An Appeal

So now that we have our diagnosis, we are on to finding solutions. One of the services that we are applying for is called the PDD-Waiver.

At the moment, there are around 200 children receiving therapies in South Carolina through the PDD Waiver, with almost 400 on the waiting list. These therapies are vital to helping these children progress.

As we have already seen with Michael's speech therapy, early intervention can give a child the chance to progress in school in a normal class with his/her peers. Michael will start kindergarten on schedule next year.

But here is the problem.

Governor Sanford has proposed eliminating the PDD-Waiver program in his latest budget.

As you know, insurance companies are covering less and less these days. At the same time, medical costs keep increasing. Even with insurance, we still paid almost 12% of our gross income towards medical bills in 2007. And we haven't even started autism therapies yet.

As a parent, you know that there is nothing we will not do to help our son. But there are many families like ours that are really being hurt financially while we are just trying to provide services to our children so that they may grow up to have happy and productive lives.

I urge you to support the parents who are already struggling through such a challenging diagnosis. I ask for your help by contacting your State Representative and voice your support for continued funding for autism services in South Carolina.

You can find your local representative at http://www.scstatehouse.net/cgi-bin/zipcodesearch.exe.

Thank you for your support in this matter. Please feel free to forward this to anyone you think might be willing to help, or link back from your blog/webpage.