I recently posted on here that I am in fear of losing my job upon my return from maternity leave (I'm due in Jan with my 3rd and I am training my replacement now). This is largely due to the fact that the mornings are an absolute nightmare with an Aspergers/Anxiety/ADHD child. This is kind of a follow up question to my last post. My employer does not have to follow FMLA as we are only 8 employees big. At our meeting today with my son's psychologist, it was suggested that one parent quit thier job to be at home with the kids and that way we can also take our child to more therapies/programs that he qualifies for. Quitting one of our jobs is not an option-we would never make the bills-even working part time would create serious financial havoc...my son was just diagnosed within the last couple weeks, so we are in the very beginning stages of our journey and researching what our options are to help him. I came across some vague information that led me to believe that if your child has the autism diagnosis, then you may qualify for SSDI in order to stay home and care for the child. Anyone have any success with this?
Thanks so very much!
You have to have a very low income to qualify plus it is a label that will follow your son around for the rest of his life.
I would take it slowly and see what is out there first. My son gets plenty of services without SSDI and both my ex and I work full time.
It may seem like the easy way out now but it isn't.
There are two ladies who created a group called Boxing Autism. They are based out of Brighton, MI but you can reach them via email.
I believe they can help you with this question. The one lady does have an autistic child and is a school teacher.
There are so many jobs/businesses that you can do at home. Have you explored that? Or maybe your employer would allow you to work at home a couple of days a week and the rest at the office. Quite frankly you would probably get more work done at home those two days than the other three.
In LIvingston County there are many programs to help children like your son. Have you explored what programs are available?
Also, in Hartland schools they have great programs.
God bless you and your family.
Can you both work but hire a nanny to watch your child? Maybe you should start interviewing people and see if you can get someone to come to your home which would make there be less transitions. I am not sure if this is a good long term solution or not, but I used to have a nanny and she cost the same as daycare/preschool. It was very nice for a while.
We looked into that when I was considering quiting(before I got laid off) and to qualify we would have had to eliminate my income and cut my husbands by more than half, plus could only have 2 cars(we had 3 because I inherited my mom's old car), they do consider your savings and all other assets you may have.. Seemed like the amount would not have made up for the loss. Do you have family that can help take him to these therapies, also what kind of services are they receiving at school, is there an Austism program in place within the school system. We have a program at our schools and what they receive in school has worked out for most of the kids I have seen. Good luck and continued prayers for you.
I don't have the answer to your question about SSDI. But I wanted to encourage you to take your time on all this. Your heads are spinning because of the crisis moments around you. You need time to process all that you have learned these past weeks. It is very hard to be objective and make good decisions when you are already stressed. Things will work out.
I don't know if he would qualify for services through your Community Mental Health Board - I would suggest contacting their intake center for an assessment.
I too am going through some significant life changes and am finding the advice, "Just do the next thing, not the next 10 things" to be very helpful.
