When a family is weighed down by the costs of autism therapy, CMF Kids and our donors are here to help.
“We couldn’t be more grateful for what Crotched Mountain has done for us. It’s amazing.”
This is the first thing Jody Dillon says during the interview for this story. She can not hold back. The relief and appreciation in her voice are unmistakable. Jody and her family live in Dracut, MA, and just over six years ago, their lives were turned completely upside down. That was when her young son Jackson was diagnosed with Smith-Magenis Syndrome, a rare developmental disability caused by a missing chromosome that limits cognitive ability. Smith-Magenis presents similar to autism.
“We started noticing very early on, even before he was diagnosed, that he was not hitting his developmental milestones,” Jody says. “We’ve been doing therapy with him, intense therapy, up to five days a week.”
Jackson eventually received an autism diagnosis and challenging behaviors soon accompanied his developmental delays. Therapy was critically needed — especially at a young age when early interventions have been proven to be most effective.
“The public schools do provide services, but it’s just not enough,” Jody says. “You really need to do outside therapy, so we’ve been going to Pediatric Therapy Center in Salem, and it’s been wonderful.”
But this comes with a price. Each therapeutic session requires a $20 insurance co-pay. When Jackson first began, he was doing nine sessions a week ($180 every week in co-pays). Now he’s at six sessions a week ($120 a week). For Jody and her husband—both of whom are not high earners—the co-pay costs are onerous.
“Of course, I would gladly pay them,” she says, “but, they are financially strenuous. It’s the cost of groceries or a car payment.”
Which is why when Jody received the application for the CMF Kids Logan’s Giving Fund for Autism she was ecstatic.
“When I got the email that we were approved, I think I cried like ten times,” she recalls.
Here, now, was a portal for relief, a means to ease the burden and pressure that mounting co-pay fees have brought to the family.
“I don’t know where we would be without therapy for Jackson,” she says. “Because of the amount of therapy we have done, he’s starting school now. He’s also been saying more words, and we’re hearing more unprompted sounds. Before you would be like ‘Jack, what’s this or what color is this?’ and he’ll tell you. Now he’s just coming up to you and expressing himself.”
“We couldn’t be more grateful for what Crotched Mountain has done for us. It’s amazing.”
That is the power of community collaboration, the bedrock of CMF Kids in general, and the Autism Fund in particular. With the confluence of resources and expertise, from the effectiveness of therapies from places like Pediatric Therapy Center to the financial support that Crotched Mountain Foundation can provide to directly impact families, lives are changing. And that is a tangible impact that you—our supporters—are making happen. Which is not lost on Jody.
“To Crotched Mountain’s donors I am so appreciative of you,” she says. “As a parent, every day you have a little battle and there are days that are more challenging than the others. So to have any type of relief, it’s just….you can’t put it into words how grateful we are.”