Walk for Autism Stories

Commemorative Signs

Recognize a friend or loved one on the spectrum! $100 will honor your loved one on a commemorative sign. The sign can include photos and words of encouragement for them or a special message about them from you. All signs will have the ASA-NV & Walk for Autism logos and the date of the walk. These signs will be placed along the walk route for all to see and are yours to keep after the Walk. Contact us at (703)859-7777 or [email protected] to place your order for a sign. View Sample Sign here

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Walk for Autism Stories

Autism is a neurological disorder that effects the areas of the brain that deal with communication and social interaction. It is a spectrum disorder, meaning that there are a wide variety of symptoms and levels of severity. Today 1 in 166 children born in the United States will be diagnosed with autism. It is growing at an epidemic rate. It is 4 times more likely in boy that girls. Currently there is no known cause or cure for autism. There is also no specific medical protocol within mainstream medicine for treatment. The most promising therapies are often not covered by health insurance or provided in the school setting. These therapies can cost tens of thousands of dollars per year. Due to the financial burden on families, most children go without proper treatment. Many families place themselves in serious debt to provide it.

I became a member of the walk shortly after my son was diagnosed with autism. I have two lovely children, Logan (3) and Grace (19 months). My son, Logan was diagnosed with regressive autism at 21 months of age (meaning that he had normal development and then lost all language, communication and social skills). We as a family were devastated. We had just given birth to our daughter when we noticed our son had somehow slipped away from us. See story about our family on http://www.wusatv9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=50634. Immediately after diagnosis I immersed myself in information on autism, trying to find a cause, a cure, a glimmer of hope. I found myself feeling extremely helpless, frustrated and overwhelmed in anguish. We wanted to do the most promising therapies because of the huge stress on early intervention. Experts believe that the earlier children receive appropriate therapy, the higher the possibility of significant improvement. We had read many testimonials of children being recovered from autism using a therapy called, Applied Behavioral Analysis. Although we could not afford this therapy we were determined to help our son and chose to put ourselves in serious credit card debt and beg from family and friends to pay for this promising therapy. This is when I found Walk for Autism, Virginia. This was my glimmer of hope and my family's saving grace. The walk not only provided a scholarship for my son but also provides my family with daily emotional support, autism resources and a helping hand. The group currently consists of 8 women (me being one of them), who aside from their jobs, family commitments and special needs children, put their blood, sweat and tears into this necessary cause. This is the second year of the walk. Last year's walk raised over $25,000 for educational scholarships for children in the Northern VA area with autism. The walk was started by the ambition of one women, Paula Emerson. Here's her story:

One of the many days I was feeling frustrated about being financial unable to give my children what they needed and finding no local resources I was talking with a friend about possible fundraiser ideas. I knew there had to be many other parents like me in Virginia so I started looking for ways to raise autism awareness and raise money to help parents pay for therapies. I found many national fundraiser's for autism research (which is very important) but I wanted to find something that would help parents now.

After much web surfing I came across the Kids Care Connection web site. I contacted Andrea and she told me how to get started. I contacted PWC parents support group many times about any interest in helping with not much success. I talked with Christine and she helped me get the ball rolling with the Prince William County support group. We had a small group of determined and hard working people and we had a great First Annual Walk For Autism-Virginia. Thanks to our families, friends and community support we raised $25k which was all given to area families through educational scholarships for ABA and RDI therapies. And that is what I set out to do help other families be able to give their children the therapies that they need but are too expensive for most to afford on an on going basis. My goal for the future would be to include other therapies such as speech, occupational therapy, Tomatis etc.

Sincerely,
Kolette De La Cruz
Promotional Director
Walk for Autism, VA

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