Freedom!!!

I've got a feelin'...
That tomorrow's gonna be a good, good da-a-ay......woohooo!
(Anyone else out there a Peas fan too?)

Remember a few weeks back when I mentioned a BIG change we had coming our way?

Originally, I had not planned to spill the beans until this coming weekend but due to an unexpected turn of events, I have the freedom to go ahead and reveal the big surprise. Do not get too worked up - it is really only a big change for my family and not something others will find much excitement in knowing.

Are you ready?

(Drumroll...)

We are changing providers for Reiss's in-home ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy program!

See, I warned you. Not terribly exciting, right? However, considering the intensity and numerous hours of ABA therapy Reiss puts in on a weekly basis, it is a big change for our family and one we are certainly looking forward to making.

The decision to change providers was not an easy one to make. Actually, the decision to change providers began not at all as a quest to find another provider but rather, as a mission to simply research other options in our area for in-home ABA and ABA centers should we decide to make a change in the future. After a series of events occurred and subsequent tension began to build between ourselves and our current provider, we felt it was best to really dig in and do our homework regarding looking into the other options we found available to us. There was the unfortunate tension building, but at that point, our efforts were still only meant to provide us with options in the event of a "what if" situation were to happen.

A funny thing happened along the way though, and once we began looking into several other options, including one center and three in-home providers, we became quite impressed with one particular provider who services our area. The more we talked with her, the more confident we felt that she was was a great option to go with now and not just to use later as a "just in case" option. It felt right and it felt like a change now was in our best interest after all. She was very open and honest with everything we asked of her. She made no qualms about meeting with me on two occasions. She did not skip a beat when asked to provide references of other families with whom she works. I, personally, checked each of her references not once or twice, but four separate times, calling them back whenever we thought of something else we would like to ask.

Tomorrow morning I will meet with our new provider and the two therapists she has hired to work with Reiss. I stress the number because our current provider has four therapists working with Reiss. At one time, we had six therapists working with him for a total of only thirty-five hours per week. At our best, we had three therapists. The unusually high number of therapists has always presented me with a level of frustration, as I knew from speaking with other parents whose children receive ABA through other providers that they typically had two therapists, and a maximum of three therapists for a full forty-hour week of therapy. If your own child receives ABA or has in the past, I would love your input as to the number of therapists you have/had and whether or not you feel more is better or less is best.

Next Monday, Reiss will meet his new therapists and begin therapy and a whole new fresh start. I am so excited for him and I am excited for my family, as it feels like we are about to embark on a totally new journey. I feel free and like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.

It is almost as though the dreary and cloudy bitterness of winter has dissipated and the sun is shining and Spring has arrived. Well, until I remember that it will probably be around 30 degrees when I wake up tomorrow morning. But I'm on this high, so who cares if there is frost on the windows and the furnace continues to run non-stop for the next few weeks?

And now it's official. My high has caused me to babble meaninglessly about frosty windows and other nonsense. So I will leave with that.

To be continued...