By Holly Bortfeld
I am a single mom of two teenagers on the spectrum so I know all about money concerns. Raising a child, or two, with ASD will break the bank! I have also been doing parent support for over 10 years and have been asked countless times, “How am I supposed to be able to afford all this?” And as the epidemic numbers of children with ASD grew, the number of pleading parents became deafening.
There are many treatments available today to help our kids, which is wonderful, but when you have no way to pay for them, it’s very hard for parents to get them.
Imagine showing parents “HOPE” in a box, on a shelf 50-feet up, but give them no ladder to get there. Most will walk away. TACA’s mission is to build parents a ladder, one rung at a time.
This series is a rung, or two, and I hope it helps you help your children.
Current series:
Pieces to come:
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Getting Organized-on-a-Budget
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Homeschooling-on-a-Budget
If you have topics that you’d like to see covered in the “On-a-Budget” series, please contact me.
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| Before | During | After |
I had Christian when I was 19 years old. For the first year of his life I couldn’t imagine anything being wrong with my baby. He smiled; he laughed; he rolled, crawled and walked on time. At age one he had a massive overload for his little immune system. He had two ear infections, a high fever, back to back treatment of major antibiotics and he was given his MMR, varicella and HIB vaccines while he was still very sick. Christian faded away for the next 6 months.
At age two he was diagnosed with full syndrome Autism. I met an amazing mother who introduced me to the group Talk About Curing Autism. Before I found out about TACA, I had no clue that there was hope for my child. From that day on I knew that it was my job to get my son back and undue what had been done to him.
It has been three years since Christian was diagnosed with Autism. I had taken what I had learned from TACA, found wonderful therapists, began a diet, found a DAN! Doctor, and took control of my child’s health. I heard his first word when he was 38 months old, and let me tell you, it was worth the wait.
Today Christian attends a typical private preschool. He is the only child in the class with a diagnosis…and none of the other parents know that. He speaks clearly, has friends, reads, pretends on the playground and even knows what he wants to be when he grows up (which of course changes weekly).
I can honestly say, if I had not found that mom (you know who you are), and not been introduced to TACA, I don’t know where Christian would be today and I don’t know if I would ever have been able to help other parents starting this journey. Thank you TACA, thank you my hero mom, and thank you Christian for fighting this with me. I love you.
Chelsi, Washington State
