Asperger's Conversations

More Insurance Rant

In a previous rant about Harvard Pilgrim Health Care I mentioned that they couldn't get my child's age right.  But the worst, of course, is their chronic problem of losing claims and failure to pay reimbursement in a timely manner.  Most recently they lost my claim following an out of town medical procedure and failed three times in a row to send me certain information in the mail ("We don't know why you didn't get that information").  And when they finally did get me the information, it was incorrect.

Now of all things I did (finally) receive payment, only Harvard Pilgrim tells me they overpayed:

Unfortunately due to an inadvertent error you have been issued an over payment of $500.
Because your services were out of network, you are responsible for reaching your 2008 out of network cost sharing.  I apologize for this error as I realize you have experienced many unforeseen delays and prior issues in claims processing.  Please let me know if you have received this payment so thatwe can discuss a resolution to this issue.

This is the response I would like to send them in return:

Dear Harvard Pilgrim Health Care:

When I am "in receipt" of your claim for overpayment ("in receipt" defined as having received your claim followed by having it scanned in to our system, uploaded to our main system, and transferred to my account) I will take up to (or longer in certain circumstances) 30 business days to respond either with payment or an "explanation of payment" (i.e., a notice explaining why I am unable to provide payment at this time).  Please note that New Hampshire law on turnaround time does not include claims pertaining to procedures done out of state, thereby allowing me as much time as I damn well please to provide you with reimbursement or an explanation of payment.  Also, if I lose your claim (which is likely) please note that I will not inform you of that fact and that you will be responsible for resending your request.  If you would like to use my online claim system for monitoring the progress of the processing of your claim, please request a passcode and user ID which I will fail to send you for several weeks.  After that I assure you that I will send a user ID and passcode that does not work.

Of course, I don't really have the nerve to send such a letter.  Hey, is there anyone left in the USA who thinks that the coporate approach to managing healthcare which lops off about 25% of our costs and gives it to corporate robber barons is a good idea?

Stretching classroom boundaries: Web 2.0, Asperger's, Primary Source

An extraordinary event occured this week in my Abnormal Psychology class at the College.  For several years I have required that my students maintain blogs of weekly reflections on class material and commentaries on assigned readings.  Most recently, my students read "Look me in the Eye" by John Elder Robison, which is about is childhood struggles with Asperger's.  Robison found some of my students blogs and posted comments with his own critiques of their critiques.  My student Jenna discovered that Robison had strong words to say about her synopsis in which she took the author to task for what she felt was unreasonable justification of some of his vengeful acts toward others, including a school teacher.  You can read Jenna's blog and click on the "comments" to read Robison's comments.  You can also read Jenna's response to Robison's comments under that section.  After that I discovered that Robison had commented on several of my students blogs, often with tough (would he prefer "direct") words.

These events were fascinating for several reasons:

1. In little Keene, NH a college student can write about a famous author's book and get a response from that author...not by going to the author, but by having the author go to her!  Imagine how exciting it is for a college student to suddenly be dialoguing about a book with the real life author!

2. Jenna was able to experience directly a central issue in the field of Asperger's.  Robison pushing hard the "respect for neurodiversity" model which is being picked up by many of the major patient advocacy groups (e.g., GRASP, AANE) as a contrast to a more traditional "DSM Psychopathology" model.

But that's not all!  The boundaries of the classroom were further expanded by email responses to Robison's comments by others who had read Robison's book, but were not in my class.  For example, here's an excerpt from a former student who caught wind of the blog posting:

Sean came home from class today and told me that John Robison actually responded to a students critique of his book. I have to say that I really enjoyed his book and I was actually somewhat happy that he managed to teach himself to socialize. However, if he actually got upset about someones opinion on his book, then, in my opinion, he has not come as far as he gives himself credit for.

The former student added:

It is pretty cool that he responded to her blog though

These events have jazzed my Abnormal Psychology class (it's like a famous person has entered the room through their blogs) and makes you think of even more possibilties for education.  For example, instead of bringing in famous authors to give one-shot talks at colleges (for large sums of money where few will attend, let alone talk directly with the speaker), why not invite them in to classrooms "virtually" by commenting on student papers or participating in class discussion boards?  Student papers could be posted on Google Documents so that famous writers (who can stay home and communicate on their laptops) can view those documents and post comments (without slipping and falling on the ice on campus which I did today!).

More on Exercise and Learning

I talked about the benefits of exercise in a previous blog entry.  Former ADHD guru John Ratey of Harvard has been touting exercise for learning in general.  He mentions several studies that show that executive functioning, and even grades, improve when school kids have rigorous exercise before class (and the more rigorous, the better).  Here at Keene State College in New Hampshire (USA) we have just moved from a 3-credit to 4-credit model, which means 2-hour classes.  While I try to mix things up (some lecture, some discussion, some in-class writing) I still think it's just too damn long to sit in one spot.  What's really surprising:  Most students remain sitting during the 5-minute "half-time" break! 

Exercise (which optimizes learning and makes people feel good) is a problem of conflicting consequences:  Short-term discomfort for long-term gains.  So, if people tend toward "short-term" or "immediate" consequences, it is up to Professors, teachers, parents, and, yes, therapists, to get our clients, patients, students, children moving.  We can "put them in touch" with the longer term benefits by forcing the issue.  Simply put, insist they move their bodies...for their own good.  Of course, my "Gentle Teaching" friends out there aren't going to like this, since they believe that all decisions must emanate from the person, but I'll disagree.  I say start your class, session, or day with a brisk walk, run, swim, snowshoe...then get on with the business at hand.