Pay It Forward

Our youngest son, Luke, was recently diagnosed with autism. Luke has had some issues socially since he was a toddler and though we suspected he might be mildly autistic, Luke's doctor was hesitant to diagnose him until he was older. We brought him to a psychologist soon after he turned 6 and she finally confirmed Luke has high-functioning autism.

Luke's psychologist is wonderful and she's provided us with a lot of information and support, but we still do a lot of research on our own. We're still very new to this and want to be as informed as we can to provide Luke with the best tools and environment to feel happy, safe, accepted, and loved. I found your page last week (thank you google) and it has been such a great resource for us, I wanted to reach out and personally thank you.

I also wanted to share another Autism page we found at: https://www.wristbandexpress.com/content/a-guide-to-autism-awareness-through-wristbands. It has a lot of information and a variety of resources that have been really helpful for our family.

SARA and ROBERT BARNES

My son Balazs Darvai (4) has been in the FSU ECAP program for almost 3 years. It has been a tremendous help for him and for us as the parents. Because of the fact that the therapists were able to start the ABA program early enough with Balazs, it made him ready to perform on the school evaluation test, which qualified him to get into the public school system. Till this day Balazs is constantly developing, started to talk and he is now potty trained. We could thank all this to the Butchikas Foundation. Without them it would have been impossible for us to afford all the expenses. Thank you so, so much. Early intervention is the key and in our case it was a tremendous help!

ZSUZSANNA, ROBERT & KRISTOF DARVAI

Words of 'thank you' are just not enough to describe my gratitude toward the Butchikas family for their continous dedication to helping children with Autism. Because of the scholarship, my son receives invaluable therapy that has completely changed the dynamics of his life, and the life of my family. My friends have asked me several times where I think my son would be now, if he had not received the therapy he gets from the Butchikas scholarship. A chill of fear wraps around me at that thought, and I tell them... I can't even imagine the idea. Because of the Butchikas family, I don't have to live with that fear. And the only appropriate words to say, come from my 4 year old son, who now, because of the therapy, can say... "Thank you!"

With utmost sincerity,

SABRA ROBERTS

How has the Butchikas scholarship helped my child? We found out our son had autism when he was a little over two years old. After much research we learned tha ABA therapy (applied behavior analysis) was one of the most effective treatments for children affected by this disease. We also learned very quickly that this therapy was not covered by our insurance. To be most effective a regiment of 20 hours a week was recommended. We would never have been able to pay for the therapy out of pocket and were absolutely thrilled to find out we were a recipient of the scholarship. When we began almost 4 years ago, our son was not verbal, not eating, constantly screaming, and barely sleeping. Today he is in a typical kindergarten class with an ABA aide for only 30 minutes of the day, speaking in full sentences, eating a variety of food and sleeping through the night. Without the Butchikas scholarship help for ABA and speech therapies, I don't know where we would be today. We thank God for their generosity.

JULIE HIGBY

This isn't the first letter I have written to you, but it is one that is very important to me. My son Zachary has been in ABA therapy now for a little over 3 years. Up until the last few months he was enabled the opportunity by the generous gift your family gives to FSU and to this community, through the ECAP program. I moved back here from Kentucky after receiving his diagnosis of Autism when Zachary was three years old, as there was very little offered in Kentucky as far as programs for treatment. At that time and the age of 3, Zachary was functioning on a 3 to 6 month old level. Now he is at 3 to 4 years old level. This is a tremendous progress, and he is growing by leaps and bounds. Every little thing he does makes mo so excited I cannot even put it into words. I owe the biggest part of this to the ECAP program. The have worked miracles with Zach. The schools here are wonderful, but I believe he wouldn't be as far along if it weren't for the scholarship money you provide for these children. I have waited tables for 16 years, and the money is seasonal; what you make during the season must carry you financially for the year. As a single mother of two children, I made it work, but there would have been no way that I could have afforded to have paid for Zach'c therapy myself. You will never know how extremely grateful I am. Your doing this for complete strangers is remarkable and something you don't see every day. I have also had the pleasure in the past of meeting your daughter, Alison. I worked at Applebee's for awhile and she would come in there and we would talk. She would share stories about your other daughter with so much love and pride. It is nice to see that type of compassion in people. She reflected the person you must be.

As I said before, Zachary still receives therapy, but it was picked up by Tri Care now. So hopefully someone else may benefit from your services as well. I wish there was someway I could repay you for the years on my son's life you have given me. There's no possible way you could put a value on that. It is a gift that is priceless, but I wanted to give you something. I know it may sound silly, but I hope you like it. It's the first story I have written of a group of children's books for families of kids with special needs. I haven't shared this with anyone other than my kids and family, and a few close friends. I wrote it in such a way that if you have a child with special needs the meaning you will pick up on; if not, it's just a fun story. I know your kids are grown, and that may seem silly, but I am hoping maybe it will just put a smile on your face, like you have put on mine and my family's. I use to write all the time, but stopped. Watching my children grow and blossom and my daughter interact with my son, and seeing how much he was growing gave me inspiration to write again. So I hope maybe this will make you smile. Once again, thank you for all you have done and the precious gift you have given us. May God bless you and your family.

Sincerely

AMANDA MUNIZ

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