RE: Kids w/ Classic Autism, PDD-NOS & Speech Delays

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My older son's pediatrician noticed that something was up but wouldn't give the diagnosis herself. She referred me to a pediatric neurologist. I generally think that having a pediatric neurologist or child psychiatrist in charge is best.

We had some of these same insurance issues with my older son.

If she is here in the states, I would recommend that she proceed straight to an insurance agency and purchase a good individual policy for her son before she gets the developmental check up. She should not tell the agent that her son is possibly autistic--he has not been diagnosed, so she does not need to bring that up. He will probably be insured within a few days. The private insurance company will not be able to cancel the policy unless she cancels it or stops paying her premiums.

The employer's insurance will cover the child regardless.

She will be very glad to have the individual policy if the job doesn't come through after all.

I'm pretty sure she can't afford to pay for any kind of insurance plan right now. Maybe she can get him on Medicaid. If she brings it up again I should probably tell her that the neurologist is who she really needs to see, a pediatrician might recommend the run around "lets wait and see" approach.

Considering the child's age and lack of pre-existing conditions, she will probably be able to get some sort of policy for under $ 100 per month. Even a policy with a high deductible is better than nothing because it will reduce the costs of visits to a specialist, reduce the cost of testing, etc., until she reaches the deductible. She can always cancel it when the job starts.

We saw a State Farm agent and got a policy from Assurant Health for my son with classic autism when he was 2, before he was diagnosed with anything. It turned out to be very helpful. (It would have been even more helpful if we had paid for a more expensive policy with a lower deductible.)

Her family might even help her pay for a cheap policy until she gets insurance coverage through work.

If the child is actually diagnosed with autism or the 24 month screening goes poorly, she may be unable to buy an individual policy afterwards. Rejected due to a prexisting condition. No insurance if the child is injured in a car accident, gets a disease, or anything else if her job doesn't materialize.

Medicaid may be the way to go if she can't afford anything. I don't think that you can get Medicaid, though, if you just have a cash flow problem caused by temporary loss of work. They look at both your income and your assets.

Right now my son and I are both covered by the Texas High Risk Pool, which is a government option for people with too many assets for Medicaid but no employer provided health insurance and health problems preventing purchase of an individual policy. It is a lot more expensive than getting a regular individual health insurance policy, though.

Last edited by blondeambition on 26 Jul 2011, 6:08 am, edited 1 time in total.

Well, your friend did bring it up so I don't see a problem telling her to have her son checked out.

He does know the difference, but he seems ok with the other one. We originally got two so the two kids wouldn't fight over them. I'll probably get another one soon, they only cost about a dollar.

My son has the number 5 numberjack!

I would suggest she take the MCHAT test. The xls is the easiest to use.
http://www2.gsu.edu/~psydlr/DianaLRobin ... bsite.html
Its a screening tool with twenty three questions, six of which are classed as critical.

"A child fails the checklist when two or more critical items are failed OR when any three items are failed."

"Not all children who fail the checklist will meet criteria for a diagnosis on the autism spectrum. However, children who fail the checklist should be evaluated in more depth by the physician or referred for a developmental evaluation with a specialist."

(Notably our son scored eighteen)

Just looked up the Numberjacks. Wow, this looks like my son's ideal fantasy world. I wonder if it would be worth it to introduce the show to him, thereby engaging his interests?

Watch out for the Numbertaker, he pinches numbers and causes havoc!

I'm pretty sure she won't pass some of the critical questions ... I don't want to be the harbinger of bad news. The things she mentioned me made me think PDD-NOS though.

I have to look into this! We're already fans of the Alphablocks I don't know how I could've missed Numberjacks.

Alphablocks, eh? Sounds like something else we need to check out.

Alphablocks, eh? Sounds like something else we need to check out.

That guy is scary!! !

Oh, isn't he! After posting, I caved and showed my son the numberjacks games on their website. He was a bit confused by it all! We don't know the alphablocks either, must check them out.

The Alphablocks have really short episodes but they're great anyway, my son learned all the letter sounds from them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU4FKj0OmWs