All She Hopes

She loves science, especially astronomy. She loves to play outside. And she loves helping care for her baby brother, Theo. “Amelia is smart, funny and social,” says her mother, Brittany DeJesus. “She likes to be the center of attention.”

In many ways, Amelia is like any other 6-year-old. In some ways, she isn’t. She was diagnosed on the autism spectrum when she was 3. “It was hard getting that diagnosis,” DeJesus says. “As a parent, you have an idea of how you think your child’s future will look. But I’ve learned that it’s not about not reaching that goal — we just reach it in a different way.”

Cleveland Clinic Children’s Lerner School for Autism offers early-childhood and school-age programs, with licensed special educators, behavior analysts, speech/language pathologists and therapists who specialize in ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis). Endowments fund scholarships for students in need — students like Amelia. She looks up to her teachers. She’ll try new foods at lunch. When she isn’t learning math or reading, you might even find her helping to lead a yoga class.

“The school is having a huge impact on her daily life and on her future,” DeJesus says. “We live in a world for typical people. It’s not designed for atypical people and their needs, but it’s getting better. My hope is that Amelia will be as independent as possible. I want her to have all the things that I hope for her and that she hopes for herself.”