Yesterday morning, I got up at 6:30 A.M. to go downtown with my case manager to see about getting cash assistance to tide me over until I start working. It seems like they had already made up their minds before I got there and just needed me to sign the papers. Today, I am $102.50 richer than I was yesterday. I get $102.50 every two weeks, until I start working, at which point I lose the benefits. That's fine with me! I have no desire to stay on government funds any longer than I need to. Also, if I get SSI (er, when I do...) I have to pay back the months of cash assistance I got. They'll take it out of my lump sum of back pay. Oh well. It's doing its job right now, which is putting gas in my car and allowing me to pick things up at the grocery store when I need them. That's all that really matters.
After the interview, I hurried back home and picked up two foods I will eat (yogurt and cereal) and one that I won't (an apple) and headed to my feeding clinic evaluation. I met with the speech therapist (ST) and the occupational therapy (OT) and had my snack. They had me eat several different foods and noticed that I don't chew right. Apparently, children and adults chew differently. Children chew up and down, and adults have a rotary chew pattern. I still chew like a child, which makes it difficult to manipulate fibrous foods like fruits and vegetables. They think that, early on, I developed a dislike of these foods because I couldn't manipulate them correctly, and over time, came to fear them. So, the ST is going to work on chewing with me, and the OT is going to do sensory-based things with the food. The OT is also going to do... OT (handwriting, hand strength, balance and coordination, sensory stuff, etc). We also talked about the benefits of Therapeutic Listening, and we're going to try to get me into that.
So, that's where things stand. Next on the list is to see about getting food stamps so that I can buy some of my own food and let my mom off the hook a little. Onward!
Good!
ReplyDeleteSounds good. I look forward to hearing your experiences with the feeding clinic. It's so cool that you are motivated to do this (and equally cool that you have the cash to buy food...kudos for working out how to negotiate this complicated system).
ReplyDeleteHallie is in the process of learning how to eat a new food, too. For her it's bananas. I think the texture is icky for her (she likes crunchy textures, and is okay with some smooth textures like fudgsicles and apple sauce -- that's been a constant for her because that's how we give her prilosec) and also anything new is really quite scary. She's being very brave (and working with the banana within a routine she likes is helping, too) and so are you.
I owe you an email and will try to get to it this weekend---been crazed between work and kids this week!
GO Lydia!! :D Great that you are able to work so hard on these things. Will the OT wok with you on the shower/clothing issues?
ReplyDeleteYou'll have to keep us posted on how the therapeutic listening goes. Hannah is on week 3 of the program and so far I haven't noticed any results-good or bad. The initial trial period is 8 weeks long though so I'm trying to not get too worked up about it.
ReplyDeleteNatalie