Autism center for children takes shape in Austintown

By Elise Franco | July 3, 2011 at 12:01a.m.

Early intervention geared for kids as young as 2

Austintown

Lashell Elsayed never wants a parent to feel as helpless as she did while trying to raise her autistic son.

In 2009, Elsayed opened Expand Your Wings Day Care — the soon-to-be Expand Your Wings Academy — as a care center for children, particularly for those with autism.

The Austintown woman said she struggled for years to find a day-care provider that would take her son Javon, who is now 15 and a sophomore at Austintown Fitch High School.

Elsayed said the autism-based centers had long waiting lists, and other centers wouldn’t take him because of behavioral problems related to his condition.

“I used to cry every night trying to find a place to put my son,” she said. “I was determined then to open up my own place because I don’t want parents to go through what I went through.”

Expand Your Wings, 132 Westchester Drive, now has 10 children, some with and some without autism, enrolled in the day-care program.

But her vision from the beginning was to open a school that would focus solely on and give early intervention to children with autism. Elsayed said Expand Your Wings will reopen July 11 as a year-round academy for children age 2 to 12 with autism, and though only three children are enrolled, she expects more as the weeks pass.

“The other children who don’t need the autism intervention will slowly be phased out,” she said. “A lot of them are preschool age going into kindergarten, so they won’t need the services anymore anyway.”

Elsayed said she’s put everything she has into making the center successful. She said she still uses her own money to buy supplies and pay rent and utilities.

The children enrolled pay either privately or through the Mahoning County Department of Job and Family Services.

“I started this using my savings,” she said. “Once those other kids leave, the money from JFS leaves too."

In order to fund the new academy, Elsayed is working on obtaining a 501.C3 nonprofit status for her newly formed Expand Your Wings for Autism Inc.

Austintown Trustee David Ditzler said he was one of five people asked to sit on the board. Ditzler said obtaining non-profit status will allow Elsayed to apply for grants and financing to fund the academy.

“Her intent is to try and move in a direction of a school and to get grants or funding like a private school would,” he said. “I think the nonprofit status with the autism approach gives her a better opportunity to secure financing.”

Ditzler said he agreed to sit on the board because he knows several people who have children with autism and sees how the condition impacts their lives.

“I know how difficult it is for these parents and for their children and even the siblings,” he said. “If there’s a way I could help make an impact from that standpoint, I want to.”

Though Ditzler said he sits on several nonprofit boards as a township trustee, he’s involved with Expand Your Wings for personal reasons only.

“I think the autism side of the entire facility, for children and parents of children with autism, is something that’s important and a growing concern,” he said. “I think from that aspect, it’s something we should all try to get involved with.”

Elsayed said she also is planning to use funding through the Ohio Department of Education’s Autism Scholarship Program that will pay $25,000 per enrolled child. The money, paid in quarterly installments, is meant for specialized staff that work one-on-one with the children.

“Right now I have two specialists, and I do intend to hire more,” she said. “As these kids come in, I’ll be able to determine how many I’ll need.”

For more information about Expand Your Wings Academy or Expand Your Wings for Autism Inc., contact Lashell Elsayed at 330-792-8677.