We are incredibly excited for the launch of Different Together Soar Together, a brand new website and blog by Kevin and Christine Yu that will feature articles and resources about Down syndrome and autism.
The inspiration for this website started a little over 6 years ago when we welcomed our daughter Isabelle into the world. The journey to the fruition of Different Together Soar Together started when we learned during prenatal exams that Isabelle, better known as Izzy to her family and friends, has Down syndrome.
During Izzy’s first year, we started noticing that she was exhibiting certain behaviors known as stimming. We brought these behaviors to the attention of her doctors and therapists, who attributed it to sensory needs. It wasn’t until her second and third years that we started exploring with doctors and psychologists whether she has autism. Izzy’s team of specialists were puzzled since she only exhibited some signs of autism but didn’t exhibit other common traits. After over a year of meeting many, many specialists, we had enough data to confirm her autism diagnosis.
Over the years, we have become advocates for Izzy and her peers with Down syndrome. We started with our family and close friends, helping educate them about everything we were learning about Down syndrome. We joined local and national Down syndrome interest groups to learn from others while also sharing our own experiences.
Christine, who was a behavioral therapist at the time, coincidentally spent many years working with children with autism and their families. Her education, experience, and knowledge has allowed Kevin to learn more about autism while also benefitting Izzy and her development. Having extensive previous experience with social and educational services for children, including psychological evaluations, individual support plans (ISP), and individual education plans (IEP), just to name a few, Christine knew how to navigate the many nuances of getting Izzy the right services. She has even volunteered her time to help others in understanding the system.
Kevin’s know-how of building websites was the final piece of the puzzle for Different Together Soar Together. With his natural interest in educating and helping others, he recognized that together, we had a unique intersection of knowledge, expertise, and experience to offer others.
We also noticed that almost all parenting blogs out there for Down syndrome and autism come from one voice… either the mom or dad. We wanted to introduce a website and blog that had both voices. Christine could share her personal and professional perspective while Kevin could bring a different element as a dad and someone who doesn’t have any previous experience with social and educational services.
While the focus of this website is not about our daughter, she will be the inspiration behind many of our articles and posts. With this being the very first blog entry, we are still working out many of the details for this website. We are incredibly excited to see how this website will evolve and see where it takes us. Our ultimate hope is that we will be able to reach out and help other parents and families with neurodivergent children and/or loved ones.
We hope you will bookmark this site and visit frequently.
