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Special Needs
Life after EI? Become a SAHM? Need advice (long)
DS will be transitioning out of EI at the end of May. Right now I work only one day a week, mainly as a way of getting out of the house, bringing in a little income, keeping my skills current, etc. We can easily get by money-wise without me working right now, but I'm nervous about what will happen when DS is out of EI and we'll have to rely on our school corporation or seek private therapy, which is not covered by our insurance.
My boss just told me that he is looking for someone to do the same work that I am doing full time. He is recruiting immediately. If I wanted to move to full time, I would have to do it NOW. I would be willing to work full-time as it would really help pay for DS's therapy. However, we are in the middle of DS's formal autism evaluations (15 appointments in the next two months between neurologists, psychologists, and the school corportation) and the doctors have flat out told us that he will be diagnosed with ASD although nothing will be "official" until our last appt. on May 12. At that time I will have a better idea of what types of services/treatments they recommend for DS and what the time commitments will be, but until then things are kind of up in the air.
My options for work are: 1) move to full time now in case we end up needing my income to help pay for therapy; 2) stay at my 8 hours per week so I can keep working but have flexibility; or 3) quit and stay home so that I can better manage DS's therapy schedule. Honestly, option 1 is really not realistic because I have no full-time childcare arrangements for my two children and I'm not sure how I would manage to get DS to his appointments.
I kind of like the sound of staying home, but I would definitely have to take steps to make sure I get time away from the kids to relax and recharge. While working only part-time gets me away from everything for awhile, I feel like such an outsider at work. It's a small office and everyone gets along really well, but sometimes I kind of feel left out since I'm not there very often. I'm also afraid that my coworkers resent my schedule, which honestly only works because my boss is also my brother-in-law 
What is your child's schedule like? Do you find it hard to get your child to all of his/her therapy appointments, etc? How do you manage all of this? I'm just so overwhelmed right now. Any input is much appreciated.
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Re: Life after EI? Become a SAHM? Need advice (long)
I don't really have any good advice for you, but I recently went through a similar situation. It was really hard to decide to stay home with DS or continue to work, because I like working, but I also felt like DS really needed me at this time. I also was PT at my job about 25 hours a week and I felt like my coworkers resented me and my schedule as well.
The decision to leave my job was really hard to make and I kept going back and forth about it, but now that I've been home (this was my first week!!) I know this is the absolute best decision that I could have made.
Good luck with your decision!!
This is a hard decision. I personally believe that family and business do not mix well, but again, this is just me.
I work about 50 hours a week, but can be somewhat flexible. For example, I can take my son to therapy frist thing in the morning a couple of days a week, and take off for Dr. visits is not a big deal. But I have to deliver results, and if it means working extra at night, well, then it is what it is.
Before you make a decision, I would sit down with your DH and create a multiple choice decision tree, listing all the possible financial implications for your three scenarions (work 8 hours, work 40 hours, SAHM). Check out what your DH's insurance covers, and if it is self funded.
Good luck!!
I think this is really good advice. Since you said your DH's insurance covers nothing, I would definitely want to know what would be covered under your insurance if you went FT at your current job.
We're still in the stage of researching our options and deciding on which treatments fit best before we consider cost -- but if we end up facing the decision that our DD1 needs dozens of hours of ABA therapy a week at about $100 a hour, two of the options are for DH to find a different job with private insurance (NOT self-funded, which his plan currently is, and covers no therapies) or for me (a SAHM) to find a job with private insurance. Right now I'm glad that I'm SAH to get stuff rolling, but it very well may change.
I have no idea how the logistics of getting DD1 to therapy would work at that point, but if me getting a job saves us tens of thousands of dollars a year on therapy costs, plus I bring home a salary to cover childcare costs -- well, the hard numbers may force us to figure out some way to deal with the logistics. Maybe a nanny who could take her back and forth.
I know my SIL, who has a SN child with a lot of medical issues, hired a nanny PT for him (I'm not sure if she takes him to appointments), gets help from MIL one day a week, and keeps her other child in daycare. She has to WOH because she carries their insurance.
GL, these are really hard decisions, especially if you have to make it quickly!
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010
I should add, my workplace does not offer insurance so going full-time wouldn't really help, it would just mean a little extra income after the costs of child care of course which would take a huge chunk of my check. That's the main reason why I only work part-time now.
Also, DH's insurance is self-funded. They cover services up to and including diagnosis of developmental disorders, but not treatments/therapies for them (wtf?).
Thanks for the advice so far!