" for the first time since Trevor’s diagnosis, I don’t live in constant fear of what will happen to him!"
Trevor was only one year old when his mother began to notice that he wasn’t quite at the same level that other children his age were. Concerned, Lydia went to Trevor’s pediatrician who recommended she shouldn’t compare him to other children as sometimes boys tend to develop slower than other children. After three years when she noticed that his younger brother had more words in his vocabulary, she knew something was wrong. Trevor was finally diagnosed with Autism at the age of four. Lydia’s family has faced many challenges ever since Trevor’s diagnosis to receive assistance for therapies he'd been prescribed. Lydia has been raising her two boys as a single mother after her husband passed away when Trevor and Travis were younger. The family qualified for Apple Health, but the plan didn’t cover any of the ABA therapies Trevor needed and none of the Speech and Language Pathologists with autism experience in the area even accepted Medicaid. She had no resources to leverage and was at a loss of what to do.
“It was a surreal experience to know there’s promising treatment, but my son couldn’t have it because we can’t afford to pay for it and Medicaid didn’t cover it.”
One day a lady from Lydia’s church told her about a group of advocates who were trying to get Autism services covered by insurance and she suggested to Lydia that she call the local representatives. Soon after, she was given Arzu Forough’s information for Washington Autism Alliance & Advocacy. WAAA has been very helpful to Lydia’s family and other families in her same situation. They connected her with support groups where she can talk to other families dealing with the similar needs, educated her about Medicaid rules for children with disabilities, helped her with her son’s IEP, and even sued Medicaid on behalf of children like Trevor. Since then, her situation has been looking far brighter.
Three weeks ago, she was alerted that Trevor’s ABA therapy will now be covered. “I couldn’t believe it, I fell in my chair and started crying. I couldn’t stop crying for almost an hour.”
She says that for the first time since Trevor’s diagnosis, she doesn’t live in constant fear of what will happen to him.“What’s most remarkable is that WAAA has NEVER asked for anything in return, this organization has been a gift from god to my family. I can not begin to thank them enough.”