Matt, Noah, Hannah, Kelly Volk
pioneer parents in indiana
Noah’s bed example
By Angela Arlington
About Matt Volk and Noah’s World
Matt and Kelly Volk were working full-time in sales and marketing when their son was born in May of 2003. From birth, their son Noah did not sleep during the night for his first 5 months, and then he slept a little bit at a time. “He spent most of his waking hours crying,” Matt said. “We spent a lot of time in the middle of the night circling I-465 because driving was the only way we could get him to sleep!” Noah faced challenges from birth, but his diagnosis of autism was a bit of a shock. Noah’s sister, Hannah, was 4 years older and reached all her milestones on time. “We knew something was wrong when he was not hitting his benchmarks. After a battery of tests that all came out negative, he was diagnosed with autism at 20 months,” Matt said. Dealing with Noah’s sleep issues and diagnosis of autism made working full-time difficult for Matt and Kelly. Noah starting crawling out of his crib every night. By age 3, he was running around the house with no fear or concept of danger. Matt’s neighbor, Chris Stupp, became his sounding board for his concerns about Noah’s nighttime habits. Chris made furniture and custom woodwork, so he thought of customizing a bed for Noah. Matt smiles fondly at the memory. “He drew up the initial design as a solution to our problem for keeping Noah safe at night. The first bed for Noah was made in 2006. Chris made the initial frame and we found a boat cover manufacturer on the east side of Indy to sew the exterior. It literally changed our lives! Noah loved the bed – he felt enclosed and
32 Special Needs Living • June 2021
Example of Noah’s bed
safe. He did not sleep better but it gave him a safe place to play at night when he was awake. That gave Kelly and me the confidence to get a decent night’s sleep!” In 2007 a family facing similar sleep issues with their autistic child saw Noah’s bed and wanted one. “Chris and I knew then that we had an opportunity to help other families who had children with special needs,” Matt recalled. “We filed for and received U.S. Patent U.S. D554,871 S and Noah’s World became incorporated as a business on March 8, 2008.” Chris and Matt officially launched the business at the 2008 Autism Society of America (ASA) Conference where they displayed the bed. One of their first customers was the marketing director of the ASA and the mother of an autistic child. From the beginning, Matt had tremendous feedback on the bed. “At the time we developed the bed, there was nothing out there like ours. We felt a great sense of satisfaction helping families and children like Noah stay safe. Noah loved his bed and was a great “tester” for our product. We added a top to the bed shortly after he climbed out of it a few years later. Also, we have since
