The Tackling Autism Foundation (TAF) was founded by Scott (a former NFL offensive lineman) and Ashley Jackson to help reduce the cost of autism therapy for families. After their own son, Tyler, was diagnosed with ASD they noticed the extreme uncovered costs of full-time treatment. Scott and Ashley decided to help fill the void. Partnering with different treatment centers, TAF is able to provide valuable reductions in price for families in need. Active RDI parents, Scott and Ashley are helping pave the way for equal access to treatment for families!

Below is an interview by Hannah Gutstein detailing the family’s story as well as the inspiration for TAF! 

Q: Tell me about your family.

Scott: In 2004 we had our son, Tyler. I was in my rookie year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. During my third season, I was picked up mid-season by the Texans. We lived in a hotel in Houston, Texas. Tyler was two and Ashley was pregnant with our second son Joel. Because this was a transitional time and Tyler was our first child, we didn’t start to notice anything really different about him until he was about 18 months and we realized he still wasn’t talking. Right away we put him in speech therapy, and that specialist recommended we do occupational therapy. At that time our physician and everyone around us reassured us that he was fine and that was nothing was wrong. 

Ashley: When he still wasn’t talking at 24 months, as well as developing some behavioral issues, and I was five months pregnant with our second child we were still going back and forth between Florida and Houston. It was really during this critical time for Tyler that we should have been recognizing these things. But, everything was out of sorts so it wasn’t until 2007 when we had our second child, Joel, that we had finally settled down and went to see a pediatrician in Houston. That doctor referred us to a developmental pediatrician and Tyler was diagnosed with PDD/NOS. Initially we didn’t know what to do, and we started looking at our options. We enrolled him in an ABA program in Houston and we started to see significant improvements, although he was still screaming and occasionally vomiting which made it hard for us to do much of anything. 

The following football season Scott was injured, which on the bright side meant we could all spend more time together. At the same time, Tyler had begun talking communicating and interacting and we decided he was ready to enroll at YMCA soccer. One day I was talking to a woman and it happened that her daughter had Autism. She began to tell me about a seminar she had just attended on RDI. 

Together we went to the RDI seminar, and July marked the birth of our third child and exactly one year of RDI. 

Scott and Ashley: With RDI we felt involved with our child’s life for the first time. Before we had struggled to connect with him, as well as dealing with other interventions telling us that we hadn’t acted quickly enough, and that after the first five years our child was doomed. With RDI it felt so much more natural for us, and for Tyler as well. He picked up on the fact that we weren’t imposing things on him; we were just treating him like our son. 

Most of the time when we visit with our consultant, Melanie Smith, we spend 25% of the time talking about Tyler and the rest of the time we spend talking about parenting in general. We have three children, and we are all a family and it’s not fair to treat one child differently because the other children are going to see that. There are the same consequences for everybody, and we are always dealing with new obstacles. Recently, since Tyler was non-verbal for so long, he now he wants to talk it out and he wants to evaluate everything. It can be hard sometimes to tone him down sometimes and talk about what matters. 

Q: What initially drew you to RDI?

Ashley: It was the first time that we participated in a therapy that was teaching us to parent our son. Most therapies tell you need an expert, but in RDI you can become an expert. You have the tools; RDI teaches you how to maximize these tools. It has given me a new approach to parenting. 

Scott: We first met with Dr. Sheely before we went to the parent seminar. We were feeling so much anxiety and at the time we were also nervous about autism because we had heard all of these stories about kids regressing. Through RDI  we learned to stop living in fear. We felt like we got the power back in our court, so to speak. Before we were relying so heavily on professionals. 

Q: How was TAF conceived?

Ashley: We just felt that we had been blessed by Tyler’s therapy and his ABA had been fully covered by insurance. Through our own research and time spent talking to parents we heard many stories about how kids couldn’t afford therapy. 

Scott: In January we launched TAF, with our first event a golf tournament to help the Threshold Center in Orlando. I played with the Buccaneers there and Ashley’s family also lives there. We found a lot of volunteers and people to give back. Our next event was here in Houston and we helped support a family through a dinner and an auction, that event was great because we were able to give back to a child

Q: What about the future of TAF?

Scott: We have been blown away by the response from individuals and corporations. We are hoping to grow so we can have an impact on more children’s lives. Our grants go directly to treatment centers and we ask they go strictly to people’s therapy costs. We have always been active in the community, and I participated in a lot of events where most of the money wasn’t going to actual families but instead to awareness and research which of course are really important. But until those things are figured out, we wanted to establish something where we could see exactly where the money was going. We have a motto that says – “While others look for a cure, we help families cope.” As parents to Tyler, we know what it takes raise an amazing child and it is our goal to help families just like ours. 

We hope to set up scholarships in the future, but for the moment we write grants. So interested families need to contact the treatment centers that we are aligned with, parents can find a list of those centers at www.tacklingautism.org. We have found what really works for us and each child is so different that it is a personal decision that must be made by each family. We want to let parents know that there are resources out there for them. We hope TAF will substantially affect a lot of people. 

Q: Future events?

Scott: In January we are having an event with Whole Foods. There are tours throughout the store, to help people shop for gluten free/casin free menu items. There will also be, cooking classes and menu items, give away items. It should be fun and educational for all of the families interested in it 

We also have a program called “Time-Out-for-Two” where several restaurants have offered a night of fine dining so that parents can go out while we provide the childcare. Part of focusing on the family is having perspective on where your relationship fits. We not only want to knock down therapy costs but also be there to support families and provide hope. This experience has been a real educational process for us that we’ve enjoyed. It has made me look at myself differently and how I can be dynamic and flexible and how I’m co-regulating and what I’m doing. I've learned that and I wanted to teach that to my kids. Those are things I’ve taken away from RDI and it has helped the way I interpret the world and you can see a real change in my whole family. 

Q: Any recent special stories you can recall about Tyler?

Ashley: The other day we told Tyler that Christmas was coming. He literally replayed how we spent the entire day last year.  He knew every present he got. After that conversation we learned that we have to teach him that Christmas is an idea that it is more than the presents we give to each other, and every year he is not always going to get a bicycle and blocks and coloring books. Last year when we had a Christmas tree with lights and everything, we had forgotten that when he has a new experience and watches a new show he wants it to be that way always. We want to generalize this experience. 

Scott: But his excitement is unbelievable, it is really infections with all the kids. Through RDI we have seen him start to understand his feelings instead of becoming emotionally deregulated and screaming. Today when I put him in timeout and I asked him how he was, he said “you made me so  so sad.” It is monumental that Tyler can recognize and truly share his feelings and his emotions. 

For further information on future events please go to: www.tacklingautism.org.