As Autism Awareness Month comes to an end, we leave you with this story from Toni who is the mother of a child with Autism. Toni shared her family’s story with SCO in 2010. This year, we are excited to share an update on her daughter, Tommi Lee, who was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome at age 5. Below are some excerpts from Toni and Tommi Lee’s story as told in 2010, and the update on Tommi Lee follows.

My daughter Tommi Lee is 16 years old. She was diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome when she was five years old. Like most parents, my initial reaction to the diagnosis was denial and confusion. After several days of processing and researching the term Asperger Syndrome, I finally accepted it. Instead of being reactive, I became proactive by seeking an Early Intervention Program. Tommi Lee and I participated in 18 months of learning behavioral modification skills. It was one of the most humbling experiences that I have endured. This gave me an opportunity to see other families and learn from how they handle their problems. Overall, this was a great journey for us.

Our experience in the public and charter schools was not the best. They had a tendency to treat and teach every child as if they had the same needs. As a result, it stifled Tommi Lee’s progression. Tommi Lee needed to be challenged.

I discovered the Autism Scholarship when Tommi Lee was 13. I could not believe how easy it was to complete the application as well as the quick turn around. She has come a long way from being very extremely shy to very sociable. Tommi Lee basically serves as the teacher’s assistant. At her new school, the focus is on the child’s strengths vs. their deficits. Tommi Lee excels in writing, computer, and helping the other students.

I’m very proud to say that I am inspired by Tommi Lee, and I believe that she will continue to develop more skills and live a happy fulfilling life.

UPDATE
Recently, we asked Toni to share an update on how Tommi Lee is doing and how the Ohio Autism Scholarship continues to impact their family. She was happy to report that Tommi Lee is making great progress socially. She is in a school that is not over-stimulating, and her teachers are experts in working with students who have Autism. Toni says that she strongly encourages parents of children with Autism to consider applying for the Ohio Autism Scholarship so that they can have access to more choices for their child’s education.

We are thrilled to hear that Tommi Lee is continuing to make progress. Thank you for the update, Toni!

April is Autism Awareness Month! All month long, we will feature success stories from families who use the Ohio Autism Scholarship. If you would like to share your story, email us at info@scohio.org.

Below we feature quotes from parents of Autism Scholarship recipients. In their own words, these parents illustrate just how important this scholarship is for their children.

“Our twin boys were diagnosed with autism at age 3. We applied for every type of assistance available and fell through the cracks on all of them except the Autism Scholarship. If it were not for the Autism Scholarship, we believe that our boys would not have gotten the appropriate services they needed and would not be where they are today.”
-Tim & Cathy, parents of Autism Scholarship recipients 

 

“Travis couldn’t communicate and was basically helpless as far as his self-help skills were concerned. We heard about the Autism Scholarship and since then we have seen Travis advance in areas we never thought possible.”
-Patrick, parent of an Autism Scholarship recipient

 

“Benjamin is enrolled in an all-day mainstream kindergarten program…all while receiving his autism intervention services. Our dreams for our son, once shattered, are being slowly pieced back together.”
-Lisa, parent of an Autism Scholarship recipient

April is Autism Awareness Month! All month long, we will feature success stories from families who use the Ohio Autism Scholarship. If you would like to share your story, email us at info@scohio.org.

We originally featured Pam’s story in our Autism Scholarship booklet that contains stories from grateful families across the state. This year, we are excited to provide you an update on her grandson J.J., who was diagnosed with Autism at an early age. Below is Pam and J.J.’s story that originally appeared in our publication, and the update on J.J. follows.

When I first heard the word “autism,” little did I know how it would impact our lives. J.J. is a wonderful blessing that Grandpa and I have raised since birth. When J.J. was a year old, we noticed things weren’t quite “right.” He was not doing things that other babies normally do at his age. He made no sounds, no cooing, no baby babbling, and he didn’t make eye contact. He really seemed like he didn’t want cuddled like most babies. He showed no interest in toys of any kind.

The odd behavior caused us great worry and after much prodding by our pediatrician, he finally sent us to a neurologist at the Cleveland Rainbow Baby and Children’s Hospital. After talking with us, going over medical records and spending 45 minutes of intense 1-on-1 with J.J., he asked us a question that I will never forget, “Do you know what autism is?” We answered him that we have heard of it, but really didn’t know much about it. He then pointed at J.J. and stated “You are looking at an autistic child. He displays all the symptoms of classic autism.”

I remember flooding him with questions: “What now? What do we do? How do you fix this?” He went on to tell us J.J. needed extensive behavioral and therapy services at a facility that deals with autistic children. His exact prescription was: “He needs to be at the Rich Center. They will be able to help him.”

The ride home from Cleveland was a long, quiet ride, as my husband and I were just trying to process all that we had just been told. We were concerned as to how we could pay for this autism school. My husband has worked in the same factory for 32 years—we are grandparents on a tight budget. But we were both prepared to get extra jobs to pay for whatever J.J. needed. We prayed a lot, as did all our friends and family.

When I contacted the Rich Center I was told about the Autism Scholarship Program. Are you kidding me? J.J. can get a scholarship to pay for the help he desperately needs? An answer to our prayers!

J.J. is on the scholarship and words cannot ever begin to express our thanks and appreciation. J.J. has come so far! He is receiving the services he needs to excel, and that’s what he is doing! Without this scholarship program, I do not know what we would do, or where we would go to get him the help he needs. It has not only helped J.J., but has helped us learn more about autism. Seeing how they work with him at his school, we are better understanding how to work with him at home.

I used to become very downhearted at the thought that J.J. may always be non-verbal, but after seeing his progress I no longer ask “Will he ever speak?” Now I say “When he speaks he will probably never shut up!” And you know what? That’s okay!

THANK YOU for the Autism Scholarship Program. It is a lifesaver, as it provides hope for J.J.’s future.

UPDATE
We caught up with Pam recently, and she updated us on J.J.’s progress. She tells us that J.J. is doing great! He is currently in kindergarten at The Rich Center, and he should be moving up to first grade soon. He can read and is using a communication device at school. He has even started to speak! J.J. knows his numbers from 1 to 100 and is beginning to do addition and subtraction. Pam says he amazes his teachers. She says she doesn’t know what they would do without the Autism Scholarship.

We are so glad to hear that J.J. is excelling at The Rich Center. Thank you for the update, Pam!

As another Autism Awareness Month comes to an end, we leave you with this video from the Autism Rally that took place in April at the Statehouse.

April is Autism Awareness Month! To help celebrate we will be featuring essays from those who chose to use the Ohio Autism Scholarship to obtain the services their child needs.

“We have a terrific 9 year old son.  He is funny, an excellent artist, very good a sports, a great big brother, and he has Aspserger’s Syndrome.  We noticed he didn’t seem as mature as some of the other children his age, but all kids develop at their own rate so it was no big deal. We did not get the Asperger’s Syndrome diagnosis until he was in the 1st grade.  We started the journey into the world of Special Education.  There were I.E.P meetings, I. A. T. meetings, O.T. meetings, Speech meetings, P.T. meetings, and the list goes on.  We tried to navigate through the system with as much help as we could find.  Our son had been picked on, teased and made fun of.  Our younger son, who is 7, wondered why none of the teachers or students liked his brother.  Even with all of the accommodations we had established he seemed to still struggle.  He just did not seem to fit in with the traditional school setting.   We wanted to send him to a private school but could not afford it.

We were so very happy to learn of the Autism Scholarship.  We could now send him to a school that would work hard to meet his needs.  At Nightingale Montessori they work with a lot of children on the Autism Spectrum.  The program is wonderful.  Our son has just blossomed.  He has lots of friends.  He gets phone calls and hugs from his friends.  He is excited to go to school everyday.  It has been a tremendous change since the previous 4 years of school.  He is excelling and we are so very excited to have him in a place that the teachers and students see him the way that we do;  A smart, funny, loyal and creative young man.

Thank you for the Scholarship.”

-Annisa Younts

April is Autism Awareness Month! To help celebrate we will be featuring essays from those who chose to use the Ohio Autism Scholarship to obtain the services their child needs.

“Our family moved to Ohio the summer our son William turned three.  During our time in Maryland, he had been diagnosed with multiple disabilities.  He had received county services as a toddler and had an IEP.  When we arrived here, my husband and I were informed that our local school district simply was not able to provide the services outlined in that IEP.  We were also informed that in their opinion those special accommodations (like small class size) were actually unnecessary for him.

That was the beginning of our fight for an appropriate education for our son.  In the process, we found that other parents and advocates had gone before us and created a system of redress.  But we also learned that, while we could make the school district provide specific services, no legal action would envision them to see our son’s potential and pursue it whole-heartedly.

We began supplementing his services, and the next summer we withdrew William from the district and transitioned to a completely private education.  We knew we were not giving William everything he needed, but we were doing as much as we could afford.  William was only four at the time, and his future loomed in front of us.  We were sure how we were going to maintain even the amount we were doing.  We could not afford to move to a better district, and we were already depending on the generosity of extended family.

One day the answer came.  At a parent-teacher conference, William’s private school teacher expressed her belief that William would greatly benefit from additional services.  I told her I agreed and explained our financial situation.  Then she told me about the Ohio Autism Scholarship Program.  She said the school was already an Approved Provider, so William could continue to attend there.  The Scholarship would also cover any other services listed in the IEP.  And she kindly offered recommendations on how to get the school district to agree to those services.

At first I was hesitant to reopen negotiations with the school district.  But I found the people at the Dept of Ed, Special Services very helpful.  The Scholarship Application itself was fairly simple.  And the Scholarship Program took a lot of the pressure out of the IEP process because the Approved Providers saw the IEP goals as a bare minimum rather than the sum total of the child’s individual programming.

When we returned to the school district to be evaluated for the new IEP, the speech therapist noticed William’s improved behavior.  She was amazed and said, “I thought that was a part of who he was.”  I was so grateful at that moment to know we would soon have many options of service providers.

The Scholarship has turned out to be as good as it sounded.  William continues to attend his private school and has begun receiving occupational therapy, in-school speech, and in-home tutoring.  His teachers and therapists understand him and know how to bring out his best.  Most of them have decades of experience.  Some of them even specialize in his more rare disabilities.

I have become a much more active member of the treatment team.  For example, I have daily communication with whatever service providers he sees that day.  So when William had some adverse behavioral reactions to the OT treatments, his occupational therapist and I were able to discuss how he was doing before and after each session.  She adjusted the treatments accordingly, found a balance, and added a goal within three sessions.  That saved us valuable treatment time as well as needless grief.  That kind of regular communication also enables me to coordinate communication between services, including the private speech therapist we continue to pay ourselves.

The Ohio Autism Scholarship Program has opened the door to a truly excellent education for our son.  We are so grateful to not be limited to the services and providers in our district but to have the very best in the county at our disposal.  We are grateful for the teachers and therapists who have a vision for our son and his potential.  We are grateful to be allowed to actively participate in the process.  And most of all we are grateful for the amazing progress that William is making.

Back in Maryland, my husband and I heard horror stories of families who moved to Ohio and had to move back because of the lack of services for special needs kids.  But because of the Ohio Autism Scholarship Program, we are convinced that our son is actually receiving a better education now than he would have received if we had not moved to Ohio.”

–Bethany Grover

April is Autism Awareness Month! To help celebrate we will be featuring essays from those who chose to use the Ohio Autism Scholarship to obtain the services their child needs.

Dear School Choice Ohio:

My name is Tracey D. Colvin, I’m a single parent and mother of Quennedy Tore’ Braxton Colvin. Quennedy is four years old and has been diagnosed with autism. He receives the Autism Scholarship and attends school at Cincinnati Children Hospital’s, Kelly O’Leary Center for children with autism in the EIBE program.

Why I initially got Q’s results from his evaluations and autism diagnosis, I have to admit I had never heard of anything like autism spectrum disorder. I was confused and overwhelmed. I didn’t know if he would be capable of ever speaking, learning or living a normal life. Before he was born I could sense in my heart that he would be a gifted and special child but never did I realize the task that was before us.

His primary doctor at Children’s informed me about the funding available through the state of Ohio’s Autism Scholarship to assist with paying for special education programs for kids on the spectrum. At the time, I had not decided if Q would attend a public school. It only took one visit to the school in question to know it was not for him. I knew he needed more one on one attention, in a small setting with less children and distractions than a regular public school program provided.

Those are the small but very important things that Q has been blessed with by the Autism Scholarship. Because of the scholarship, he is in a classroom and is being educated. He has become more verbal and is communicating his wants and needs to his family and peers. This causes less frustration for him. He is potty trained, can count to ten and comprehends extremely well. Q is in a comfortable place where the staff understands how to assist him rather his having a good or bad day. As he continues to progress, I can’t thank you all enough for being understanding to what the children of Ohio with autism need in order to grow, learn and hopefully someday become successful, independent adults.

Sincerely,

Ms. Tracey D. Colvin