About Brady

Our son Brady was diagnosed with autism shortly after his second birthday. He didn’t walk until the week before his second birthday. He was nonverbal until he was almost 3 years old. His tantrums were uncontrollable. His obsessions and rigidity brought about extreme frustration. His flapping was and still is hard to control. When we received Brady’s diagnosis, it was very very difficult on us. Knowing that Brady was having challenges, we had been researching Autism, so when he was diagnosed we took immediate action. All books repeatedly mentioned the importance of early intervention. We jumped right in to do whatever we could to bring Brady out of his own world, monopolize on his strengths, and tackle his challenges. Since he was diagnosed about nine years ago (Brady is now 11), Brady has spent thousands of hours in physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and ABA therapy with the ongoing support of the Nationwide Columbus Children's Autism Center. Brady has attended a pre-school for children with developmental delays, he has attended summer ‘buddy camps’ for children with autism. He has had his therapists come into his daycare, classroom, and "Kids Club" and into our home frequently to assist with his progress, specifically in social situations.

Brady has shown fabulous progress and has just completed the 5th grade at Grandview Heights public schools. Brady has done really well in this transition and is doing well academically and continues to get better socially - which is and will continue to be his greatest challenge.  Brady loves playing soccer, baseball, and basketball with his friends. He also loves video games and movies, as most kids do. Brady has autism but autism does not define him. In fact, 90% of the time you probably would not know he has autism. He is a very special, loving boy. While Brady has made a lot of progress, we realize that autism is a life long disability. There continue to be many challenges Brady and all who know him face on a daily basis. The unknowns of the future are scary, but the progress that he has made continues to bring us hope.

We realize we are very fortunate. Not many autistic children are lucky enough to get an early diagnosis or receive early intervention. Even if they do – there is no guarantee that early intervention will produce the results that we have been fortunate enough to see in Brady. We have a great support group of therapists and a great group of family and friends that have been instrumental in Brady’s progress. Brady’s improvement has been exceptional and we look for more great things from him in the future.