Throughout the month of April, Maple Valley is excited to be hosting a variety of content including recipes, articles, and events in recognition of Autism Awareness Month. It is in that spirit that we are pleased to announce this month’s Customer Corner Feature: Autism Hope Alliance (AHA). We are so inspired by the work that this non-profit is doing to bring hope and education to families dealing with an Autism diagnosis. We asked them to share their moving story with us and they did just that. Read on to see what they said; learn more about the Autism Hope Alliance at their website; follow them on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter; and please consider donating to their cause.

Finding Hope

April is Autism Awareness Month. As ANY on the Autism journey knows, what keeps them all connected is: HOPE. For Autism Hope Alliance President, Kristin Selby-Gonzalez, she knows about the power of HOPE very well.

Meet Jaxson. Jaxson is Kristin’s son. Diagnosed at 2 years old, Kristin was told things by Doctors that no parent should ever have to hear. That Jaxson would never talk, look at her, know the difference from his mother and the chair she was sitting on and other things that made her go numb.

At first, Kristin took the Doctors advice. She went home and grieved the son she had lost. She soon realized that this was not helping her, and especially not helping her son. Kristin decided to roll up her sleeves and begin RESEARCHING. Researching everything she could find out about treating a child with Autism.

AHA President, Kristin Selby-Gonzalez and her son Jaxson

She discovered that was not alone. Other parents were in her exact same shoes. Through countless hours of being on the internet, working with Doctors and connecting with other parents, things started to change.

It was a multi-pronged approach that has helped Jaxson do better and better. He saw substantial improvements from the following: Special Diets, Enzyme Therapy, Biomedical Treatments, Nutritional Supplementation, Far Infared Sauna, Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, Sensory Integration Techniques, Speech Therapy and Cleaning up toxins in his environment. Now almost 16, Jaxson is showing us all that when you have HOPE, anything is possible!

For Autism Awareness Month, we invite you for a glimpse into Kristin’s journey with Jaxson. We’re walking together on this path.

Making A Difference

As President of AHA, Gonzalez and the Autism Hope Alliance team embodies hope for families facing the diagnosis of Autism through education, financial support and volunteerism. AHA is the first non-profit foundation for Autism to emerge from the natural foods industry. To date, the Autism Hope Alliance has helped give education, resources and spread HOPE to over 30,000 families through the lectures they have given and the conference attended!

AHA Team Photo. From L to R: Mary Farah, AHA Social Media Manager; Kristin Selby Gonzalez, AHA President; Tom Bohager, AHA Founder; Dez Martinez, AHA Executive Assistant

AHA is currently gearing up for their annual Autism Hope Summit. An educational event all parents of kiddos on the Autism spectrum will want to attend. Created with the busy parent in mind, the summit is completely online and registration remains open for a limited time.

Thanks to amazing Autism Approved (a trademark created by AHA) partners like Maple Valley, AHA is able to provide hope and help for Autism families today!

Photo of our Autism Approved sign and our pins at our annual partner mixer