Built from the inside out.
I have four kids. At least two of them are neurodivergent, and we suspect all four may be in some way. Our second oldest, Thomas, is six and autistic, level 2. From early on he missed milestones our pediatrician kept telling us not to worry about. He started walking at 20 months. Verbalizing his needs came much later. We were told repeatedly he was a young boy and would catch up. My wife just knew something was different. We pushed until we finally got off the waitlist for an autism evaluation.
The day we got his diagnosis, in the spring of 2023, was one of the hardest of our lives. What followed were years of sleep disruptions, 3am wake-ups became the rule not the exception, sensory battles around food and texture, and meltdowns we could not explain or predict. We were often running on no sleep, reacting to behaviors Thomas could not control. Looking back, he must have felt so alone.
One evening he lay on my chest after a particularly hard meltdown, listening to calming music. In that moment, when I was his safe place, it hit me that we needed to start understanding his world, not just surviving it. There was something empowering in that feeling, but also real grief. Grief for the times we got it wrong before we understood.
Thomas was in ABA four days a week. My weekly calls with his BCBA would start the same way every time: foggy memories, whatever had happened most recently, and an overwhelming feeling of please help us with no coherent picture of the week to offer. That helplessness, and the deep need to truly understand our son, is what led me to build DayBraid.
