“One in 68 children are now diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder nationally — with boys nearly five times more likely than girls to have autism. New Jersey’s numbers are even more startling: one in 45 children, with a boys’ rate of one in 28.” Sherry Sing, owner of Smile Preschool and Nursery as well as new non-profit organization “Smile Preschool for Autism” reached out to me a few weeks ago to help her spread the word on an upcoming event she is having on April 30th. This event is not just a fundraiser, it’s an event to raise awareness for autism. Sherry Singh has a lot of experience dealing with autism as her son is living with it.

I came to meet Sherry at Smile Preschool to hear her story and sat down in her office while the kids in the other room were in a happy slumber (so cute by the way).  As soon as Sherry opened up to me about her life, and her son, I had tears in my eyes. Sherry is so inspiring, she is a fighter, instead of sitting and complaining about the cards she was dealt she stands up and takes action. But the most wonderful thing was hearing her speak about her son, her love is unconditional and she dedicates her life to him and helping children with autism.

How can you help? Come to the event April 30th and educate yourself about autism.

What’s your name? Sherry Singh.

And what do you do? I’m the director of Smile Preschool. Professionally, I’m an RN with my P3 Certification and I did my certification on social work with special needs.

So you own Smile Preschool? I own Smile Preschool and Smile Nursery.

Can you tell me a little more about the preschool? We started building in 1996 and it was officially opened on April 20^th of 1997. The reason why I opened preschool was because of certain circumstances that I went through with my own child having autism. There wasn’t much out there education wise as to what we have now—early prevention, early intervention. I found it very difficult handling my child and trying to go to school and trying to build my career and being a mother at the same time. The school was open for giving back to my community by helping the children in my community who have speech delays, minor behavior issues, special needs, any kind of situation that a child was not able to go to any other program and I wanted to offer that program here and that’s one of the reasons why I opened Smile Preschool.

Being a young mother at the age of twenty-one, I had a lot of struggles because I had a mixed culture marriage even though I was partially Caribbean and my husband was Indian. The word ‘Autism’ and the diagnosis wasn’t out there so I married into a family who had no background about it. I felt like I was a single parent even though I was married. It drove me more to want to educate everyone about Autism and not to make these kids feel that they’re not wanted. They are wanted, I call my son “My smiling angel,” and he made me into the person that I am today.

The parents that come to my school notice that their children are delayed in speech or development. What I tell parents is, “For a young baby, you cannot diagnose a child until the child is two years old.” These kids come into my center and I put them into a normal classroom where they interact. Being in business for twenty years, a child would learn more from another child than they would learn from a teacher. Yes, we implement proper education and discipline but what I have noticed in twenty years—a child would go home and repeat stuff that they heard from another child so kids learn more from each other. After a certain period of time of observing the child, trying to observe the child, giving the child a one on one, my staff, Miss. Amitez is wonderful in that. She was a special Ed teacher before she worked for me and she’s been here for twenty years. She has a family member with Autism also—most of my staff has some family member or connection with Autism. So I feel like it’s drawn to me for some reason.

The hardest part for me is to tell a parent that I have given it my all and it’s time for you to speak to the child study team or it’s time for you to speak to a pediatrician about it. I know the feeling from when I was told when my son was four years old.

Jersey City made me who I am, education wise, I’ve grown as a business woman. I came out of a shell that I was locked into and could do anything for myself or stand up for my own life or my own kids, and I want to give back to my city.

And you have an event coming up right? April 30^th is the business’s 20^th anniversary and it’s also my birthday. The best way for me to give back is for me to open my own non-profit organization because I know what I want, I know where the money will go, I’ll make sure the money goes into the right hands and that’s where Smile Preschool for Autism was born.

When did it start? October of 2015, so this will be our first Annual Autism Awareness event. The cooperation was not only open for autism, I lost a sister to lupus, I have another sister with lupus, my dad has lupus, I lost my grandmother to cancer so I want to do more than just Autism, I want to build it as a foundation to give back to the community. Mostly I want to give back to my community in Jersey City and raise awareness. Jersey City is a growing city, we are growing for the better and it’s expanding and it’s growing. The one thing that it lacks is awareness because I would walk on the street with my son and I’m looked down on. If we don’t educate our community and we don’t let the young generation know, autism can knock on anyone’s door because it’s one in forty-five and it’s growing every day. I’m hoping that Jersey City and the community will come together with me and make this an event that will raise an eyebrow.

I don’t go out to dinner with my son anywhere unless it’s with Peter Acevedo. Hani also, who is now an assistant principal for a special Ed school. I met these teachers in the regional day school and they made a big impact in my life. Peter is a big part of our life, I can call on Peter, one o’clock at night even though he’s married with a wife and a child, he’ll show up at my house. Peter has been there for fifteen years, he’s someone who stood by my family when we couldn’t handle situations anymore. Peter is the type of person who will say, “What are you looking at? He has autism, what do you want to know?” Unless Peter is with me, I don’t go anywhere and it’s difficult and I don’t want any family to feel that way.

You’re a very strong woman. I want to educate everyone, no one should be blamed for this. I don’t want another mother to feel how I felt and not knowing who you are. For fifty years of my life, I didn’t know who I was and when I hit fifty before I went to sleep that night I told myself when I wake up the next morning I’m going to change my life. I’m finally finding out who Sherry is, what Sherry wants, and what Sherry wants to do, and what makes Sherry happy. I want my community to hold hands with me and say “We understand, we are here with you.” I don’t want a community who’s going to lock me out or look down at me or make me run back to a closet and hide again.

On the day of the event, we will be showing little clips of my son and different behavior and how difficult it is. When you look at my son—if Peter is standing with him, you won’t know he’s autistic. Don’t judge a book by the cover, at least read the first page or skip the book to the last page.

We’re all human beings. If you get a cut, it bleeds and it hurts right? It doesn’t matter what color, what shape, what village and where we come from. Everyone will feel that pain, so we are all human beings together and we should stand together, we should not judge anyone.

Is there anything else you’d like people to know? I would like everyone to come out and learn about autism and this will be an annual event. As long as Sherry Singh is alive, I will make sure this is an annual event and hope that Jersey City will stand behind me and keep educating the public.

https://www.facebook.com/events/1121844264506701/