MEET AIDEN CARRANZA

Nurse Irenne Carranza shares her nephew's journey of navigating life with a global developmental delay and autism spectrum disorder.

At Sunshine School, we wish to serve every child in our community that we can, including the families of our staff. One child is Aiden Carranza, the nephew of one of our nurses, Irenne. Under our early intervention services, Aiden has been enabled to follow his own path and live his childhood to the fullest.

Aiden joined our early intervention services 2 years ago in 2019 when his family noticed he was falling behind other children. After diagnosing Aiden with global developmental delay* (GDD) and autism spectrum disorder* (ASD), we enrolled him into Early Intervention Day Treatment, where he joined a classroom with diverse needs, along with receiving multiple therapies, including physical, occupational, and speech-language therapy. With his speech therapist, Jason Nordstrom, Aiden has made spectacular progress. Before, he was unable to communicate with his family and ; Aiden now reliably communicates and signals through both words and gestures, finding his own unique voice and becoming independent.

Since his time at Sunshine School, Aiden has begun overcoming many of his hurdles. You can always find him happily singing and enjoying time with his family, especially his dad. He’s even grown an interest in making videos of his toy cars and imagining creatively with his new friends. We are excited to continue serving Aiden on his journey, and we hope to help others like him find their own voices, whatever unique form they may take.

*Global developmental delay (GDD) is a condition in which a child’s development is significantly behind what is considered typical for their age. It affects multiple areas of development, including physical, cognitive, communication, and social skills. Children with GDD might take longer to reach milestones like walking, talking, or interacting with others. There isn’t a single cause for GDD; rather, it can result from a combination of genetic, environmental, and prenatal factors. These might include genetic disorders, birth complications, infections during pregnancy, prematurity, and exposure to toxins. Early intervention, therapy, and support can help children with GDD make progress and reach their developmental goals.

*Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by delays in social communication and social interaction, and repetitive or restricted patterns of behaviors, interests, or activities, which can include hyper- and hyporeactivity to sensory input. Autism is clinically regarded as a spectrum disorder, meaning that it can manifest very differently in each person. For example, some are nonverbal, while others have proficient spoken language. Because of this, there is wide variation in the support needs of people across the autism spectrum.