Autism Acceptance Month with Izzi Early Education

As April’s Autism Acceptance Month comes to a close, we wanted to highlight our Izzi Early Education staff and family stories working with students on the spectrum. (Contribution by Development and Marketing Intern Jonathan Oei)

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I have a success story to tell that is truly gratifying as a teacher and brought a lot of joy to the family of this child. Last school year, this student rarely spoke other than an occasional “no”. Didn’t interact with the other children. But this year he has made more progress than I could have imagined. At the beginning of the year when his mom came to pick him up, he yelled “Mommy”!

It snowballed from there. He now interacts with the other children, calls their names, follows the classroom schedule, sings the songs we sing as a class, and sometimes even says what’s happening next! He knows the alphabet, counts, and knows shapes and colors. He names all the animals in a stamp collection we have in the class that consists of about 30 stamps. I thought he wouldn’t know a flamingo or manta ray, but he did.

I attribute his success to the therapy he receives, his family, and the teachers in our classroom. This collaborative effort among us all has helped him grow, and it’s beautiful to see.

Brenda Alvarez, Assistant Teacher at Izzi at Fair Oaks

Here are some of the visual cues that we use in the classroom. These tools were primarily used for children with special needs in the early years of inclusion. However, we found that using these tools in preschool helped all the children, not just the children on the spectrum or children with special needs.

The success in our classroom is primarily because we have used some of the tools like the First-Then Cards, the Handy Talker, and the Interactive Visual Schedule.

All children can be successful if we use the tools meant to include all children of abilities.

John Fernandez, Special Projects and Teacher at Izzi at Ravenswood

Izzi has been incredibly important to us. It's been a cornerstone for both my daughter, Esse (pronounced “essie,” and me. A couple of years ago, I found myself being a single father with a little girl who is on the autism spectrum. It made working very difficult, but I knew that I needed to focus on Esse especially at a critical stage of child development. I wanted to make sure that she was going to school or at least in an environment that would enable her to be comfortable in the outside world and to interact with others her own age as well as adults. I didn't want her to be isolated, I didn’t want her not to be able to experience community, peers, play and the experiences that are important for every child.. The teachers have been very caring and loving to her in a way you can feel it. Also, the young students have been amazingly welcoming to her, making her feel like she’s a part of the classroom. It has made such a huge difference in her and how she is in the outside world.

Esse is also in a special needs Pre-K program in her school district which has been good too, and the two schools complement each other. That said, Izzi is where she started her education and I think that helped her with Pre-K. Izzi really feels like a starting point and home base. It has allowed me to work at least part-time. It's also a place where I feel good about leaving my daughter for a while during the day so I can make a living. It's also been incredibly important for me, they've been very welcoming to me as well as my daughter. I’m now a Parent Ambassador, actively engaged with the Father’s Cafe, which is yet another wonderful program Izzi has provided. I feel like I am a welcome part of the Izzi community. So not only have they been wonderfully welcoming to my daughter, but they’ve also been to me as well

She's much more comfortable now being among people. She’s moderate to severe on the autism spectrum, so she has some challenges, but she's done amazingly with all this support.. They meet her where she is and treat her as the sweet little girl she is and not just an autistic child. It's also important that she's in a special needs pre-k, but I think it's equally important that she’s with kids who are not special needs too. She spends time with both neurotypical and neurodiverse kiddos, so has a better exposure to how the world actually is. Crucially, the exposure to a neurotypical classroom is a loving, inclusive, welcoming environment. There are probably environments that would not be good. It's a special place that would be able to take a kid who has some challenges and put her in an environment where she feels welcomed even if it’s not dedicated to someone who has special needs. Many times when I bring her to class the other kids always enthusiastically say “Hi Esse!”. It’s heartwarming as a parent, They genuinely seem to care and like her. She’s affectionate with people and I think she’s a sweet person, but it can be difficult for her to interact with people so the fact that kids her own age are making her feel cared about really helps. I think with her experiences with Izzi, she’s much, much better prepared for the future.”

Hunter Whitney, Parent at Izzi at Lakewood

I hope this blog shares some understanding of how our program has helped students with ASD. Thank you to John, Brenda, and Hunter for participating and letting me share your stories!