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I think I am at my wits end. I went to my ABA conference today (Day 1 of 2). Gabe will be attending a "therapy/school" for ABA starting in September. He will be going for 12 straight weeks, 5 days a week for 3 hours each day. I will be implementing at least one hour at home each day also. This program is centered around training the parents for using ABA at home. So I will be attending with Gabe. It has been very exciting and very stressful. If you had read the Newsweek about Autism or watch any of the NBC affiliates' reports on the Autism Epidemic, you would have seen or read about the families going in debt to pay for special therapies. Well, that would be us.

I sat in class trying to calculate the payments each month for three months, then the consultations that are required after finishing the program that happen up to 4 times a month at $150 a pop. That's you guessed it...$600 per month. My husband is a teacher and I was also for about 7 years. We are not, by any means, wealthy people. We decided to use the equity in our home to pay for this program and also to provide a good preschool/daycare program for my daughter through our school system. (I had to find somewhere for her to go while I was at school with Gabe) You know what really sucks( I can't think of a better word right now) is that this is our only chance. We will have used all our resources. Can't the insurance companies see how helpless we are in providing this type of care???? My husband actually has the best health insurance in our state for teachers. His school district is one of maybe three in the state that has not had their's taken away. How sick is that? An insurance for teachers that turns it's back on children???

I'm at a complete loss. What's funny is that this program raised their tuition $3,ooo after we signed up. Thank god we signed up before that, because we wouldn't be able to afford it. They try to emphasize that they want it to be affordable for everyone. Who's their everyone??? Birmingham? West Bloomfield? Grosse Pointe? (These are very elite areas in MI) I know some programs cost $30,000-$80,000, but these programs are doing a real disservice when ANY child with Autism is excluded. Programs don't run on IOUS either. Bummer, because I made a really pretty one out of construction paper today. I even used some glitter.