicating a compelling need for Medical Assistance -- i.e., there needs to be a positive diagnosis of some physical or mental disability. The problem? Callan is healthy as a horse. He has no physical disabilities, not even asthma or allergies or near-sightedness. The other problem? The school district's own resident child psychologist evaluated him and found that his 'developmental delays' did not rise to the level of a learning disability. They have now begun testing him for autism but, frankly, I think they're grasping at straws. The extra problematical problem? We have to continue jumping through these hoops to try to get MA not only to please the school district but to satisfy the requirement of the Children and Youth Advocacy Office that we are "cooperating" with this process. Our actual assigned social worker, who has gone to the school with Callan and observed him there, is officially of the opinion that the school district is trying to punt its responsibility to educate our son sideways to the state because they don't want to have to deal with a child who is even slightly less than perfectly socialized by three years of preschool.
So we went to a private child psychologist who accepted our insurance and requested an independent evaluation. We had a meeting with him, where he discussed the situation with us and collected observations of Callan and assured us that he would send us a report of his findings. Fast forward to...today. We have still not received any such report. Our CYA caseworker indicated to us that she received a hand-written document from our evaluator but that it was not an evaluation report and inadequate to making any sort of decision or diagnosis. I get ahold of the doctor we spoke with, whom we fucking paid to conduct an evaluation and submit a report to us that we could use to apply for Medical Assistance.
Oh, no, I am told. That was not an evaluation. That was a consultation for an opinion only -- our insurance wouldn't pay for an actual evaluation. Despite the fact that he, y'know, told us he was making an evaluation of our son. And that we would receive a report detailing his findings. And that we fucking paid out of pocket for...essentially nothing, since he's going to send us a "note" detailing his "opinion" that we can submit to the Department of Public Wellfare with our MA application that will basically indicate...exactly what the school's evaluation already says, that he doesn't think that Callan has delays rising to the level of a learning disability. And now I have to call CYA and our social worker and tell them that the private specialist we hired to independently evaluate our son...didn't really evaluate him at all! Surprise!
::bangs head against a blunt object::