"Hi Ho, Hi Ho, To Grammy's House We Go!"

I forgot to mention on my last post that Henry's "developmental coordinator" (term appropriately put in quotation marks) called on Monday morning to say that they were taking Henry off their rolls b/c we weren't participating in services and my private insurance was paying for the PT. I said why is my insurance paying for services that the state had promised? I said that Henry's IFSP guaranteed him services. That's important b/c in our state, the insurance companies use state programs for children under 3 as a way of avoiding paying for therapists. Technically, the state early intervention program is supposed to pay for services for that age group. I also said "Since when have we not been participating in services?" Little Miss Lazy Liar said, "Well you asked me not to come out anymore." Ummm...yeah...that's a bold-faced lie. I said, "You were the one who said that you wanted to handle our meetings over the telephone." She said, "You signed a form saying that I didn't need to come out." That may be true. I've signed so many forms for them, but I remember asking her explicitly if signing anything would affect his ability to get services and she had said "no." I was extremely peeved at being lied to. She said that if we wanted to continue with services, we had to get a prescription from Henry's pediatrician and then her agency would bill my insurance. OK. Let's employ some rudimentary logic here. If I was going through my pediatrician for PT services, why the [fill-in-the-blank] would I bother dealing with her?

I'm actually really angry over this issue. I hate liars. One's word is a mark of one's integrity. And this woman has lied to me. When she offered in May to hold the meetings over the telephone, we agreed b/c it wasn't like she actually ever helped us in anyway. She doesn't seem to know [fill-in-the-blank] about child development. She never tried to get to know our son. When she did grace us with her presence after not showing up consistently, the meetings were short and she provided no insight whatsoever. Her only use was getting the forms signed for Henry to continue therapy. Uggh. I don't know if I mentioned on previous entries how little Miss Lazy Liar tried to getting Henry removed from the program by claiming that she couldn't get hold of us and we didn't answer our telephone. That's another bold face lie. Luckily, that time, they sent a letter so we called and she wasn't able to remove him from the program. Given that Jeff works from home and I do my research at home, we are nearby the telephone almost all of the time. And gee wiz, everyone else who actually dials are number seems to get through. I think that she just didn't want to come out anymore b/c we are in an inconvenient location.

Oh how we sorely miss Tara, Henry's first developmental coordinator. She was very nice and diligent. The therapists liked working with her b/c she did the paperwork on time and was organized. Tara visited Henry every week until she got sick and had to suspend working for awhile. Tara didn't know much about micropreemies when she was assigned Henry's case. What I liked about her is that she tried to get down on the floor and work with him. Honestly, he scared her a little bit at first b/c she was afraid that she'd break him. But she learned and she really wanted to help kids. What a contrast!

Right now, Henry is getting PT services, but we opted to go with evaluations every 3 months. He still has some slight issues, acknowledged by the PT and his neurologist. He holds his right arm into his body when he runs. And, he toe walks. He is young, so he might grow out of it. But given his history, he needs occasional monitoring.

I was so pissed off at little Miss Lazy Liar that I almost started yelling at her on the telephone. I don't take to lies well. Jeff is going to talk with her supervisor and get a copy of the so-called form that we signed saying that we didn't want to participate in services.

In the meantime, we'll talk with Dr. Bianchi about getting a script to continue Henry's therapy. He noticed Henry's toe walking at the 2 year check up. I don't think that he'll oppose an evaluation by the PT. Plus, we have the neurologist to use as a resource as well. I suspect that we'll fight with the agency just to make sure that the supervisor is confronted with the lies and people are made to feel uncomfortable. They are superfluous as an organization if parents end up using their insurance to cover everything.

Back to Tuesday's events, Jeff and I went to the dependency hearing. I gave a quick report on Miss R's medical and developmental status. Nothing has really changed for Miss R specifically except that the state moved to have a permanency for her in two months. By law, hearings for permanency are held 6 months after a child has been removed for children under 3. At that hearing, one of two things will happen. Either the court will severe parental rights to Miss R, or they will grant a continuance, meaning extra time for the parents to demonstrate that they are making progress. After the hearing, her bio mom approached me and said "Thank you for taking care of R" and gave me a hug. She had tears in her eyes, so that made me have tears in my eyes.

Grammy and Poppy picked up the kids at daycare. Poppy reported singing "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, to Grammy's house we go!" in the car. It was a little song Poppy made up, but he said that he hasn't sung it in a really long time. Today marked the second day that Henry has refused to go swimming. He had some slivers in his foot that Grammy removed. We suspect that they are from the wooden playground set at the party on Saturday. Jeff and I feel bad that we didn't notice them. The kids both ate very well at Grammy's house. Grammy said that both of the kids' teachers said that they had very good days at school.

I love seeing the kids after we've been away from them for a couple hours. When Miss R sees us, she lets out a huge squeal of delight and runs and gives me a huge hug. This then prompts Henry to give me a hug too. It is social modeling at its finest. I'm pretty sure that without Miss R, Henry's modus operandi would be to take us for granted, look at us, but then continue about his business and then say hello completely on his own terms and in his own time. I talked with my mom a little bit. Henry and Miss R discovered the klinex box. Henry took pieces and then "Put it in the garbage" and then came back for more. I put a stop to throwing away perfectly usable issue in the garbage after the second attempt.

When we got home, Henry insisted on reading "Bambi" which he had borrowed from Grammy's house. It is a rather long children's book, but he enjoyed it. Miss R requested "bed" twice. We got the kids their bottles and put them in bed. I don't think that it took the kids long to fall asleep. I don't think that Jeff waited for them to fall asleep. He settled himself onto some pillows on their floor and fell asleep first.