had first counseling session last night
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| Tue, 02-27-2007 - 1:27pm |
Everett had his first counseling session last night and he left with a smile on his face. The dr. plays games with the kids during the first few/several sessions and Everett loves to play games. All Everett told me was that they played battleship and Everett won. I didn't want to ask too many questions. I figure that way he knows that he can tell the doctor stuff that he doesn't want to tell me. That is kind of the whole point anyway.
I have had tons of difficulty finding a NYC pre-approved tutor. I am meeting with a non-approved tutor later this week. I found out that the city still has pay since I cannot find an approved tutor. The tutor I spoke with is WordWorkers anyone in NYC have any info on the place? She seemed extremely knowledgable about aspergers and PDD/NOS. She provided me with information that I didn't know and practically described Everett with out ever having met him. Anyone here use or heard of AlphaSmart? The tutor highly recommended that I get one for Everett.
Still no luck find a in-school support teacher for Everett. Any advice there?

As I'm afraid this message may get overlooked, I'm *bumping* it up a bit.
It sounds like you found a great counselor for your son, and I'm impressed that you didn't ask too many questions. I'd go crazy not knowing everything my child was saying. What can I say, I'm a little obsessive about stuff like that.
I'm sorry I can't give you any specific advice regarding the tutor situation and NYC. Where we're at in Illinois, there is no such thing as a tutor paid for by the city/state.
I've heard a lot of good things about Alphasmart...but do not have any firsthand knowledge of the product. However, it appears that our youngest will be needing one before too long, so I'll be interested to hear the experience of others. :-)
Amy
I'm glad you found a good therapist. I hope it works out well for you guys.
Kyle has used an Alphasmart in school for the past 3 yrs. Its basically a portable keyboard. It has a very small screen to see what you've typed. The small screen makes corrections difficult. It was fine for elementary but we really think he needs a laptop now. That's a battle we've put on hold for the moment. Bigger fish to fry right now. http://www.alphasmart.com/
Samantha
The counselor sounds great! hope that works very well. It would drive me nuts not knowing what they'd talked about!
My oldest ds (ADD and dysgraphia) used an alphasmart in 3rd-8th grades. It worked really well in elementary school. He went from NEVER writing his homework to getting everything done (still would forget to turn things in and have difficulty w/ assignments). He won't use one now, needs a laptop, but the school discourages this (rolling eyes!). He does most of his homework at home on the PC now. We always had one of the school therapy alphasmarts so we didn't have to buy one, we only had to provide the cords to hook it up to our PC.
Betsy
Did you get an RSA for a tutor? I do believe you may have some problems getting NYC DOE to pay for a non-approved tutor. Where did you hear that they would pay, was it actually a DOE person? I'd get your CSE district person to confirm this.
The reason there are so few approved tutors is that noone wants to work for DOE with the unbearably low rates they are paying and the fact that the tutors and therapists have to wade through mounds and mountains of beaurocracy and new sub-contracted agencies and paperwork and then still don't get paid. Big ole mess. Our approved therapists haven't any of them gotten paid a dime and have been working with ds since November.
Very likely the same problem with in-school support teacher, I guess you mean para?
NYC, it's enough to give you a permanent headache.
Sara
I got a P3 for the tutor and an RSA for the counseling, actually two RSA's for counseling. One for individual counseling and one for group counseling. It was a DOE person, our CSE district person, who told me that they would pay for a non-approved tutor plus she was also the person who gave me the number. However, I was able to finally find a pre-approved person on Wednesday and I am meeting that tutor today.
I also doesn't help that 9 out of 10 of the people on the list are either no longer pre-approved or don't return phone calls.
Additionally, the tutor I am meeting with today also has group counseling so that will take care of the group counseling.
So now it is just an in-school support teacher that I need to find which I am not holding my breath about.
Glad you found a therapist, we are in the process of finding one for him. I purchased an alphatSmart for my son. I bought Dana wireless (from Craigslist) as it had a larger screen. THis has been the best purchase. The teacher says he DOES his writing work.
take care,
Anandhi