My husband, Ryne, and I have three children. Our middle daughter, Ellis, is almost three and will be attending preschool after her birthday as a “nontypical” student. Ellis was diagnosed with Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder when she was 2 years and 7 months old. She has Echolalia, sensory processing challenges, rigid thinking, repetitive behaviors, emotional dysregulation, attention deficits, and lacking communication skills as they pertain to carrying conversation.
A lot of people ask me to identify Ellis’s first signs of autism or “what was the first red flag?”. I have to be honest. For us, this was a gradual realization. Ellis never missed any milestones, nor were any of her behaviors out of the norm. At 12 months, her speech was SEMI delayed, so she received 4 months of Zoom speech therapy through our county’s Help Me Grow program. But up until about a year and a half, I cannot remember a single thing that would have hinted at autism. At some point after she was a year and a half everything just became difficult. As awful as it feels to admit as her mother, for a long time I simply thought she was more difficult.
In the fall of 2021, I had our third baby and kept all three children home with me for maternity leave. Things with Ellis were manageable, but they were no where close to perfect. I remember one night in October my husband and I took all of the kids to a restaurant. Ellis was bouncing off the walls. It was so embarrassing and frustrating. After that, I really started trying to figure out what was going on.
Things continued to snow ball with Ellis’s behaviors, so by Christmas break- I was ready to call Help Me Grow. Ellis was back on the Help Me Grow caseload by that January and we have been working with them ever since. In between working with Help Me Grow and waiting for our pediatrician to get on board, Ellis was also evaluated by a private occupational therapist and found to have sensory processing concerns. She is currently receiving OT once a week. After a few rounds with our pediatrician, she finally put in a referral to a neurologist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
That story is even longer, but long story short- Ellis was evaluated for three hours by two psychologists and they diagnosed her with Level 1 ASD.
I always feel so much inner conflict when sharing about Ellis and her diagnosis. As a former teacher and mom who genuinely wants her child understood- I always feel the need to share all of the areas in which Ellis requires support. I often feel like when people hear level 1, they automatically think “that’s not bad!”. But Ellis’s autism does affect her daily life in ways that are much harder than a neurotypical child.
But on the flip side- Ellis has so many strengths! Ellis is hilarious and brave. She is flexible and has an intense love for dressing up. She gives the best hugs and she is so, so smart!
If it wasn’t for Ellis, I wouldn’t be the mom I am today and I wouldn’t be ready to serve our community. I owe it all to her. I love ya, girl!
