For years, Lashell Elsayed tried to find her 13 year old autistic son a daycare center.
She says, "I went to several daycares and they would not accept him. And the ones that did, the minute I got to work they would tell me to pick them up. So it was so hard."
So two years ago, Lashell set out to make it easier on other families with special needs children.
This single mother of two went back to school while working full time and made her dream a reality.
She recently opened the Expand Your Wings Day Care Center in Austintown.
It'll have a preschool, a toddler room, an infant room, and an after school program.
A special education teacher will also work with the children one on one throughout the day, but they will not be isolated from the other kids.
Elsayed says, "My goal is to have the kids interact. A lot of times the kids with disabilities learn to tolerate, and the children with disabilities, they learn to cope."
And it will also help parents cope with the stresses of every day life.
Maria Spencer with Mahoning County Help Me Grow...says parents often ask about day care's that serve special needs kids.
"This will be very convenient for parents that if they have a typically developing child and a child with special needs. They can both be at the same place, which would be very convenient for parents."
And the fact the owner of Expand Your Wings knows first hand what they're going through helps.
Spencer says, "Most of the time the parents just want to leave their child some place safe, they want to make sure they're taken care of and their needs are gonna be taken into consideration."
Elsayed adds, "I don't want any parent to have to be in the situation that I was."
