Disability tax credit application

Remember that WONDERFUL SLP we are so thankful for having!? Lol incase you don't remember her, she's amazing. 

Here's another reason why .... 

Back in April I was applying to the disability tax credit. Since Hudson was officially diagnosed with Severe Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS). I decided to apply for the tax credit for the possibility of bejnf approved so we could maybe hire private speech therapy to come to our house since we were loosing Twyla. Would help to have them come even once a month.

Well, Twyla helped us so much by filling out these forms (there was a lot of pages) and thankfully to her we got approved! 

We have been back paid since 2015! 

So this week I contacted Shay at "Let's Talk Speech and Language Services" and they are coming on the 11th to do an assessment and my plan is to have them come once per month and then he will also see the school SLP when he starts school. 

Things seem to be lining up good! 

Here is the paper I got from the government! 

Fun in the sun

A little break from talking about all Hudson's troubles and what we dealt with. A little happier post for the night. We took the kids to Elk Ridge Resort in Waskesui last week. We had a lot of fun. The kids loved it there. Here are some pictures of our few days we were there 😍

Heart wrenching ~~ Hardest thing we've done in awhile

Well, a couple weeks ago, was a really hard day for us. It was the last day Hudson would see his SLP, Twyla. And even though it was on July 18th, I'm going to write this entry like it is today that we last saw her. 

She has been so amazing to us. We definetly would not be where we are today if we didn't ever meet her. She has worked so hard with Hudson to get us here. It's hard to believe that only a couple years ago, we were walking into her office, not knowing what was about to become what. Not knowing that Hudson would even have a disability like Apraxia. Or even a disability for that matter. Not knowing that Apraxia was even a thing or ever hearing about it. Not knowing that maybe we wouldn't have to go for long; that Hudson would just start talking. Not knowing that this was soon to be our lives. Driving 2 hours each way twice a month. The financial cost that would come with this. That today would be the last day we will see her. How heart wrenching today would be. Today should be a day of happiness, that I would be dreaming for this day a year ago, but instead this has become our lives. That even though I will not miss the driving, it bring huge sadness driving to Weyburn for the very last time today. That today we will not go back. How attached we have got to her. To see how much Hudson loves going go see her, and knowing how much he is going to miss her. 

Today, she opens her cabinets and Hudson gets to pick what he wants to play with today. Which was so exciting.  

We had Hudson's Aunt Sarah make something for her. A succulent terrain with Hudson's actual sound wave with the saying on it. Couldn't have imagined it turning out any better. So we gave it to her along with a letter I wrote to her. Which I will attach below. 

I did manage to hold it together while we were in the appointment but I can't say the same for the last few days leading up to this day. I've been quite sad. Wish we could continue to see her, but unfortunately once he enters the school system, he looses his health services, and starts getting the services with the school. I'm sure his new SLP will be wonderful, it's just so hard to transition to someone new. And if you know Hudson at all, you know how shy he is and how hard it is for him to get comfortable with someone new. 

So anyways, Hudson graduated from Speech Therapy in Sun Country Health Region on July 18th and will be starting Speech therapy with Prarie South School Division in September! 

Her are some pics from his last day. His picture with such a wonderful woman Twyla, his certificate he received, his gift to her and my letter to Twyla! 

 

Pre-kinder program

Wow, it's been awhile since I have blogged

Been enjoying the summer with the kids. So great news, I did apply for Hudson to be registered into the pre-kindergarten program through the school. Want sure if it was going to be a go or not since the budget was so terrible, but it was a go and he has officially been accepted. Will be every other mornings, once school starts again in the fall. Was a happy and sad moment to get the email. Happy for him to start school and work on socializing with his peers and working on his speech but oh so terribly sad that we would have to leave the most a,asking speech pathologist ever. She has been amazing and can't imagine having to leave her. He will have a new SLP but it most definitely will not be the same. 

Here is the email that we received from the school. 

Bittersweet

Today was our usual every other Tuesday trip to Weyburn. We had his Physical Therapy & Occupational Therapy appointments along with his usual Speech Therapy. 

Today at OT & PT, they worked on the usual. OT was having him try to do some tracing practice sheets, pinch grasp of marsh mellows with close pins. PT had him doing stairs without holding onto the railings, jumping, running, standing on one foot which he was having no part in along with jumping on one foot and skipping too. So will be practicing that at home.

Unlike the usual OT & PT appointments, today was different. We have not seen them in 3 months which was a great sign, and today Hudson no longer will be going to see them again. He's been discharged. YAY!! It was a sad & happy moment all in one. It was just bittersweet. They've done great with him. It's sad to not go back again but it's so exciting knowing he doesn't have to go back. Physio can see him in the school if they need him to be seen again, but OT cannot. But there is someone that can come to th school, but it wouldn't be the lady that currently sees him. The lady fro Physio said his case will stay open until she gets back from her maternity leave in July of 2018. So if we need him to be seen again they will have it all there. 

So there is some exciting news today for us! 

 

Pushing forward

Well, it's definitely been quite some time since I've made a post. The last time was back in February when we got Hudson's official diagnosis. That was a hard day. I was also dead set against putting Hudson in the pre-kindergarten program as well. A lot has changed since then. 

As of last week, I have officially sent in the application form for Hudson to go into the pre-kindergarten program. Last year he was eligible to attend as well, but we chose to opt out of it as he still had a lot to come with his speech. He has made amazing progress in this last year. I do believe we did make the right decision last year as he definitely needed to focus more on working with his speech vs attending pre k, although it was a very extremely hard decision as I did really want to send him to be able to learn things and have the peer support he needed. A year later, a lot has changed and he now still does need help with speech therapy, but also needs to be introduced to things in the school setting and Learn other things also. To make up for the peer support thing, we put Hudson's name on a waiting list at the local daycare to go Part-Time. In July, a part time spot opened up and he's been going ever since. I believe he also has progressed a lot from going to daycare to be there for his peer support. Although he gets so upset when we drop him off sometimes even still a year later, I know he has fun and I know it's good for him. 

The very unfortunate part of Hudson going into the pre-kindergarten program is that Hudson will loose all his health services. So his SLP he's been seeing since he was 2. This is going to be a very sad day when this day comes. She's done amazing with him and he's come so far. He would never be where he is if it wasn't for her. Not only has she helped, but Hudson is so comfortable with her. This is a big deal because Hudson is so shy it takes a very long time to warm up to someone. He looks forward to going to see her.

 Along with Speech Sevices, Hudson will loose his Physio & Occupational Therapy services. These wonderful ladies have been working with him since he was about 2.5 years old. PT has been working with his walking, running, jumping, kicking, Ect. When Hudson crawled, he never really "crawled". He bum scooted. That being said he would have his left leg out in front of him and his right leg bent and pointed outwards. This caused him to have severe delays in walking properly. He actually never took his first steps until he was 23 months old. So he was extremely delayed. When he did start walking his foot that he angled outwards, pointed outwards permanently when he would walk. This caused problems. He was very clumsy because of this and couldn't keep his balance. So she's done great with him helping correct this and doing other things as well.

 OT started seeing him a bit after we started with PT. She works on his fine motor skills, such as beading, drawing, colouring, pinching small objects, any of that kind of things. He does better but still needs help. I have to help him eat a lot of the time as he has trouble using a spoon or a fork and keeping the food on it until he gets it to his mouth. He is getting better but needs help sometimes. 

At our last therapy appointments, they both didn't need to see him for 3 months so that was great news. We will see them this week and see where we go from there. If it's another 3 months then that appointment will be our last. I am not sure if he can get these therapies come to Coronach once he is under the ministry of education vs the ministry of health services that he is under currently. I will have to look into that.

When Hudson starts the pre-kindergarten program he will should see the SLP there 2X a week. It will just be hard start as he will have to get used to her and this may take some time. 

Since he was diagnosed with Severe Childood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) I had our SLP fill out a disability form and hopefully he will get approved for that. It's been quite some time and I've not yet heard back, so will have to try and get a hold of them. I know that won't go well though, it's near impossible to get a real person from the government on the phone. If he does eventually get approved for this, which I don't see why he wouldn't, I plan to hire Private Speech Therapy to come to our house once he starts school in hopes to help with this therapy. 

At our last appointment with our SLP, I told her our plans for this fall. It was hard to tell her. I even got tears when I was telling her. She said he can continue to come for the summer. I think until the end of July or middle of August I can't remember what she said. Although, I won't miss the 2 hours drive each way twice a month I will miss taking him to see her. 

If memory serves me correct I believe it said all the pre-kindergarten applications have to be sent in but the end of the month. Hudson, fortunately does have an advantage in the application process as children with a learning disability are chosen first over a child who doesn't. So he should definitely be accepted. I believe they have 14 spots. 2 get held back until September in case and new children move here over the summer with intensive needs. After then and if that needs isn't needed they will fill them I believe. 

To wrap up this entry of the blog. We just finished celebrating Childhood Apraxia Awareness Day. It was last Sunday on May 14th. This day is designed for anyone with Apraxia to share awareness. It's on May 14th every year. This year just happened to be on Mothers Day also! I had my very talented sister make Hudson a shirt and I ordered nail wraps with the apraxia symbol. Wearing blue is helping show support for everyone on this day who struggles with this. I was hoping to find somewhere close that would be doing a walk for Apraxia but nowhere seemed to do it. Should just organize our own walk next year but I don't know if anyone would even show up for it 😢

Well that's all I have for now. Sorry for the long post. Hope I wasn't dragging on too much😀

I will try and update this more, life just gets busy. 

As always, i Thank- you for all your continued support for our little guy ❤️

Here are some pictures from our Apraxia Awareness Day!! 

 

  

Heartbroken

Today we went to Weyburn. Started off to be a great day, and soon turned into a terrible day.

Hudson went to see his Physio Therapist & Occupational Therapist. He started out really shy as he hasn't seen them since before Christmas. Turned out to be a goofball by the end. They are both very happy with everything. Said to just keep working with him with his jumping, balancing ect and his fine motor skills, teaching him how to hold a pencil properly ect. 

They said they don't need to see him again for 3 months. So that is exciting. We've been seeing them a little over a year and he's come a long way! 👍🏼

Went to Hudson's Speech appointment and it went well. He was tired so didn't cooperate as well as hoped. But he did as good as he could. After we were done with his session, she had his results from his Apraxia assessment that was done before Christmas. Hudson has officially been diagnosed with Severe Apraxia of Speech. I know I was probably expecting it but thought he was doing so much better. Just hearing the Severe part. I just have this knot in my gut. I know there are worse things he could have but it's just heartbreaking to see it on paper. Kids with Apraxia need speech therapy 5X a week. We will be lucky to get once a week. I'm sure it will stay as once every other week. Guess we will see. Funding with our health care is a issue and to hire private is expensive.

So that's what's new here. I feel so helpless that I can't fix this 💔