OT Pfieffer vs DAN! and benevolence questions

December 15, 2003

Which would be more beneficial for a severely ASD child, Pfieffer

Treatment Center, or a DAN! doc? I know Pfieffer offers a fund for

those who cannot afford. Are there any other groups who help people

get biological treatments they could not otherwise afford for their

children?

I have a friend who is on welfare and has a severely autistic son.

She is struggling to survive each day and cannot work as she needs

because she cannot get afterschool care for her son. If we could

help her son, he would improve and she could work more, and be able

to provide even more for her family. Right now she depends on her 12

yr old daughter. A bad situation, so very, very sad.

Thanks for any help,

Debi

December 16, 2003

Dear Debi,

If your friend does not have a medicaid waiver, she should look into getting one

- she should have no trouble qualifying if her son is severely autistic. This

could potentially help a lot with respite/childcare costs and service

coordination. You can look under government agencies in the phone book for your

local DDSO or the equivalent (Developmental Disabilities Services Office). This

has been a huge help to us but it does vary from state to state. Good luck.

Debi <fightingautism@...> wrote:

Which would be more beneficial for a severely ASD child, Pfieffer

Treatment Center, or a DAN! doc? I know Pfieffer offers a fund for

those who cannot afford. Are there any other groups who help people

get biological treatments they could not otherwise afford for their

children?

I have a friend who is on welfare and has a severely autistic son.

She is struggling to survive each day and cannot work as she needs

because she cannot get afterschool care for her son. If we could

help her son, he would improve and she could work more, and be able

to provide even more for her family. Right now she depends on her 12

yr old daughter. A bad situation, so very, very sad.

Thanks for any help,

Debi

December 16, 2003

Thanks, but the respite care is not the problem. She does have the

voucher, which covers very few hrs per year. Her problem is her

son's autism. If she could get the medical help she needs, she

wouldn't need respite care. What she needs is a group to help cover

the cost of the supplements you and I can buy for our kids. Most of

us have seen our kids improve to some degree. She is missing the

opportunity because she's in a financially destitute situation.

Respite care, even though it's needed, is yet other treatment of a

symptom of her family's situation. If she could get help with

biological treatments, then the rest would take care of itself.

Respite care doesn't cover biological treatments.

Debi

> Which would be more beneficial for a severely ASD child, Pfieffer

> Treatment Center, or a DAN! doc? I know Pfieffer offers a fund for

> those who cannot afford. Are there any other groups who help

people

> get biological treatments they could not otherwise afford for

their

> children?

>

> I have a friend who is on welfare and has a severely autistic son.

> She is struggling to survive each day and cannot work as she needs

> because she cannot get afterschool care for her son. If we could

> help her son, he would improve and she could work more, and be

able

> to provide even more for her family. Right now she depends on her

12

> yr old daughter. A bad situation, so very, very sad.

>

> Thanks for any help,

> Debi

>

December 18, 2003

Hi Debi,

I'm sorry I misinterpreted the situation - I thought you meant that her daughter

was caring for her son after school - in which case getting respite would be

important. As far as DAN vs. Pfeiffer, I think both could work but it sounds

like travel is out of the question for her so I would suggest contacting the

closest practitioner and seeing if they would at least do one comprehensive

visit free to help her prioritize supplements/treatment. FWIW, I have actually

been able to get some supplements and a few lab tests covered through my waiver

but they told me it could not be an ongoing thing because of state cutbacks.

They required me to document the kids diet and how limited it is so the

supplements were needed for purely nutritional deficiency reasons and they would

only cover vitamins and minerals. I'm assuming your friend has already spoken

to her service coordinator about this issue and been turned down. I

unfortunately am not aware of any organizations that fund biomed

treatments. I'm wondering if she receives any medical services through her

waiver - maybe she could go the traditional GI route and get stools tested/RX

meds if he has yeast/bacterial issues which would at least be a start. It

sounds like a really tough situation - wish I could really help.

fightingautism@... wrote: