Holly (the PR director) called me on Wednesday to see if I would share our story on Friday at UVU. I of course agreed and quickly got busy tweeking our story.
This was a sport challenge day at UVU. It was around 30 teams from different companies competing in different challenges, so I was speaking to around 300 people.
During lunch, I was able to get up and tell them how powerful early intervention can be in a family's life. I was able to keep composure but holy moly it was soooooo hot. I was out in the direct heat sweating my guts out.
oh well...
After I concluded my thoughts, I got an extended applause. It was very sweet. I also enjoyed how aware Luke was of me talking about our family. He was very intrigued by my speech.
Good afternoon everyone.
I hope you are enjoying your sport challenges today!
My name is Keisha Knight and I’m proudly here today because
I’m Luke’s mom and Luke has an incredible story.
Luke is my very affectionate, happy, active, 3 year old
boy. Just like any other 3 year old he
has his struggles, but sometimes it is harder for him than most of his peers to
get over those hurdles. Luke was
recently diagnosed with Autism.
We first became aware of Luke's delay in development when we
found ourselves constantly apologizing for Luke's behavior. It got to the point
that we felt we couldn't even go around close extended family for fear we would
have to make excuses for why Luke wasn't connecting with people. We felt like
the only solution at that time to Luke's social and behavioral issues was to
isolate ourselves.
At Luke's 2 year check up, we mentioned our concerns to his pediatrician,
whom we adore. Without any hesitation
his doctor recommended us to Kids On the Move.
We quickly got him signed up and went to all the classes that were
available and received some tools that were very useful in helping Luke make
progress in the development of his communication and social skills.
As we approached Luke's third birthday, we were somewhat
stressed about what was next for him, because he would soon be too old for KOTM
early intervention program. We knew he
needed help, but we were unsure about what would be best for him. Our developmental specialist with KOTM handed
us a flyer with information about their Bridges program and the announcement
about an open house.
My husband and I decided to go to their open house and see
what Bridges was all about. I will never
forget the feeling I had as a mother walking into this school. It felt special. It felt right. This school seemed all about
the kids. That was their focus and
that's what we wanted for Luke.
I came straight home and emailed Laurie, the director of the
Bridges Program, asking for more information and what the chances were of
getting Luke into this program. Within
twenty-four hours we had a meeting scheduled with her. The stars seemed to be
aligning.
Before our meeting, we felt very weighed down as Luke's
parents. There is a lot of information
out there, and we felt extremely overwhelmed and somewhat depressed about our
possible options at that point. We also
felt like lots of people were quick to tell us all of Luke's weaknesses, but
not give us any solutions to help him.
During our meeting with Laurie all of that changed.
I remember getting chills and becoming quite emotional as
she told us she felt like Bridges could help Luke and showed us how they would
do it. It was the first time in Luke's
journey that I felt like someone besides our family was ready to work hard and
help our son.
Luke was registered for their preschool and ABA therapy (an
intense behavior therapy for those that aren’t familiar, don’t worry, I didn’t
know about this until about a year ago) the day of our meeting with Laurie, and
started school that next week. It
couldn’t have worked out more perfectly.
What we have seen since we signed up last September has been
miraculous…
My husband and I prepared ourselves for Luke to take weeks
to adjust to his new regiment and were telling ourselves it is okay if he kicks
and screams about going. We were proven wrong almost immediately. Luke had
adjusted and was loving it within the first week. We credit that to the great
staff at Bridges.
We’ve had a summer break this week, and Luke is constantly
asking me when he gets to go back to school and see his friends.
When we first started ABA therapy, it was very hard to get
Luke to sit calmly at a table and work with him. After going through attending programs, Luke can
sit calmly unassisted and enjoy what we are working on.
Luke started Bridges with a limited vocabulary. I’m talking around 40 or 50 words. I can’t get this kid to be quiet in the car
anymore. Just this week I’ve heard “mom,
what was that?” or “mom, what are you doing?” over a thousand times. I’ve yet
to sick of that little voice discovering his world. I would say his vocabulary has reached over
500 plus words now, and that in less than a year. He’s also becoming very conversational. This is from very hard work and patience put
in by the amazing therapists at Bridges.
Luke wants to be social, he just isn’t sure how. It doesn’t come naturally to him. Bridges takes the time to teach him those
vital skills he needs to thrive on a playground and interact with his peers. Just last weekend we went to a mall and
played at one of those kid places. There
were countless times Luke could have lost it because a kiddo wasn’t acting the
way he maybe wanted them to, but he remained calm and even redirected himself
to a different activity a couple of times.
I so appreciate Bridges teaching him how to redirect himself so he can
remain calm and not feel that his world has been completely shattered in these
everyday situations.
One of my favorite miracles happened shortly after we
started with Bridges. One afternoon Luke
and I were coloring. I wrote "Mommy
loves Luke". Within seconds I was
crying because I watched my little toddler spell and write his own name. I had no idea he could do this. After talking with his teachers, I realized
they had been spelling his name with him every day at school. He now spells his name all the time. Not only his first name, but also his last.
A month ago my husband and I went in to have a meeting about
Luke’s progress. In that meeting we
discussed our frustration with his extreme picky eating and how exciting it
would be to incorporate new foods into his diet. Being the problem solvers and go getters that
the staff is, they set up in home food therapy starting that next week. We are on week 3 of therapy and he’s mastered
his first two new foods. Black beans and
rice. We’ve tried for months to get him
to just try them as Luke’s parents with no success. But with the right tools and support, we’ve
been able to start working through this hurdle.
Just last Thursday was Luke’s school program. It was incredible. I was so impressed with it I wrote an email
to the entire Bridges staff and here is an excerpt:
Dear Bridges Staff,
Today was incredible.
Man alive, I was blown away! I woke up today somewhat nervous about
going to a party with Luke. He doesn't
do well with crowds and a new routine. I
kept trying to tell him we were going to school, but for a party and all of his
friends were going to be there, but as we walked through the main entrance the
"squawk and drop" started. I
was bracing myself for a battle for the next hour.
But once again you saved me...
There you all were with smiles on your faces and happy to
see us. Miss Brittanie instantly stepped
in with the infamous "green skittles" and all was well in Luke's
world. I'll be honest, I've been
somewhat heartbroken watching all of the preschool graduation social media stuff
popping up lately. It is one of those
things I'm learning how to cope with as a mom with a child on the
spectrum. Those milestones that you
wonder will ever come and long for with every fiber in your body. The pessimist inside me figured there was NO
WAY Bridges could pull of a program. I
mean, hello, I couldn't even get Luke to walk calmly to the multi-purpose room.
I was proven very wrong!
Watching those beautiful kids sitting in their chairs with
all of you there supporting them was incredible. I was happier than a clam with that, and then
the dancing. Oh my word, the
dancing. I've never cried over watching
my Luke jump up and dance until today. A year ago, I would have never guessed
he could/would do that in a crowd setting.
I want to thank each and every one of you for being our angels and
setting expectations high for the kiddos.
It would and can be so easy to just expect less of them, but you
don't.
Bridges is one example of the amazing program KOTM has to
offer families. Autism doesn’t just
affect Luke, it affects our entire family.
I can honestly stand here today and tell you that our family dynamic
would be far different than what it is today if we had not done early
intervention with KOTM. KOTM has given
us the tools and optimistic outlook we needed to find joy everyday in our Luke.
I have seen the staff work very hard to make sure every
penny goes towards improving a child’s life.
Luke’s story is just one of the many success stories that come from
KOTM.
KOTM could not be the program it is today without support
from our community. As a mom, I want to thank you for being here today and
showing your support to this incredible program and helping them make a
difference in the lives of children and their families.
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