The other day, I had to make an appointment for a hearing test for Max, which means I needed to find someone who specializes in kids with special needs as Max is mostly nonverbal.
Woo hoo! Another expert in our life.
I did a tally, here’s who is on Team Max:
* The pediatrician
* The neurologist
* The physiatrist (for Botox injections)
* Two speech therapists (private)
* Occupational therapist (private)
* Speech therapist at school
* Occupational therapist at school
* Physical therapist at school
* Developmental pediatrian we haven’t seen in a while
* Feeding therapist we haven’t seen in a while
* The guy who makes Max’s braces
* The nanny we have had since Max was two months old who knows just how to care for him and is your basic saint.
With the new hearing expert I found, that’s 14. And, given that Max recently had his first seizure in four years, we are now thinking of taking him to see a doctor who specializes in treating seizures. He’ll be number fifteen.
It may take a village to raise a child, but when yours has special needs, it takes a continent!
Ellen blogs daily over at To The Max
Wow! I’ve never stopped to count that out! My Max has 25!!!!! Good grief! A village indeed! We must employ a good portion of the Children’s Hospital in Denver!
Wow, I had to really stop and think about this. Ricky has a lot of specialists too.
-OT (at school)
-speech therapist (at school)
-special ed teacher and aides (at school)
-pulmonologist (for lung stuff – CF)
-ENT (for sinus stuff – CF)
-gastroenterologist (for tummy stuff – CF)
-endocrinologist (for growth issues – CF)
-neurologist (for seizures)
-psychiatrist (for bipolar disorder and PDD-NOS)
-ophthamologist (originally for strabismus and now just for follow-up checks)
-orthopedic surgeon (for broken arm x2 and internal tibial torsion)
-audiologist (to check for hearing loss and vestibular damage on several occasions – all checked out fine)
-orthodontist (teeth are about 5 years behind in falling out so we keep going back… He has a terrible bite and will need braces for sure)
It’s a wonder we can keep it all straight. We are lucky that many of the doctors are at the same medical center and are good at communicating with each other.
Oh cool..you’ve got a nanny. I wish!!
Here’s our list..
For Joey:
Behaviour therapist
Home worker # one
Home worker # two
Home worker # 3 (she’s new)
Social worker
O.T. at school
Speech therapist at school
Ea’s 3 of them at school
Special Education teacher
Peadatrition
Geneticist
Eye doctor
……..
For Damien:
Peadatrition
Speech therapist
Resource teacher *at his nursery school
two teachers *at school
..and many many consults
plus..he begins an ELP in Sept..they will have a team.. OT < PT< SPEECH and social worker.
Oh, sista, do I ever feel you on this one. oy! lol!
An alternative to caregiver is to use mobile professional services for your kids: tutor, massage, personal trainer, coach, companion coming to your house
check the ressource on servemehere.com