Get to know us
We are the mommy and daddy of Elyza - a cute girl with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with developmental delay, sensory processing difficulties and challenges with communication and speech. We travel the world with Elyza sharing our stories from the uncertainties, challenges, joys, achievements, and queries from Elyza's birth throughout her childhood.
Elyza was formally diagnosed with ASD at the age of 3 years old. Elyza's daddy is a freelancer businessman travelling the world. Elyza's mommy is an international school teacher with a background in information technology (IT), education and psychology.
Elyza
Sharing Elyza's journey with ASD to allow other parents of children with ASD a glimpse of the challenges faced but also to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements.
Daddy
Daddy supports Elyza using his background in sports - especially football, to help Elyza develop her motor skills, and manage her sensory challenges with proprioception and vestibular.
Trystan
Trystan is Elyza's big brother who is an angel and whispers in Elyza's ears. He passed away with Kawasaki disease when Mommy was pregnant with Elyza.
Mommy
Mommy's background in education, IT and psychology supports Elyza to manage everyday struggles and celebrate achievements. Mommy manages the website to share our journey with the world.
Online community
On Facebook we have a strong community of around 650 followers, please follow us to get daily to weekly updates of Elyza's journey. The social platform links to other parents who hold Facebook pages similar to ours exploring and sharing their children's ASD journey. Being connected to a community with others facing similar challenges and understanding the small achievements celebrated has helped. Also, us being a family travelling the world, being connected to others around the globe is an added value.
YouTube
Some videos were uploaded to our YouTube page. YouTube kids is one of Elyza's comfort zone. She has the app installed on her tablet. Elyza has enhanced her vocabulary through the videos she watches on YouTube kids. She repeats a lot of the sentences from the videos - echolalia (repeatedly echoes or mimics words, sounds and sentences), and over time applies them to communicate with the world. Echolalia can support functional speech together with speech and behavioural therapy. Over time, words, sentences and sounds from the YouTube videos have been applied in real life context to support Elyza's communication.