Guest guest Posted December 27, 2008 Report Share Posted December 27, 2008 Welcome ! You are in the NE TN area - and we are in the NE GA Mountains! You have the Tennessee MICROBOARD and Dr. Ruth Beckwith in your state. She is helping GA develop microboards. Try googling her - and I will look for her link and post it when I find it. We also have an adult son - the youngest of 6 and one who also spent many months in a not home sistuation (he stayed in the back ward of a hospital). Elie is 23yo now and living with a friend/companion. During the week he spends three days for about 6 hours a day with another person who takes him and stays with him while he volunteers at 2 nursing homes (total of maybe 4 hours), does some grocery shopping from a list (pictures and words), and takes part in recreation. The rest of the week he spends with his friend and his friend's friends. When we visit, we think of it as a frat house (I call iit the Animal House) altho there is no drinking or smoking and few women!!! We are able to do this because Elie has qualified for a residential waiver and a day support waiver under Home and Community based part of Medicaid. We do feel fortunate - altho Elie qualified because we are considered elderly and in poor health. Otherwise, he would be sitting home!! Oh yes - we did try a year of sheltered work -where Elie was very happy altho after he learned a task, he would never do it again. Ended up sitting and watching every one else work! IF you son is 18, he is still eligible for school based programs - working towards transition to adult hood. Has he been evaluated for wowrk readiness? MArgaret is one of the parents on this list who has worked out an agreement for her son to attend COLLEGE PROGRAMMING in place of h/s. Does he have a behavior plan done after a functional assessment of behavior ?? Has he been evaluated for medication need to help with the behavior? I will tell you that the years between 15 and 19 were VERY difficult for us - even with a behavior plan and trying various medications. This has gone away as hormones settled, as Elie aged, and as we learned to meet his ASD needs with structure and stability of schedule. We moved to GA as Elie turned 21 for many reasons, but one was so that he could get another year of school (until his 22 birthday). We were VERY fortunate and his last year of school was perhaps the best ever. IF you go to yahoogroups.com < > and look at , you can find the archives and look for adult issues. On Sat, Dec 27, 2008 at 3:33 AM, Clarity wrote: > Hi, > > My name is and together with my husband, Greg, we have the pleasure > of parenting 5 children. Our eldest son,PJ, is turning 18 next week; he has > Down Syndrome and some very difficult behavioral issues that are out of the > norm for Down Syndrome. Our eldest daughter is 11 and is still apparently > suffering the ill effects of the first 10 months of her life in an > orphanage. She began around 2 years old with a Dx of PDD-NOS and now hangs > out on the ASD as Asperger's. Any ASD Dx for her is the least of her > problems as mood disorder, disordered attachment, and math learning > disability top the stress-er list. > Our other children 10 year old son, 9 year old daughter,and 5 year old son > are relatively " typical " .. Two of these guys also spent the beginnings of > their life in orphanages and suffered no ill effects. Go figure. > > I have joined the list because we are trying to explore adult options for > our eldest. I'm curious what things are like other places. I fear that > there is nothing here in NE Tenn except beautiful mountains. > > > So, I'm curious about other locations- things like the waiting list for > services and what those might be when and if you get off the list. > Here there is little hope of PJ getting enough state funding for a supported > living situation and not much employment options, and without us doing it- > no recreation. My husband and I both like to keep busy, but we are wearing > out on parenting PJ and his confrontational- augmentative manner is sapping > the joy out of parenting out other children. > > If this topic has been discussed in the past I'd be glad to read the > archives if I had any clue as to how to find them. My competency on the > computer is limited. > > > Thank you, > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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