The Therapist that Changed Our Lives

We have been blessed with literally dozens of amazing people since starting this special needs journey.

They all love my son and want him to succeed as much as I do. But for today I want to say how thankful I am that Kayli came into our lives.

Max was six months in to his Autism diagnosis, after years of trying to get answers. We were four months into ABA therapy.

Our family was going through so many changes. We bought our first home, Max was transitioning to full day kindergarten at a new school and we were losing Max’s first ABA, Kendall.

This was so hard for me because he and Max hit it off immediately and since Max doesn’t have any of his own real friends, they were buddies.

I was so sad to lose that presence in our home for Max. Kendall assured us he knew our new ABA Kayli very well and she would be a good fit.

He was right. She was a perfect fit for our family.

She came in our lives like a light after all these major changes.

She and Max immediately bonded. She was also great with my then 1.5 year old daughter, Samantha.

She really understood Max, his preferred activities, his triggers and the two loved each other a lot. Not only was she perfect for Max, she was part of the family.

She was a huge help for me, when we went to stores or appointments she anticipated my needs to make things go as smoothly as possible. Not only with Max but with Sam too. She was so fun and positive and had a great sense of humor.

She came everywhere with us, spend 5 days a week in our home. She listened to me when I had sad days, she made my daughter feel included in Max’s therapy and she made all of us laugh.

The ABA world is forever changing so I knew we wouldn’t have her forever. I did though hope we’d be lucky enough to have her with Max for a couple of years. But one day she informed me she was moving to California! We live in New England so this was quite a shock for me.

I was so happy for her new opportunity and I was so sad for the loss to our family. It was a huge loss. Hard because Max is nonverbal and doesn’t understand goodbyes, hard for my daughter who grew to love her so much too and hard for me.

I lost a very good friend of mine.

It’s been just about a year since she left. We still are in contact, I text her Max updates and she sends videos so the kids can see her face.

She visits us when she comes home. This summer she came over on a Friday. When she was here we always called Friday’s “Fun Friday”, so it was fitting.

I didn’t tell the kids she was coming. I told them we had a surprise visitor.

It was like she never left. When Max saw her, he hugged her and walked to the seat at the table where the two of them used to do their “work.”

It was like she never left. We went to one of our favorite splash parks, had dinner and just all hung out.

Today, we are doing well here. Max’s new therapist is great too. Max has had amazing progress this year. But I still miss her, daily. Samantha still asks about her.

Selfishly, I hope she will move back this way one day. Not to be our therapist again but so we can see her more frequently. She is a wonderful young woman, amazing with kids and I hope she will choose a career in this field.

Even though she was here only one year, she changed all of our lives forever.

Written by, Ashlee Adams

Ashlee is medical coder and mother to Max, a 7 year old with nonverbal Autism and Cerebral Palsy and Samantha, a smart and sassy 3 year old girl.

(Editor’s Note: This article was provided by Ashlee Adams and is part of Cooper’s, ‘I’m Thankful For You’ Campaign.)

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