“Brannan sent Katie to the school therapist, once. She hasn’t seen any other therapist, or a therapist trained to deal with PTSD”

This is a factual claim because it stated that she has not seen a therapist.

“—Brannan knows what a difference that makes, since the volunteer therapist she tried briefly herself spent more time asking her to explain a “bad PTSD day” than how Caleb’s symptoms were affecting the family.”

This is an evaluative claim because it is focusing on the explanation of PTSD versus how it is affecting the family.

“When I visited, Katie was not covered by the VA under Caleb’s disability; actually, she wasn’t covered by any insurance at all half the time, since the Vineses aren’t poor enough for subsidized health care and the Blue Cross gap insurance maxes out at six months a year.” 

This is a factual claim because it is stating the policy of the insurance situation as well as the Blue Cross gap insurance.

“She’s never been diagnosed with anything, and Brannan prefers it that way. “I’m not for taking her somewhere and getting her labeled. I’d rather work on it in softer ways,” like lots of talks about coping skills, and an art class where she can express her feelings, “until we have to. And I’m hoping we won’t have to.” 

This is a recommendation claim because she is hoping that she can use alternative options instead of getting her child diagnosed and labeled by a doctor.

“Certainly she seems better than some other PTSD vets’ kids Brannan knows, who scream and sob and rock back and forth at the sound of a single loud noise, or who try to commit suicide even before they’re out of middle school.”

This is an analogy claim because they are comparing her to other kids who also suffer from PTSD. The way she is comparing her tho is not in a similar way , instead she is saying that her doctor is the better child among the ones she knows that have PTSD.

 “Caleb spends enough time worrying that he’s messing up his kid without a doctor saying so.”

This is an evaluative claim because Caleb is judging himself regarding messing his kid up. Caleb feels like the stuff he deals with within himself has an affect on his child.

“Brannan is a force of keeping her family together. She sleeps a maximum of five hours a night, keeps herself going with fast food and energy drinks, gets Katie to and from school and to tap dance and art, where Katie produces some startlingly impressive canvases, bright swirling shapes bisected by and intersected with other swaths of color, bold, intricate.”

I’m not sure what type of claim this would be.

 “That’s typical parent stuff, but Brannan also keeps Caleb on his regimen of 12 pills—antidepressants, anti-anxiety, sleep aids, pain meds, nerve meds, stomach meds—plus weekly therapy, and sometimes weekly physical therapy for a cartilage-lacking knee and the several disintegrating disks in his spine, products of the degenerative joint disease lots of guys are coming back with maybe from enduring all the bomb blasts, and speech therapy for the TBI, and continuing tests for a cyst in his chest and his 48-percent-functional lungs. “

This is a quantitative claim because it is describing specific measurements regarding Caleb’s medication that he takes weekly.

“She used the skills she learned as an assistant to a state Supreme Court justice and running a small newspaper to navigate Caleb’s maze of paperwork with the VA, and the paperwork for the bankruptcy they had to declare while they were waiting years for his disability benefits to come through.”

This is a factual claim because she is using what she learned from a previous job to help her currently. Also, bankruptcy is a serious thing which means the statement about it is true making it a factual claim as well.

“She also works for the VA now, essentially, having been—after a good deal more complicated paperwork, visits, and assessments—enrolled in its new caregiver program, which can pay spouses or other family members of disabled vets who have to take care of them full time, in Brannan’s case $400 a week.”

I’m not sure what type of claim this would be either.