Westfield mom documents journey with children with autism
Sarah Kernion says the diagnosis reshaped everything she once imagined for her children.
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Sarah Kernion, a Union County mother of three, says she learns to find celebrations and wins in the smallest moments.
Her two youngest children, Milly and Mack, are nonverbal and have been diagnosed with autism. Kernion says the diagnosis reshaped everything she once imagined for her children.
“The foundational shift of what your timeline and wishes are for your kid or any child is so drastically changed when you get a diagnosis of autism and knowing the path is so different,” Kernion said.
That path led Kernion to create “Inchstones,” a social platform documenting her family’s journey raising children with profound autism. Through it, she shares both the good moments and the tough ones, including the difficulty of getting an initial diagnosis.
Milly was just 2 years old when Kernion first sought answers. It took nine months to receive an official autism evaluation and get in front of a developmental pediatrician.
“There’s nothing like being in purgatory with knowing what your child needs, not knowing that you are going to get the diagnosis then to facilitate the care,” said Kernion. “That waiting time is guttural.
Experts say delays like these can have lasting consequences. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention emphasizes that early intervention plays a critical role in helping children with developmental delays build skills that support long-term success.
“The choice of the care becomes a whole long journey itself. It really felt like I was at the base camp of Mount Everest and being told to hurry and wait and that created such a deep anxiety in me.”
Eventually, she enrolled both Milly and Mack at The Uncommon Thread, a nonprofit ABA provider in Stirling.
“Choosing The Uncommon Thread in retrospect is one of the best decisions I made as a mother," she said. “I wanted a place that was going to look at my children for who they were as a whole human. And take a holistic approach to their education and care.”
Kernion is now advocating for change. Autism New Jersey reports that families can wait anywhere from six months to as long as two years for an initial diagnosis. She says the process needs to be much faster.
“When parents have an inner knowing or have gone through the early intervention process by the state and are directed to get in front of developmental pediatricians or behaviorists… that time between being tasked to do so and actually getting in front of that practitioner is removed.”
