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| {| align=right width=50% style="margin: 1em;" | | {| align=right width=50% style="margin: 1em;" |
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| ==Josh pages== | | ==Josh pages== |
| * [[/meds|Josh meds]]: none at present, but here's what has been tried or considered | | * '''[[/getting services]]''': the multi-year story of our attempts to get supportive services for Josh |
| * [[Josh facts]]: things we've learned about Josh | | * '''[[/Medicaid]]''': log of what it took to get that for him |
| * [[/food|Josh foods]]: what Josh will eat | | * [[/facts]]: things we've learned about Josh |
| * [[/log|Josh log]]: a record of Josh-related events
| | * [[/log]]: a record of Josh-related events in 2007-2009 |
| * [[/video|Josh videos]]: the good, the bad, and the ugly | | * [[/meds]] (outdated): in January 2013, RHA started Josh on a mild regimen of something, to help him sleep; up until then, he had never been on meds steadily |
| * [[Josh Medicaid]]: finally approved, after 6 months of effort -- but now we don't know what services we can get
| | * [[/paperwork]] |
| * [[Josh and The System]]: the ongoing story of our attempts to get supportive services for Josh | | * [[/video]]: the good, the bad, and the ugly |
| * '''Josh paperwork''':
| | * [[:Category:Josh|Josh category]] with a few additional things in it (photos etc.) |
| ** [[Josh release form]]: permission for various entities to discuss Josh with each other
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| ** '''2008-12-05''' [[public:josh/2008-12-05_Josh_IEP.pdf|Josh's December 2008 IEP]] (PDF, 19 pages, 67 KB) | |
| ** '''1998-10-05''' [[public:josh/1998-Josh-diag-eval.pdf|1998 official diagnosis, plus a school evaluation]] (PDF, 5 pages, ~2.4 MB)
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| *** [[:Image:1998-10-05 Josh diagnosis - Victoria Shea.7bits.png|view just the diagnosis]]
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| * [[:Category:Josh|Josh category]] with a few things in it (photos etc.) | |
| * [[Josh details for sitters|Josh information for care providers (sitters, etc.)]]: probably rather outdated
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| |}__TOC__ | | |}__TOC__ |
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| ==Overview== | | ==Overview== |
| [[File:2009-07-18 Josh 2.jpg|thumb|right|Josh at the NC Museum of Life and Science, July 2009]] | | [[File:2009-07-18 Josh 2.jpg|thumb|right|Josh at the NC Museum of Life and Science, July 2009]] |
| Josh (born 1992-12-12) is the oldest of [[User:Harena|Sandy]]'s non-adult children. He is [[htyp:autism|autistic]]. He is generally unable to communicate, even using hand-gestures (pointing, touching object, holding up object). | | Josh (born 1992-12-12) is [[User:Harena|Sandy]]'s second-oldest. He is [[htyp:autism|autistic]]. He is generally unable to communicate, even using hand-gestures (pointing, touching object, holding up object). |
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| He is very healthy, though, and quite clever, dextrous, and strong. Given all that, he has always been a little difficult to control -- but he was generally happy as a child, so it wasn't as much of a problem. Since hitting adolescence in 2007 or so he has gotten much bigger and stronger; he is now larger than Sandy, and able to resist all but the most strenuous and determined efforts to force him physically. | | He is very healthy, though, and quite clever, dextrous, and strong. Given all that, he has always been a little difficult to control -- but he was generally happy as a child, so it wasn't as much of a problem. |
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| | ''This part needs updating:''<blockquote>Since hitting adolescence in 2007 or so he has gotten much bigger and stronger; he is now larger than Sandy, and able to resist all but the most strenuous and determined efforts to force him physically.</blockquote> |
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| Josh is also unusually interactive for an autistic person; he smiles, gives eye contact, laughs, and plays possum sometimes when he knows he has to do something but doesn't want to; his main issue seems to be with communication. | | Josh is also unusually interactive for an autistic person; he smiles, gives eye contact, laughs, and plays possum sometimes when he knows he has to do something but doesn't want to; his main issue seems to be with communication. |
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| For more, see:
| | Josh has been happily living in a group home run by [[htyp:RHA Howell|RHA Howell]] since late Feburary, 2011. The story of everything leading up to that is [[/getting services|here]]. |
| * [[Josh facts]]: abilities and inabilities
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| * [[/behavior|Josh's behavioral issues]]
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| * [[/group home/why|Why]] Josh needs a [[/group home|group home]]
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| {| style="border: solid black 1px; background: #88ff88;"
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| '''To help Josh and millions of others like him''' by providing sufficient funding to eliminate the years-long waiting lists for many needed services, please [http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/noewait.html sign this petition].
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| |}
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| ===notes=== | | ===notes=== |
| * Need to reorganize the [[Josh facts|facts]], [[/behavior|behavior]], and [[/group home|group home]] pages; some overlap and some missing areas. | | * Need to reorganize the [[/facts]], [[/behavior|behavior]], and [[/group home|group home]] pages; some overlap and some missing areas. |
| * Need to note newish problem behaviors: leaving fridge door open, crying in middle of night when he loses member of either of his current Groups.
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| * [[/bureaucracy]]: page for notes about how the system works with regard to Josh's specific needs
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| * Possible lawyers to contact about Josh's SSI: [http://www.rwlw.com/html/socseccounsel.html Roberti, Wittenberg, Lauffer, & Wicker] and [http://www.mcgillandnoble.net/StaticForm.shtml McGill & Noble] (inclined to go with the latter, iirc)
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| ==Status== | | ==Status== |
| Josh has been happily living in a group home run by [[htyp:RHA Howell|RHA Howell]] since late Feburary, 2011. The story of everything leading up to that is [[/getting services|here]]. We are still digging out of the mess, but the outlook is hopeful.
| | <!-- ===blog entries about Josh=== |
| ===blog entries about Josh=== | | {{report/blog}} --> |
| {{report/blog}} | |
| ====Archives==== | | ====Archives==== |
| | * [[/2010]] |
| * [[/2009]] | | * [[/2009]] |
| * [[/2008]] | | * [[/2008]] |
| * [[/2007]] | | * [[/2007]] |
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| ==Needs==
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| Josh's primary need is to be in a [[/group home|group home]].
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| Some additional needs, which could be addressed properly in such an environment, are:
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| ===Medical Care===
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| We often get the impression that Josh's acting out is due to physical pain, possibly just a headache or possibly dental. We have absolutely no way of determining this. I used to give him neck-massages which seemed to calm him down, but this could have been purely because it feels nice to have a neck-massage whether or not you have a headache. We also can't see any visible indication of tooth problems, but it is very hard to get him to open his mouth; even brushing his teeth regularly is a battle.
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| Obviously it would help if he could communicate when something was hurting, but I don't know if he can be trained to do this at this point. I've heard that there are "tricks" one can do to get medical clues from a non-communicative person; Josh really needs to be regularly looked at by someone familiar with that sort of thing.
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| ===Life Skills===
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| The most important life-skill Josh could use at this point would be some way to indicate what he wants. His current methods of indicating that he wants something include:
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| * "hovering" around the office (to get our attention)
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| * whacking one or both of his brothers (so someone will get up and notice that his juice is empty, or other things; sometimes we can't figure it out)
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| * random vocalizations (we encourage this one over the others, as it is more communicative in nature)
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| There are a variety of methods Josh could use to indicate what he needs without having to use verbalizations (e.g. pointing, or taking someone by the shoulder and leading them); he seems unable to do any of them, though perhaps training could help with this. At school and other places, he often is given picture-cards as a way of informing him of the day's schedule; I don't know if anyone has made a serious effort to get Josh to indicate choices using similar cards. ('''2006-06-25 Update''': Yes. Read [[2000-05-26 note about Josh|this]].)
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| Completing his toilet-training would also be helpful. He seems to have grasped the concept of wiping, but he still expects others to do it for him if they are around (and when they are not around, he tends to use the entire roll of toilet paper ''and'' all the moist-wipes).
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| ==Notes==
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| Josh sometimes displays surprising skills and awareness. Just now (2008-01-20) he accidentally knocked over a box of (plastic) Christmas ornaments – and then spontaneously started picking them up and putting them back in the box. He did it very efficiently and thoroughly, even spotting an extra hook on the ground. After that, he apparently started pulling ornaments off the tree and putting them away too, so we had to hide the box... but now we know that he'd probably enjoy helping with that task when we're ready for it.
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| Later that day, after we made him come in from a walk (in the freezing cold) that wasn't as long as he wanted, he attacked the kids and [[Woozle|me]] -- punching me in the shoulder and slapping me in the face.
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| ==Links of Convenience==
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| * [http://www.dhhs.state.nc.us/dma/formsmedapp.html Medicaid and Health Choice Applications]
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| * [https://www.ci.durham.nc.us/departments/parks/after_school.cfm#3 After School program]
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| * [[The Arc of Durham]]: respite care
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| * [[The Arc of North Carolina]]
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| * [[htyp:The Durham Center|The Durham Center]]
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| * [http://www.sonc.net/localprograms/detail.asp?event_id=173 local Special Olympics schedule]
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| * [http://ssa.gov/pubs/10026.html Benefits For Children With Disabilities] (Social Security Administration): can't get anything if you've got over $2000 of liquifiable assets (e.g. savings, stocks); real-estate ownership doesn't count towards this total, but debt (e.g. credit cards) doesn't take away from it either. Josh will presumably qualify when he turns 18, but Sandy doesn't qualify (too much in emergency savings) so Josh can't get benefits since he is in her care. (It's not clear what happens if he's declared incompetent as an adult, which I would think would have to happen; does he still fall under Sandy's financial "wing", then?)
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