Joni Garcia: Former Westview Parent 2013-2018

Joni Garcia: Former Westview Parent 2013-2018

Our family’s journey began six years before we found Westview. My husband, Ray, and I had plans for our family. We wanted several kids close in age, and we knew our family was going to be different and special: we were going to have all girls. Ray and I both come from families with many boys, and we knew something different was in store. So, we got married. And, we quickly had three beautiful, healthy, amazing... boys! While we did not get the prediction of daughters right, we were spot on with different and special.

All three of our amazing boys have Autism and, between them, ADHD, Anxiety, Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, and Giftedness. Yup, we nailed different and special, for sure. Our middle son is Grayson. Grayson was a healthy, happy, mild-mannered baby who met all his early developmental milestones. One of our favorite developmental stages was when he was learning to talk. Grayson did the typical cute babbling, nonsense words, but what made his baby jargon so adorable was that he would end each sentence with the perfectly annunciated Madagascar. Not only could he say Madagascar, but he could point to animals that belonged in Madagascar in books like he knew what the word meant. That should have been our first indicator that Grayson was different and special, but we just thought we had the most adorable little world traveling zoologist on our hands. Around the time our youngest son was born, Grayson’s happy but shy demeanor started to change. He went from being the kid who loved listening to music and participating in storytime to becoming easily upset, grumpy, and agitated all the time. Despite interventions, his behavior got worse and worse. He became very picky about food until he almost ate nothing and stopped babbling at us. He even stopped saying Madagascar. Our boy seemed to be slipping away, and we knew he needed to be evaluated. When Grayson’s evaluation was complete, we were told that he had Autism, and his diagnosis was more severe than his brothers’; it felt heavier, sadder. The psychologist said Grayson needed extensive intervention, about 40 hours a week of behavioral interventions, occupational and speech therapy. After a few school tours, Ray and I found ourselves at Westview, and for the first time, we felt like they had a program that fit our family. We wanted it for Grayson; we wanted it for all of us. For the next 4.5 years, he had the most amazing teachers learn to speak his language and teach it to us. They figured out how [Grayson] learned best and what motivated him. They were able to teach him how to express himself without having a complete meltdown. They taught him how to make friends and how to have fun in tough sensory overload situations. They helped him to be brave and feel pride through singing and dancing in Holiday plays. They taught us how to nurture his abilities and comfort his fears. They held our hands when we worried that he was regressing, and they celebrated with us every time he made progress again. They walked with us through every step of his transition into public school.

“Grayson is now thriving in an elementary classroom with 22 typical kids and has joined a local children’s theater” says Joni. “He still has Autism, but because of the kindness, love, and understanding shown to him at The Westview School, Autism is just a piece of who he is and will never hold him back from his endless possibilities again!”