Kileah Junker: I was kind of hesitant on having her go somewhere different, just kind of seeing what the school system looks like and being able to come and see what it looks like here and realizing that like our child would be able to have like one-on-one and tailored to her specifically. That kind of gave me that confidence to know that like she was going to be okay.
Samuel Junker: how they’re interacting with them. Like it really made it more personal.
Kileah Junker: When we come here and we meet, we can laugh and we can talk about like our progress. We can talk about what it is like we want to work on. And then it’s like when we’re home, we’re like, “Oh, those simple things, brushing our teeth.
Samuel Junker: just the personal level. We see the same therapist. We’re seeing the same person.” And just having that open line of communication of this is what happened. We did this to fix that. All right, cool. That reminds me, oh, that’s what we’re working on. We’re going to do that better at home.
Kileah Junker: There were things that we were doing that we didn’t even realize was like reinforcing to her behavior. And then just having somebody to be able to critique, but in a positive way. That felt really good.
Samuel Junker: And just to see how they do it, it really gave me a different perspective. I’ve learned more than I thought I would.
Kileah Junker: Definitely learned and noticed a big difference with her personality.
Samuel Junker: I mean the pictures she’s looking at the camera now opposed to her hands were up or her face was blurry because she was moving
Kileah Junker: Initially, she wouldn’t make eye contact with you. She wouldn’t engage with you.
Samuel Junker: I would say a couple months in I’m getting hugs. Uh people that she knows
Kileah Junker: to have your child want to hug you. Just the affection just started becoming more natural. The interactions became more natural. Her wanting to be with her siblings became more natural. And now when we go we go to the circus, we can, you know, go a bunch of different places.
Samuel Junker: She’s understanding social settings
Kileah Junker: Because initially like that was our biggest thing. She didn’t understand the boundaries of what’s safe and what’s not. Anything that doesn’t challenge you will never change you. This choice was hard to make, but I felt like it was a choice that had definitely changed her in so many ways that we couldn’t have even imagined.
Samuel Junker: Anybody whom we come in contact with who has autism, this is the first place we introduce. I can show the growth. There’s nothing that they haven’t seen to be able to help you with something that you think is just impossible to ask of somebody.
Kileah Junker: The love that they have for her, I can’t replace that. And I feel that I don’t have to question if they love my child. I know they do. They celebrate her. Her little victories are their big victories. Just to see my child and see her just be so happy within herself in her quirky ways. I could never say thank you, cause thank you would never be enough, because they have given us peace, and I feel like they’ve given her endless possibilities. So my advice would be to try something different, try something new, because it will definitely pay off. And this, I’m just forever grateful.