Anna Grace is doing great. It seems that she’s kinda moved to the next level since we moved. I think much of that has to do with her new school. It is very structured, she has good verbal models and she loves going.
But we’ve also had some adventures lately that have been a bit daunting.
First there was the insurance.
Our insurance company assured us (prior to us leaving Washington) that they would cover all her services in Florida at in-network rates, the new therapists would not have to sign up as providers and that they would reimburse quickly. We have all of that in writing.
Upon our arrival they haven’t paid anything. We have gone round and round with them. We’ve shown them what we have, in writing, from them. The problem arose over the fact that we have Washington people who assured us of these things and the Washington office of Premera has no control over what the Florida reimbursement team can or cannot do.
We could fight this and I’d really like to but… that means is could be months of no therapy for Anna Grace. Instead, if we pay everything up front the claims could be processed in Washington and Washington would reimburse us. So they claim (no pun intended).
We were kinda stuck. We either had to take her out of therapy (a huge risk) or pay 1200 a month, up front, and just hope they keep their word. So…. we cleaned out a bit more of the home equity line and paid up front. So far, they say they are paying. But we haven’t seen the check yet.
It is stuff like this that was the motivating force behind me starting the shop. And the shop has started to cover some of AG’s expenses and it has been a big help. We just weren’t prepared for this and we certainly weren’t prepared to pay so much, up front, per month.
Not being prepared no matter how much you prepare….. another adventure in Apraxia.
The other issue that has arisen is over Anna Grace’s clumsiness. Now… much of that she comes by honest. I, as one of the clumiest adults you will ever meet, cannot exactly complain about my daughter’s clumsiness. But, her "accidents" are numerous and she is going to school with 20 bandaids on her (keeps her from picking at all the boo boos). We stopped OT when we came to Florida but I’m starting to wonder if we need OT again.
Now, some of these accidents could be just normal three year old stuff. But… there’s also a level that seems to be beyond the usual level of accidents. I mean this child’s legs are so beat up from skinned knees and such I’m afraid someone is going to report us. Thankfully all of our new neighbors seem to know she’s clumsy as they all seem to just get out of her way as she’s coming through.
There is a possibility that there is another explanation. The weather here is good, we’re outside a lot. With shorts on. So there are plenty more opportunities for falling off stuff and getting hurt… more so than in Washington where we were inside all the time due to rain and cold. Plus, in Washington I was always trying to get stains out of the knees of her pants. She’d fall down… they’d get stained. Here she’s wearing shorts. So she may not be having additional accidents it just may be that because of the shorts she now gets injured when she has an accident and before she just ruined another pair of pants. Not sure.
Now for good news…
In the past few weeks AG’s language has really improved. Her sentences have more structure, they’re more mature, etc. Her articulation is also at age level except for the /S/ sound. And if we don’t get the /T/ sound taken care of soon then that will be behind as well. But in spite of all that, folks understand what she’s saying and I’m seeing her have actual conversations with other kids. She never really did that before.
As her vocabulary improves she also has said some really funny stuff.
We were driving around the other day (a fews days after Halloween) and we started coming toward this house will all sorts of decorations in their yard. Anna Grace says "it’s a garage sale" but as we get closer she realizes it isn’t a garage sale and blurts out "No, it’s not a garage sale. It’s just a fake".
Fast forward to yesterday.
We’re heading out to take AG to school. She sees a squirrel. Now the child never had a hard time telling the difference between a chipmunk and a squirrel when we lived in Washington but ever since coming to Florida she calls all squirrels chipmunks. (Sometimes I think she’s just messin’ with me!). So she says "there’s a chipmunk" and I say "nope, that’s a squirrel".
Rinse and repeat.
Yesterday was a bit different. We’re walking toward the car and a squirrel runs by. Anna Grace yells "there’s a chip" PAUSE "mirrel." "It’s a chipmirrel".
I officially had diet coke shoot out my nose with that one.
I wouldn’t worry about her having extra scrapes and bruises. I remember my oldest daughter always had bruises up and down her legs and cuts and scrapes. On one doctor visit, I was really worried about them thinking I had harmed her. My doctor told me not to worry. They can tell the difference between what a child does and what was done to them. They explained the different bruising patterns. All of those many many bruises up and down the front of her legs indicated a child that was just running around and having fun. All very normal. (No matter how many of them there are.) Bruising done to them looks very different.
And 20 band aids on a child… I have 4 kids who are much older now, but as a parent I can tell you. Kids love band aids. Often little kids will have them all over. Sometime it is just because, or they felt they needed to put one on every mosquito bite because it bled. (my eldest also used a lot of band aids to keep from picking her scabs… been there….) To this day I still am constantly out of band aids.
So please don’t worry about a klutzy child. I wish I had more encouraging words about the insurance company.
I second that…when I was a kid my knees were so banged up I was one solid band aid from knees to ankles!
Stick to your guns with the insurance company..thank god you have it in writing…and thank god you do have the resources to stick with therapy while you sort it out. Many people don’t have a “spare” $12 let alone $1200!
I’m so happy to hear how well AG is doing…chipmirrel, LOL!!
Emily is about 4.5 years old, and has not had one single day since she started walking (at 10 mos) that she doesn’t have bruises all up & down her legs…and she’s not clumsy at all! I don’t know where they all come from. I think kids just breed bruises & scrapes.
I agree with the others. Drew supposedly also has global apraxia as well, but I think getting him involved in different activities, as well as his OT, did help. He learned to ride a bike without training wheels before he was 4, and he’s one of the more coordinated ones, in my opinion, at taekwondo class. Of course, when he’s trying to be a Power Ranger and do some sort of spinning jump kick, it’s almost expected that he’ll end up on the ground. Just keep her moving, and over time, I think she’ll start also figuring out what to do to avoid falling or whatever. And now here’s another one, that was a strange observation on my part with Drew…when his shoes got too small, I’d find that he’d start falling more, not with bigger shoes. Just a thought. 😉