By Donna Cornelius
At first glance, you wouldn’t have noticed anything unusual about a Birmingham school’s Christmas program.
The children were dressed in hand-painted holiday T-shirts and sang songs like “Jingle Bell Rock.” Teachers hovered nearby to prompt forgetful singers. In the audience, parents and grandparents craned their necks, snapped photos and applauded enthusiastically.
But there was something different about this performance.
I was there to cheer on my granddaughter, 5-year-old Elizabeth, as were her parents – my son, Kirk, and his wife, Meg – and my husband.
“You know,” Kirk said to me quietly, “this is the first time Elizabeth has ever been in a program.”
My granddaughter and many of her classmates at Mitchell’s Place have autism spectrum disorder. It’s something I didn’t know much about until Elizabeth was diagnosed with ASD a few years ago. Yes, I’d heard the Autism Speaks public service announcements by celebrities such as Tommy Hilfiger and Toni Braxton. I knew one in 68 children is identified as being “on the spectrum.”
I didn’t know my granddaughter would be one of them.
We first knew something was wrong when Elizabeth, who like most toddlers had begun to say simple words like “balloon” and “ball,” suddenly stopped talking. There were other troubling signs, too, such as a lack of interaction with other children. We told ourselves that kids develop at different paces and that there was no reason to be concerned.
But there was.
After Elizabeth was diagnosed with ASD, Meg immediately began researching ways to help her. She enrolled her in a highly regarded therapy program in Tuscaloosa, where we all live, and in speech therapy at the University of Alabama. These things helped, but Elizabeth needed more.
That’s when we discovered Mitchell’s Place.
I’d heard about the school just off Liberty Parkway. It was started by a mom and dad whose son has autism spectrum disorder. We visited the school and met the director, Sandy Naramore, and some of the teachers. We saw a happy, positive place with lots of smiles – not only from the adults who make it work but from the children who go to school there.
Elizabeth has been at Mitchell’s Place for two years now. We’ve watched her grow from a child with a very limited vocabulary to one who chatters and sings and even tells “knock-knock” jokes. We’ve seen her make her first friend. And we had that special day when she performed in her very first school program.
Autism is not easy. It requires constant vigilance, consistent discipline and endless patience from parents and caregivers. It means you have to let go of what might have been and rejoice in what is.
My heart swells with pride when I see my son and daughter-in-law resolutely and lovingly dealing with the day-to-day challenges that come with having a child with ASD, my husband leaving home every weekday at 6:20 a.m. to drive Elizabeth to Birmingham, and Elizabeth’s Uncle Wade serving on the Autism Society of Alabama’s junior board. I will always be thankful for Mitchell’s Place and the dedicated and caring people there.
And I thank God that Elizabeth is a beautiful, affectionate, social and joyful little girl who loves her family, her dog, her stuffed Peppa Pig, her “Pinkalicious” books and elephants in any form (a good thing when you live in Tuscaloosa).
Elizabeth will be leaving Mitchell’s Place after this school year and mainstreaming into “regular” kindergarten. We pray that the transition isn’t too hard and that she will continue to grow, to learn and, with her great big smile, to light up the world.
She lights up my life every day.
For upcoming Autism Awareness Month activities, see Solving the Puzzle.
