autism advice

I have a daughter that was diagnosed by her school district with autism and sensory processing disorder. She has been in therapies since the age of 2 when we finally found a doctor that realized there was something not right. They said she was a little behind and sent us to Early Intervention. She is 4 years old now and is in pre-school. She has occupational therapy and speech therapy twice a week at school which I do not think is enough but the school will not listen to me. She is non-verbal and will say momma and no, that is about the extent of her words. I just sent in paperwork to Easter Seals and was sent more paperwork to fill out. I want to get her on SSI but not sure if I need to wait for her medical diagnoses by Easter Seals to qualify. I am so lost on what to do next. I want my daughter to be able to communicate with me and I don't even know where to start. Can anyone give me advice on what to do next?

SSI will need to get copies of all her medical files and school information that they can. Have a diagnosis isn't the big picture. Symptoms, delays, things that affect her ability to function every day. I would apply now, because she may not get approved the first time around, if you get denied, follow the steps for the appeal, straight away.

So my answer is do not wait. Apply now.

Quoting ♫ boobook ♫:" SSI will need to get copies of all her medical files and school information that they can. Have a diagnosis ... [snip!] ... first time around, if you get denied, follow the steps for the appeal, straight away. So my answer is do not wait. Apply now."

That is what I want to do but family keeps telling me I need to wait til she is seen by easter seals and that we have a medical diagnosis.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Victoria's Mommy:</b>" That is what I want to do but family keeps telling me I need to wait til she is seen by easter seals and that we have a medical diagnosis. "</blockquote>


No. My son doesn't have autism. But he has a a severe eating disorder, huge expressive language delay, fine motor and gross motor delay. He has apraxia. But not a confirmed diagnosis until after he was already approved. I wouldn't waste time. Honestly. They will have so much information to go off, a diagnosis isn't the main concern.

Quoting Victoria's Mommy:" I have a daughter that was diagnosed by her school district with autism and sensory processing disorder. ... [snip!] ... daughter to be able to communicate with me and I don't even know where to start. Can anyone give me advice on what to do next? "

My brother is autistic, and when he was growing up we always noticed to most improvement in communication skills when he had good teachers and aides. The differences from year to year were significant. One year, he was in a public school that had a terrible program and he was constantly depressed, the next year my parents moved him to a school with better teachers and suddenly he started communicating a lot better, just because he was happy and felt no need to act out or anything like that. With my brother too, the other thing we learned is we had to change our own expectations of what communication was. We can't communicate with him in nearly the same way we communicate with others, but by doing things together with him more and more, and learning how his mind works, we naturally started to learn his communication style. Also, my brother, as is true with most autistic people, are very sensory aware, so lots of hugs goes a long way.