Thursday, April 6, 2017

Death by forms: The high risk for special needs parents...and a solution



The forms, they are piling up. A bunch of them for camps. The insurance ones I regularly fill out to get reimbursed for Max's therapies. Permission slips. Applications for programs. Activity profiles. Plus a lot more forms when we finally commit to a high school for Max (gulp).

"She had a talent for filling out forms!" read no tombstone ever. Yet they are an inescapable part of parenthood, and a particular kind of torture for special needs parents since ours tend to be more detailed, lengthier and soul-draining when you realize the developmental milestones or abilities you can't check off.

I dream of a universal form, like that college Common Application; schools, camps and programs could then tack on specific forms. (Be right back, off to patent that idea.) I fantasize about filling out all school and medical forms online, but that would involve places setting up secure systems that are compliant with HIPAA, i.e., it would be a big deal and likely won't happen for eons. Maybe someone could just invent an app for that?

This week, though, I hit upon a simple solution. I got a request to fill out an eight-page intake for a camp Max will attend this summer. He went last year, and his personality, needs and medical requirements haven't changed since then, other than his fixation with going to SeaWorld. And so, I asked if I could just update last year's form instead, which I still had in a document. And the answer was: "Yes." And the other parents could, too.

"Thank you for this gift!" I wrote back and it really was a gift. Maybe not quite as thrilling as the fancy tote that Dave got me for my birthday but still, the gift of time saved from having to fill out a form. I'm not quite sure yet what I'll do with the extra half hour or so; maybe fill out more forms?

Obviously, not everyone would be amenable to this. But there's a definite moral of the story: Ask for what will make your life easier—in any part of life—because the worst thing that can happen is they'll say "no."

May the forms be with you!

7 comments:

  1. I am going to start asking whether I can update forms from previous years too! Thanks for the tip! Sarah
    Oh, and, BTW, What tote did David get you? ;)

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    1. He got me a Louis Vuitton one. I am not usually an LV-lusting/LV-carrying kind of person, but I've always liked the way that Neverfull one looks. Of course, I mostly carry around a diaper bag these days!!

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  2. I hate filling out things by hand, I have lousy handwriting, there is never enough space, etc. I love fillable PDF or Word documents. They are easy to fill in and I can save them on-line for reference. I don't mind having to print them. Some places even allow me to make an unchangeable PDF and email it.

    It's the little things.

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    1. My handwriting has rapidly deteriorated because I type everything. I appreciated fillable PDF/Word docs too. Even the Girl Scouts (not always the most progressive org) finally got those forms!

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  3. I fill out my son's school update form online every year and we do our camp forms electronically too. It's in a word document that I just type in and email back. So some forms can be done electronically! I even did our tax forms for our accountant on the computer this year (not actual IRS forms just information for the accountant so he can do the IRS forms).

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    1. That's great! Sabrina's camp forms do have her prior year's info, so there's that. But most of the forms in my life are non-electronic. I am gratefully spared from tax forms because my sister is an accountant who is forced to put up with my lack of receipt retention.

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  4. Thanks for the post Ellen very informative. I know the feeling form after form.... they just keep coming I'll have to keep this in mind

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Thanks for sharing!



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