Meet the Milton-Harrison Family

Mariah Milton-Harrison is the mother to three wonderful children who have all been diagnosed with autism. She suspects her late husband may have had autism as well. The two of them dreamt of opening a center to address the need for autism services in underserved communities. In addition to being a mom and the owner of Budding Behavior Therapy, Mariah is also a year from completing her Ph.D. in organizational leadership at OU. This, in addition to her degree in behavior analysis, will help her continue to run the Budding Behavior Therapy Center and help it become a haven for families in need of autism services. When she isn’t studying, running the center, or momming, Mariah loves caring for and being around animals of all kinds. Some of her favorite activities with her kids are taking walks, bike rides, and eating at restaurants. They also love chilling on the couch and watching silly TikTok videos.

Kaiden is Mariah’s oldest. He is a fun-loving seven-year-old. At twoand-a-half, Kaiden was diagnosed with autism when Mariah noticed a speech regression and stimming. Stimming is a repeated body movement like hand flapping that some people with autism do when they are excited, overwhelmed, nervous, or scared. Kaiden was later diagnosed with ADHD as well. Sometimes, the community refers to the combined diagnosis of autism and ADHD as “auDHD”. Kaiden started therapies including speech, OT, and ABA right away. When he went to kindergarten, he continued services in school and outside of school. Mariah has seen improvements in his speech, and he now speaks in complete sentences. Kaiden can communicate his likes, dislikes, and needs very well. He even holds conversations well. She attributes his progress to the early attention and therapies he received. Kaiden graduated from outside speech, OT, and ABA just before kindergarten because he had progressed so much! Kaiden loves cars and music, so Lightning McQueen is perfect for him. He also likes racing video games and dance parties to loud music. One of Kaiden’s favorite things, other than Lightning McQueen, is being a big brother. He can be a little bossy to his sisters at times, Mariah shared, but he is a sweet, kind, caregiver who loves being a big brother.

Maleiya is the middle child and oldest girl! She is now five years old. She was diagnosed at just 18 months, only about a year after Kaiden. Mariah knew what she was looking for in Maleiya, so she was diagnosed young and had the advantage of beginning therapies early. She wasn’t yet talking by 18 months, and though she had fewer stimming tendencies, Mariah knew the lack of speech was a sign of autism. She too has ABA, speech, and OT. Now, Maleiya attends kindergarten half of the day and has speech, OT, and ABA the other half of the day. She loves the school bus. Mariah shares that the bus might be Maleiya’s favorite part of the school day! She even has a few single words like Kaiden. Some of those words are about her favorite kind of food--Maleiya loves fruit. She also loves to sing and dance to her favorite songs from Moana and Little Mermaid. She makes Mom sing the words even though Mariah admits she doesn’t know them. Aside from singing and dancing, Maleiya loves cuddles and hugs. As much as she adores her brother and sister, no middle child can get by without a little sibling rivalry. Maleiya is no exception! When she isn’t fighting with her, Maleiya enjoys the chance to take care of her little sister, Isla, too.

Isla is the littlest of Mariah’s children. At two years old, she is the spunkiest, according to Mariah! Because her mom knew what to look for, Isla was diagnosed with autism at just 16 months old. She got to begin therapies like ABA at about 18 or 19 months old. Again, lack of language development and stimming tendencies caused Mariah to seek Isla’s diagnosis. Isla also had delayed gross motor skills including late crawling and walking. Early On in Avondale helped Isla get half-day afternoon speech therapy. Isla also does ABA, OT, and speech each morning. Mariah describes Isla as THE BOSS! She is two and strong with attitude, so she has to make her place known to her older brother and sister. When she isn’t telling everyone what to do, she is trying on and modeling jewelry, purses, dresses, and hair pretties. Like her brother and sister, dancing is a favorite pastime. Dance parties between the three of them are a common occurrence. Like Mariah, Isla is an animal lover. This mutual love of animals has resulted in quite the menagerie at the Milton-Harrison house! Birds, a guinea pig, and a lizard complete the family. Mariah says new parents should “trust your gut! I was told to wait and see and realized that was the worst advice”. She says she fought to get professionals to take her concerns seriously and you should, too. “Follow your gut and keep fighting for your child”. Mariah works as an advocate as well as serving the community at Budding Behavior Therapy.

The Milton-Harrison family loves enjoying all the typical family experiences like bike riding, walks, and pets. The added complications of autism and ADHD certainly increase the chaos and business of life with juggling therapies, school, and family time. This obviously does not take away from the fun, light-hearted attitude Mariah shares with her children and community.

Like Mariah, Isla is an animal lover. This mutual love of animals has resulted in quite the menagerie at the Milton-Harrison house!