Meet Mazy.
Meet the little boy behind our organization's drive.
Heart of Autism, formally known as Miles For Mazy, was founded in June of 2013 by Nika Arastoupour and her two best friends, Anishta Premjee and Shannon Ashtiani. Nika's son, Mazy, was diagnosed with Autism at the age of 2 in 2012. Mazy started ABA Therapy, Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy immediately after his diagnosis as well as some dietary changes. Many decades of research have validated treatments based on ABA, Applied Behavior Analysis and that has been Mazy's main area of focus. Awareness, early intervention and intensive therapy have been key in his success. Mazy has been doing 25-40 hours a week of 1:1 Therapy ever since the age of 2. Finally when his speech slowly came in around the age of 4, Mazy started pre-school at St. Philips in Frisco while he continued ABA therapy each afternoon. Embraced and loved by all his peers and teachers there, Mazy has built his social skills and speech in a way that only his peers could model for him. His family strongly believes that no amount of 1:1 therapy could ever give him the opportunities to grow socially and learn from his peers like being mainstreamed at St. Philips did. He is playing on a Basketball League this summer with his classmate friends and is very excited. Today, Mazy can hold a short conversation with you, read any children's book and do basic math. Mazy has always been energetic, very smart, hardworking and a ray of sunshine. He is enrolled to attend Kindergarten in the Fall and we couldn't be more excited for him! Go Mazy!
Mazy's continuous progress is prove that early intervention and extensive therapy does work; however ABA therapy comes at a high hourly rate, not affordable for many families and not covered by most insurance policies. Because of you, our supporters and donors, we have been able to award over 20 therapy grants to underprivileged families touched by autism via our beneficiary Rainbow Kidz, a low-cost, high-therapeutic local therapy center. We strive to do bigger and better year after year thanks to your continuous support.
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