Building Blocks holds fundraiser for autism efforts

A few weeks ago, as Tiffany Tillman was getting ready to take her 8-year-old son Noah to an appointment at the Center for Pediatric Therapy, he uttered “doctor.”

Thrilled, Tillman cancelled his appointments, took him to the doctor where he was diagnosed with swimmer’s ear.

She was thrilled because Noah, who has autism, was able to say “doctor.” The fact that he could communicate that he was in pain and needed to go to the doctor was a huge breakthrough, Tillman said. Largely thanks to the attention he’s been getting at Building Blocks, one of the only special early intervention program that works with kids diagnosed with autism in Danville.

Dozens of people came out Saturday to support the center and special education for kids with autism with a concert, carnival games and food on Averett University’s north campus soccer field.

Money raised from ticket sales and concessions will go toward the Piedmont Autism Action Group and help fund Building Blocks.

Noah has been in Building Blocks for one year, and had previously seen professionals at the Center for Pediatric Therapy.

“I’ve seen a humongous change in his language skills,” Tillman said. Noah has trouble verbally communicating, and in the past when he’s been sick, she said, she’s had to just guess what was bothering him.

“These are people that are very passionate about these children,” she said. When Noah was enrolled in public school, she said she was getting phone calls from teachers every day. At Building Blocks, she said, “I don’t get a phone call every day … when there’s a problem we work together as a team.”

Tillman is thankful for the year left she and Noah have with Building Blocks, and hasn’t decided what they will do after that. One goal of Building Blocks is to help prepare kids with autism for matriculation in the normal school system.

Maneuvering through the school system with a kid with autism can be a daunting task, said Catherine Shelton, whose four-year-old son is in Building Blocks.

“Parents with kids newly diagnosed with autism don’t have many options,” she said. “I would have been lost (without Building Blocks).” She said her son “has increased language, eye contact and social skills.

“(Building Blocks) was an answered prayer.”

Contact Sarah Arkin at (434) 791-7983 or