Therapy Anyone?

A lot of people put stock in the casein free, gluten free diets as a cure-all therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorders.  While I am open-minded enough to believe there can be truth to some of the claims, I am smart enough to know that there is little scientific evidence that can back up many of the claims people are making with these diets.  I actually have my 3 year old on an (admittedly, mostly) casein free diet.  Mainly because I thought there was nothing to lose and everything to gain.  Plus, the almond milk that I began giving him wasn't filling his stomach like cow's milk did and it got him to start eating food.   I plan on adding "gluten free" to his diet when I move to Washington.

The best documented and accepted treatment for ASD is ABA Therapy, or Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy.  It is the therapy I will be paying for when I move.  In order for my child's therapy to continue and remain mostly the same, I will have to pay for four, 2 hour sessions of ABA therapy a week.  (Thank you Washington for having no ASD insurance laws!)  That is somewhere around $27/hr for the aide doing the ABA therapy and $90/hr-once a week- for the ABA therapist to supervise the progress.  I'm estimating the cost to be somewhere around $800 per month.  That's almost a house payment!  The real challenge with this cost is HOW DO I PAY FOR IT?  As a single mother of 2 ASD children, I cannot work other than from home.  So this means building websites, writing freelance articles, painting and selling the artwork.....but I will do whatever it takes.   And, that $800 does not include gas or time it takes to get to the center, which is quite a distance away.

Here's a tip for anyone interested.....when looking at any kind of therapy for your child, be sure to do the research yourself.  Don't trust others to do it for you.  You know your child and what would be best for him/her.  ABA therapy is well documented and time tested to be effective.  There are many options to get ABA therapy as well.  If you are lucky enough to find ABA through the school district where you are living, GREAT, if not, you will have to find it.  Then, after you find it you will have to research whether or not your insurance will pay for it.  If they say they don't, make SURE your state doesn't have a law preventing the insurance company from denying you coverage.  Unfortunately for me, neither Utah nor Washington has such a law.