Mile Square Park with Caregiver Sarah

Posted on by MICHELLE N

Saturday 9:00 AM.

Taking advantage of the RESPITE benefit from RCOC, we asked the GSG Service company to find a babysitter to help babysit William on Saturday for 4 hours.  We’re allowed to have 8 hours a month for RESPITE.  According to our service coordinator Kim Than, RCOC accounting department has not determined our share of cost yet so we’re not responsible for that.  Also, I want to apply for MediCal thru the Waiver Program so that’s why I need to use RESPITE at least once.

Sarah, a very young lady came to our house.  We asked if she’s ok to go to the Mile Square park; and she said ok.  So we took William and our bike, she drove her car and followed us.

At the park we let Sarah watched William played in the playground, Tim rode his bike around the park; and I walked around near the playground; partly I wanted to watch how Sarah took care of William.  She’s very nice but she just either stand or sit down to watch William playing; I hope that she could be more involved to play with William instead of just standing there watching.   I felt that William was so lonely running around while the other children have their parents instruct them to do this or that.

10:30 AM we left the park and returned home.  Sarah is starting to play with William, asking what he wants to do.  I let them play together while I prepared lunch for William.  Once lunch was ready, I gave William his ipad and asked him to come to the dining table as usual.  Sarah stayed in the living room and checked her phone.  I wish that she could come over and sit with us and talk; or she could offer to help feed William.  I waited for 20 minutes but she was still sitting there; no sign at all that she’d want to join us on the dining table.

She’s new; she just started with GSG company since Jan so that’s means only 4 months; which means she doesn’t have much experience.  I would not want to waste her time by letting her sitting there doing nothing while I fed William so I told her If she wants she can go. So she left after asking me to sigh her time sheet.

It’s nice to have someone watching William for a few hours so that I can do things that I need to do but I hope I can find someone that I can trust.

RCOC Vendor Application

Posted on by Moonie
A thick packet from RCOC for Vendor Application

As our service coordinator Kim Than said, in order for the RCOC to help pay for the day care fees we have to become a vendor to RCOC.  So yesterday I got a package from RCOC Accounting department; and so overwhelmed with all the paperwork that we need to fill out and sign.  But it’s ok; and I love the fact that they highlighted the items that we need to do.

Updates:

Mon 6/5/2017:  Haven’t heard from them for more than 2 weeks since I sent in the application so I asked our Service Corordinator Kim Than for contact info for accounting department.   Called Ms. Anhely Camacho but she did not picked up so I left a message asking her about  the status of our application.

Vendor Application checklist 1

Tues 6/6/2017:  it’s 1:00 PM and still haven’t heard from anyone so I called again.  This time Ms. Anhely Camacho picked up.  She said our application is on her stack to be sent out this week.  I asked if there’s any paperwork that I missed or does she need anything else from me; she said no “Otherwise I’d call/email you to let you know.. Your application is approved.”  She said she’d mail out the confirmation letter this week.

Vendor Application checklist 2

Fri 6/9/2017: I still have not received any mails from her! Hopefully we’ll get it soon.  This is important to us because the sooner we get it, the sooner we can get reimbursement for our William’s daycare expenses.  Even though it’s not a lot, but little helps along the way.

Vendor Application checklist 3

 

 

Everyday Stuffs!

Posted on by Moonie
Milk and hot dog is to make sure he’s not hungry when he gets to the day care.

Every morning I woke up around 7 AM, prepare my lunch and put 2 diapers in William’s backpack (fortunately I’ve never messed up to put diapers in my lunch bag :)).  7:30 AM, take the stuffs out to the car so that I don’t have to carry too much when it’s time to take William to school.  8:10 AM, wake William up, change his diapers and clothes, wash his face/hands, put on his socks and shoes; and we head to school.  We have to get out of the house by 8:20 AM.

Lunch time, 12:30 PM , I leave work to get home to prepare his snack for the daycare. I can bring his snacks with me in the morning so that I don’t have to stop by our house to get it but our house is on the way so it’s not wasting time at all.

I’d pack 1 bottle of milk and some slices of hot dog for William to drink/eat right after I pick him up from Mitchell school.  Usually he finishes the bottle of milk, but the hot dog, some day he eats it, some day he refuses.

Gather things that William will dress for  school

And in his lunch bag I’d pack some snacks like chips/chocolate/candies, etc and a bottle of orange juice; this is for him to take to the daycare so that later in the afternoon he has something to drink/eat but most of the time he doesn’t: when Tim picks him up around 5:30 PM, the snacks and orange juice is still full in the lunch box.

The teachers at the day care said they gave him his lunch box but he refused and pushed it away.  I hope that they try to give him the lunchbox everyday not just once and then stopped.

 

A Usual Morning: School Time

Posted on by Moonie
William loves this Pokemon jacket (so does Max, his classmate)

Tuesday morning, a cloudy day with light drizzling but not cold.

William woke up early today around 8:00 AM (usually I have to wake him up around 8:15 AM) so I dressed him up and took him to school a little bit early.  The Mitchell school is under construction so now we have to walk a bit from the car to the classroom.  Mrs. Hana said the construction will be done in the Fall.

Once got to his classroom, William ran directly to this play area after put down his backpack in his designated slot.
Mitchell school is under construction, metal fences are everywhere
Mitchell school playground where William spends his time once a day.

GSG Call Meeting

Posted on by Moonie

Per our service co-ordinator Kim Than, I called the GSG Support Services (on Friday) and scheduled a call with them today Tuesday at 10:30 AM.  They said the call would last for 45 minutes.  Not sure what’s the call is about, we’ll see!

Update: Basically they asked questions about how William acts, behaves, what he likes/dislike so things that a babysitter should know to make their job easier.  At the end of the call, David asked if I want to schedule for a babysitter anytime soon, because we should spend all the allowed hours before it expires so that RCOC will continue to approve for RESPITE.  Otherwise RCOC would think we don’t need it, they might reduce the hours.

For William we’re allowed to have 8 hours a month of RESPITE service so David suggested that we split that into 2 sessions because the minimum number of hours for a session is 3 hours.  So I went ahead and schedule for this Saturday for 4 hours but there’s a waiting list so I’d have to wait for their call to know if they can find available staff.  David said latest by Fri we’d have the answer.

Aunt Eliza’s Birthday

Posted on by Moonie
Everyone thought it was William’s birthday! 🙂

Sunday at Noon.

We threw a little party for William’s aunt Eliza Huyen at our house, invited some close family members.  William loved to sit next to cousin Danny to watch Danny’s playing game.  When aunt Julie brought out the cake, William got so attached to it.  I’m not sure if he likes the candles or the cake but he patiently sat there waiting.  Finally we got everybody out to sing Happy Birthday song and had aunt Eliza to blow the candles, he attempted to blow too so we lighted the candles again for him to try.

I felt so in love with his innocent smile!

International Festival at Soka University

Posted on by Moonie
Obviously William loves to be outside

Saturday morning.

It’s 16th Annual International Festival at Soka University’s  (soka.edu) which located in Aliso Viejo, 30 minutes driving from our house.  The University is so beautiful with a big pond and water fountain.  William loves to play with the water.

I bought a Takoyaki combo which has 6 balls of 2 different flavors for $8.00, and a Thai Ice Tea drink ($5.00) at a near by vendor.   I was surprised that William tried the Takoyaki and ate 3 balls; but he refused to try the Thai Iee Tea though.

A nice view of University
William loves to play with the water, we had to be very careful to not let him step into the water.
This is what William has for lunch: Takoyaki: a ball-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special moulded pan.

What a Happy Day!

Posted on by Moonie
William was so happy to see me waiting for him after class at Mitchell

Yesterday i was feeling so down because I could not find any ABA Services providers that meet William’s schedule.  After class at Mitchell school and his nap at the daycare, he’s only available for 2 hours after 3:30 PM.

A week ago I called Morning Star ABA services, talked to a lady named Amanda and sent her our insurance info.  She said she would call back but did not received any thing from her so I emailed her asking for status.  She said with William’s schedule it’s hard to find available staffs.   Then yesterday I called several providers from the list that HealthNet rep sent me:  Bloom Behavorial Health Inc said they have a 3 months waiting list, some providers didn’t answers (Behavior Support Svc, Creative Solution for Hope) . Finally I reached down to the bottom of the list: AExceLearning Behaviorial Education Support and Training.  A nice lady named To Nhu Le answered, and it turned out she’s Vietnamese.  So later in the day she sent me more info about her agency and requested that I sent her our insurance and the report from RCOC.

He loves this stamp

Today I sent what To Nhu Le from AExceLearning Behaviorial Education Support and Training requested, and soon she replied that she already verified William qualification with HealthNet and that we don’t have to pay co-pay or deductibles; and that she sent in the authorization request and waiting for the answer from HealthNet.

In the mean time, I also emailed Mrs. Annette Glass from Healthnet (who sent me the providers list in the first place) and telling her that the provider AExceLearning Behaviorial Education Support and Training has staffs available for William’s schedule and that they were waiting for authorization approval.

Few minutes later, got an email from Mrs. Annette, she said she talked to To Nhu Le and authorized 8 hour assessment effective today!  I’m so happy that things turn out pretty good.  I’d never expect that Mrs. Annette would act so fast!

Not just that, around noon our service co-odinator Kim Than called, saying that we got approved for Day Care.  Even though the amount is not much but it’s better than nothing.  She also encouraged me to call the RESPITE agency to schedule for at least 1 time; which will help in the process of requesting Medical for William.  Once William get approved for Medical then RCOC will cover all the RESPITE fees so we don’t have to pay anything.

This really relieves the financial burden that I’ve been feeling ever since William was diagnosed with Autism.  If we have Medical we’d not have to worry about the lack of money to pay for Insurance co-pay and deductibles for doctor visits (and my boy is sick so often!).

 

Cried at Middle of the Night

Posted on by Moonie

Around 2 AM, William woke up and cried out loud.  Usually he’d just whine to let us know that he’s hungry; and it’s time for another bottle of milk.  This time we were just not sure why he cried; he cried like he was hurt.  I tried to hold him but he refused; tried to carry him out of bed but he wanted to put back to bed.  Finally we gave him a bottle of milk; at first he pushed it away so I put it on the headboard, then he stood up and got to it. So I guess he was hungry.  It’s just weird that he rarely cries like that when he’s hungry.  Last dinner he didn’t eat much so might be that was the reason.