There is something about dealing with Insurance companies that makes me think about that little manager in The Incredibles...

So we get a explanation of benefits that is asking our Speech Therapist for justification for treatment.  Odd, he's only been going for about 8 weeks and they have paid all the visits to this point.

A call to the Insurance Company has the operator indicating that they need more information to see about continued benefits and that he does not know any more after that.

A second call to our Speech Case Worker gets some more detailed information.  Verbiage in the insurance booklet indicated '45 days of treatment' which to them seems to mean '45 days of continuous treatment' which does not work so well when you have a periodic appointment that is likely to last for years.

So the Case Worker is checking it out and the HR department.  Hopefully they come back with a amenable answer...

Today our little Man turns 4!

He has been so excited for the last two weeks he was near bursting yesterday when Mom was getting cupcakes decorated for his preschool class today.

He has been going around say, "My Birthday" and the "I'm going to be 4", holding up his hand with 4 fingers.

Today was a celebration at school, then tonight is the family and then on the weekend the Big Party.

Xander went in for his regularly scheduled hearing tests.

His hearing is a little worse than his last appointment, but the same as the appointment before that, so the Audiologists are not worried.

It has been a busy month and we're not even started!

Xander had another Occupational Therapy Eval at Children's since his last one had been a while.

Turns out what we were looking for is more of a Physical Therapy Eval, so yet another appointment will be comign up.

Xander is now in a new pre-school with built in Speech  and Occupational/Physical Therpists.

He has come along so well with the weekly Speech Therapy we are looking for good things to come from his new environment.

Xander had to visit the Pediatrician for his yearly check up.

Xander is doing fine.  He's growth is normal, so far, which is what we are most concerned of, at the moment.

Everything else is coming along.  Speech is going well, and he is great with his Alphabet and his numbers and is starting to recognise words. 

He is getting more active and climbing more and getting more active on his bicycle which will help the slight weakness on his left side.

All-in-all so far so good.

Xander went to the dentist today.  He was amazing getting checked out and looked over with no fuss whatsoever!

He looked so cool with his little 'sunglasses' on, lying down in the big chair!

His teeth are stable, we have to watch out for a potential weak spot on a molar, but other than that he is doing fine. Musch better than the previous visits, that is for sure.

For his fine efforts he earned a sticker for him, and his brother, as well as dental are kits for both.

We have been making steady progress in getting Xander help for his speech.

He has had 5 speech therapy appointments at a Children's referred institution and has been making great progress in just those 5 visits.  The first three visits were all evaluation to see where Xander was at and they arrived at a similar conclusion as Children's, but not quite so severe.  The last two appointments Xander was left with the Speech Therapist so they could work one on one and Xander has been having fun and learning a lot.

We have also made great strides at the local School District.  Xander had yet another evaluation.  Basically the same evaluation that he had at the Therapist's, but whereas the Therapist took it over 3 one hour sessions, the School District jammed it all into 1 one hour session.  Xander worked hard and was willing to try most of the time, but near the end he was definitely loosing interest and answering questions at random.

We just met today to go over the results and the School District had indicated that Xander's language reception was around normal, maybe a bit below, especially in plurals and such where his hearing fails him.  At this point Mom and Dad were looking at each other going, "Oh no, looks like we're going to have to fight to get him in here".  The therapist then went over his speech production and noted that he did seem to have trouble in the planning of his speech and more time would tell if he had some word recall difficulties.

She finally got to the recommendations and started going over getting him to speech therapy once a week at his home Elementary School. Then there was a program that dealt especially with speech - but it was full, and finally to enroll him at the school we were at.  Finally some progress, "Yes, we do want him here, in an immersive environment, where he has people trained to help correct any impediments to learning".  So we signed the necessary paperwork and can be expecting a call from his new teacher soon to get the ball rolling.

So now we  have weekly Speech Therapy on the side and a preschool that deals directly with his hearing and speech issues on the other.  Knowing Xander he will thrive in such an environment and be ready for Kindergarten before we know it.  That is 18 months and counting...

Not to mention all the homework we get from the Speech Therapist to do with Xander.  It is going to be some intensive (but fun) studying for the next year and a half (and beyond, no doubt).