Molly is joyful
It is hard to imagine that it has been 10 years since the start of Grandview Kids Foundation’s Believe Campaign and that we will be opening the doors to our new Grandview Kids headquarters this Fall! Molly, one of our original Believe Campaign ambassadors, is now 15 years old. While she still exudes the same joy she carried at age five, she has also bloomed, learning in abundance and finding her identity. She loves animals, especially her dog, Tucker, horseback riding, exploring different parts of the world using Google Earth, using her iPad and travelling to new places she has researched. Molly is also an artist who is currently drawing her dream home. She is thorough in her craft, taking inspirational photos wherever she goes as she continues to map out her ideal home.
What started as a journey of uncertainty with an early Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis has led to a beautiful display of love, patience and perseverance. Molly’s lack of communication prior to age two impacted her and her parents’ daily lives as she was unable to communicate her wants and needs, leading to emotional upset. After learning through a friend about Durham Region’s Children’s Treatment Centre, her mom, Erin, was prompted to self-refer their family to Grandview Kids.
Grandview Kids opened a world of new possibilities for Molly’s family. Her parents participated in the parent program “More than Words” to learn skills and techniques to encourage Molly’s speech. Molly also began receiving blocks of speech-language pathology (SLP), but the turning point was during her two-year attendance at Grandview School where she accessed physiotherapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT) and SLP during school hours. With the guidance of Molly’s educators and therapists, they created a speech card binder for her to carry around and use as needed to effectively communicate, which she would use for years to come.
Molly no longer requires the use of the binder or pictures cards to guide her as she has progressed in leaps and bounds. Yet, she still fondly reminisces about her days at Grandview School and the way these tools helped her in those early years. “Grandview has helped me learn social skills, how to have conversations, act in the classroom and how to follow rules,” Molly says proudly.
Although she may require extra time to recall words and needs some assistance in learning the pronunciation of new and challenging words, Molly is not only able to communicate in a functional way, but has also begun advocating for herself when her parents are not around. She continues to attend private SLP sessions and attends Grandview Kids’ ABA classes as she navigates being a teenager in high school. Erin expresses her amazement in Molly for wanting to raise autism awareness this past school year. “Unprompted she told her teacher that she would present to the class. She made her own [PowerPoint] slides, looked information up and created all the content by herself. She even took her binder to school to show everyone how she used to speak and wore her Grandview gear – t-shirt, hat, flag and miniature truck. She stood up in front of people in three classes and spoke!”
Molly will always be a champion for Grandview Kids as it has given her a sense of belonging. She loves participating in all the Grandview Kids events and activities, such as McHappy Day, Halloween and winter holiday events at the Kids Safety Village, and being an ambassador for “ground-breaking” day. She will promote Grandview Kids, cheering it on like her favourite sports team, just as Team Grandview rallied for her over the years.
Molly, along with the rest of the Grandview Kids community, says goodbye to 600 Townline Rd. S. with mixed emotions. She will miss the comforting and familiar art on the walls, the Grandview School classrooms and playground where many happy memories were made, and the therapy rooms where hard, but rewarding, work was done. Molly is also excited for the new Grandview Kids headquarters, where she will “try new things even if they are hard, and eventually discover that we like them,” Erin encourages.
