Author Archives: Heather

Well, that depends on who “they” are. First, it should always be a team including you & your child making this decision. The fancy label for that is person-centered planning where the need and goals of the individual determine the plan. No one size fits all. The rest of the team will be the serviceContinue reading “How do they decide how many attendant hours my kid needs?”

Or at least I will try! Over the years, I would learn things as a case manager or a special needs mom that seemed like really good new that people did not know… So I did my best to get the information out! 2008, I started by creating Texas Medicaid Waivers Explained and dumping everythingContinue reading “And if there was a problem, yo, I’ll solve it”

Before you read this, stop and ask yourself what are you trying to achieve by having a guardian appointed for your adult child with special needs? (I would love to read your answers. If you want to share, click here.) Guardianship is a legal proceeding where a medical professional tells a judge that an individualContinue reading “Guardianship – Why or why not?”

Recently, I’ve been observing some parents of “high functioning” individuals with intellectual disabilities delay the application for Social Security SSI (Supplemental Security Income). I think this is a mistake. I’m assuming they figure “we can always do it later”. But that’s not exactly true. Social Security manages multiple systems and those systems don’t always playContinue reading “To SSI or not to SSI? That is the question!”

One of the most common solutions I’m asked to share is how to get Social Security to pay for full SSI amount to an individual. Most often, the issue is very straight forward. And it all depends on how the employee at Social Security asks the questions during the initial SSI application interview. Of course,Continue reading “Why are so many people getting two-thirds of the maximum SSI amount?”