"I'll be excited and happy - and pretty much relieved knowing I'm going to get help with the kids," says Lisa, 32.
The Mathewses are among thousands of U.S. military families whose children have medical conditions requiring special services and care. The Pentagon estimates that 115,000 to 175,000 out of about two million children of service members have special needs, a percentage that generally mirrors the nation at-large.
Among military families, though, there is a higher percentage of children with conditions that require more complicated and costly treatments, says Heather Hebdon, director of a federally funded nonprofit called Specialized Training of Military Parents, which helps families navigate bureaucracies to get services for disabled kids.
Hebdon says she is unaware of a conclusive explanation for why that is so, though there might be a pragmatic reason. "The benefits are good," Hebdon says.
Parents often join military service to get better health insurance for their families through the military's benefits program, TRICARE, which can offer a better option than the care available to them in the civilian world, she says.
That works out well for the Mathewses and their kids: Tyler, 8; Theresa, 7; Shawn, 6; Cheyanne, 5, and Anthony, 4. It's especially helpful for Tyler, Shawn and Cheyanne, whose special needs are summed up on medical evaluation forms:
Shawn has attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, is very easily frustrated, and rises to anger quickly.
Cheyanne has an autistic spectrum disorder, including delayed social and play skills.
Tyler's autism is more severe than Cheyanne's. He has "impaired communication skills, delayed social skills and sensory sensitivities."
The condition of firstborn Tyler did not dissuade them from having more children. "I always wanted a big family," says Lisa, a regular at her Catholic church.
