Re: [P2ParentsChat] Re: Autism scholarship

[Guest guest]

Peanutslucy19@... writes:

Hi,

I am new to the group and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Donna Divis. My son is 8 and his name is Mikey, and I have a daughter Kaylee that is 14 and adopted. I am married to a great guy named Mark. I live in a suburb of Cleveland OHIO. My son was diagnosed late with autism; at the age of 6. Since this was our first birth child, we really trusted our pediatrician who kept putting us off when we would ask why our son wasn't talking. He would say that boys take longer to talk and that I worried too much. When he was finally diagnosed we were lucky to find out that a lot of cities provide preschools. We checked into it and found out that they offered a special preschool, and if your child qualified it was free. Luckily, our son qualified and if it wasn't for the preschool who suggested we see a neurologist, we might not of ever done that. Unfortunately, our son fell thru the cracks and didn't get many services. We didn't know to ask. I have been around special needs my whole life. I have an adult sister that is retarded, has a seizure disorder, and has cerebral palsy. I am very accepting of my son, but it would have been nice if our pediatrician would have given us some direction, instead of poo pooing our concerns. Time that could have been spent helping my son is now forever lost. I don't dwell on that though, he is doing so well, and has come so far. He is doing better now being homeschooled by me, and is doing better with a one on one approach. I also thought that I would share some information I found out yesterday.

In Ohio, the Department of Education is offering a scholarship for a child with autism not to exceed 15,000.00. I believe your child has to be between the ages of 3-18. The only bad part is that your child has to be enrolled in public school. My son is 8 and will be 9 in September and is homeschooled. He was mainstreamed in public school until March of 2004 and my husband and I removed him. The school system was not equipped to handle or follow thru with services or help for him. The final straw was when they lost him in the building for a short time. Just because my son is over 6 doesn't mean he isn't in need of help or assistance or services. From my understanding services are provided for children under 6. What about my child who is 8. He wasn't even diagnosed until he was 6. I am not aware of services for him now. Can anyone help??????? Any information will be greatly appreciated. Donna Divis

[Guest guest]

Donna,

Through what program are you home schooling

your son? I know there are some programs such as OHDELA – Online Home

Schooling and Distance Education (ohdela.com) and ECOT – Electronic Classroom

of Tomorrow

(ecotohio.org) that have funded related services for children who are home

schooled or schooled through other than their public school district, and it

has been for children that are over the age of 6.

Music Therapist

-----Original Message-----

From: DMHelmick1@... [mailto:DMHelmick1@...]

Sent: Wednesday, July

14, 2004 9:49 PM

Subject: [ ] Re:

[P2ParentsChat] Re: Autism scholarship

Peanutslucy19@... writes:

Hi,

I am new to the group and wanted to introduce myself. My name is Donna Divis.

My son is 8 and his name is Mikey, and I have a daughter Kaylee that is 14 and

adopted. I am married to a great guy named Mark. I live in a suburb of

Cleveland OHIO. My son was diagnosed late with autism; at the age of 6. Since

this was our first birth child, we really trusted our pediatrician who kept

putting us off when we would ask why our son wasn't talking. He would say that

boys take longer to talk and that I worried too much. When he was finally

diagnosed we were lucky to find out that a lot of cities provide preschools. We

checked into it and found out that they offered a special preschool, and if

your child qualified it was free. Luckily, our son qualified and if it wasn't

for the preschool who suggested we see a neurologist, we might not of ever done

that. Unfortunately, our son fell thru the cracks and didn't get many services.

We didn't know to ask. I have been around special needs my whole life. I have

an adult sister that is retarded, has a seizure disorder, and has cerebral

palsy. I am very accepting of my son, but it would have been nice if our

pediatrician would have given us some direction, instead of poo pooing our concerns.

Time that could have been spent helping my son is now forever lost. I don't

dwell on that though, he is doing so well, and has come so far. He is doing

better now being homeschooled by me, and is doing better with a one on one

approach. I also thought that I would share some information I found out

yesterday.

In Ohio, the Department of Education is offering a scholarship for a

child with autism not to exceed 15,000.00. I believe your child has to be

between the ages of 3-18. The only bad part is that your child has to be

enrolled in public school. My son is 8 and will be 9 in September and is

homeschooled. He was mainstreamed in public school until March of 2004 and my

husband and I removed him. The school system was not equipped to handle or follow

thru with services or help for him. The final straw was when they lost him in

the building for a short time. Just because my son is over 6

doesn't mean he isn't in need of help or assistance or services. From my

understanding services are provided for children under 6. What about my child

who is 8. He wasn't even diagnosed until he was 6. I am not aware of services

for him now. Can anyone help??????? Any information will be greatly

appreciated. Donna Divis

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- Parent to Parent for Autism Website: http://hometown.aol.com/parentschat/homepage.html

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[Guest guest]

Hi ,

There isn't any real program persay for homeschooling where I live. My son is being homeschooled by myself, and I am providing everything. I am not sure if this answers your question. I appreciate your input though. Every little bit helps. thanks, Donna Divis