AMBASSADOR
Sharon Thomas
I am the mother of a son on the Autism Spectrum and an advocate for my son. When my child, Nicholas was a little over 2 years old I started to notice that he did not speak more so, did not communicate his needs. He was not pointing for objects, reaching to be held or making words. Because I was pursuing a master’s degree in speech therapy, I knew that he should have been doing all those things at that point. After speaking with the pediatrician about my concerns, the first thing we did was get Nicholas’ hearing checked to make sure that there was nothing wrong with his hearing. Once it was confirmed that his hearing was intact, the next step was to get an evaluation. This evaluation confirmed autism spectrum disorder. I had another evaluation done for Nicholas and the diagnosis was the same.
After getting two evaluation and that confirmed autism spectrum disorder, the realization hit me that I did not know what to do and where to go for help. The first step, however, was getting out of my own way and recognizing that the objective is to get my child the help he needs to thrive. As I began to research what Autism is and how to support my son, I attended workshop after workshop, I asked questions in each workshop, networked with other parents, and followed up on every lead. Discovering along the way that this process can be exhausting, isolating, daunting, discouraging at times but not hopeless. I learned that children with Autism are awesome! As I learned more, I shared the information that I found out with other caregivers and parents that I met who were going through the same thing. AC Cares came about out of the need in the special needs community for guidance, and support. Now as the ambassador to AC Cares my goal to be a support for families. As an autism mom this is truly a passion project. When I meet other parents of children with special needs, I ask the parent “what’s your child’s superpower?” Each child has a superpower, and our job is to support them as they navigate through learning what that supper power is and how to nurture it. Our team here at AC Cares is here to help you RISE to your super power!
