Edvin Berisa is a happy four-year-old. He plays with his mom and is obsessed with the color orange. His mother, Stephanie Taylor, is his full-time caretaker while he lives with the complexities of severe autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Brightly colored plastic ricochets off the faded linoleum floor, and happy squeals sound in the background. Before the next toy hits the ground, the balls of small feet bounce and rock across the tile floor while four-year-old Edvin Berisa looks for another toy to throw. His mother, Stephanie Taylor, sighs in the background while sitting on the couch in their home in Scottsville, Kentucky.
Edvin cannot speak, is considered nonverbal, and lives with the complexities of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He plays with his mom and is obsessed with the color orange. Though he cannot verbally express himself, he finds other ways to communicate with his mother and the people in his life.
Brightly colored plastic ricochets off the faded linoleum floor, and happy squeals sound in the background. Before the next toy hits the ground, the balls of small feet bounce and rock across the tile floor while four-year-old Edvin Berisa looks for another toy to throw. His mother, Stephanie Taylor, sighs in the background while sitting on the couch in their home in Scottsville, Kentucky.
Edvin cannot speak, is considered nonverbal, and lives with the complexities of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He plays with his mom and is obsessed with the color orange. Though he cannot verbally express himself, he finds other ways to communicate with his mother and the people in his life.
A happy kid
Stephanie Taylor prepares her son for their drive home after physical therapy at Associates in Pediatric Health on Feb. 13, 2025.
“He smiles, and he gives hugs, and he's happy, and he wants you to hold him," Stephanie said. “He's very loving.”
Tip-toing everywhere, Edvin is constantly on the move, stimming and flapping with his hands and wobbling on his toes. He moves to the couch and tries to throw himself backwards with no regard for his own safety. Stephanie said that he doesn’t understand how launching himself backwards onto the hard floor will prove painful for him. Even outside, he doesn’t realize the dangers of running into the road.
"He has no awareness of safety," Stephanie said.
According to Lighthouseautismcenter.com, there are different types of responsiveness to sensory input: under-responsiveness, hyper-responsiveness and a mix of both. Depending on the person's responsiveness, they will behave in a manner that fulfills their sensory needs.
"He has no awareness of safety," Stephanie said.
According to Lighthouseautismcenter.com, there are different types of responsiveness to sensory input: under-responsiveness, hyper-responsiveness and a mix of both. Depending on the person's responsiveness, they will behave in a manner that fulfills their sensory needs.
In therapy, Edvin learned how to throw himself backwards into a ball pit while playing in the sensory room, a method he attempts off his couch at home. Stephanie said she has to either stop him in the act and ensure pillows and blankets are placed underneath the couch so he doesn’t hurt himself.
“He has sensory issues basically,” Stephanie said. “If he gets his shirt wet or his pants wet, he wants them off.
Edvin still drinks milk from a bottle and can only drink from a cup with a straw. Stephanie is trying to teach him how to drink from a normal cup. “I want him to have milk every day,” Stephanie said. “But I really would like him to be drinking it from a cup, which we've tried, but he wouldn't drink it that way."
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“There's still a lot of times that you really don't know what he needs or wants.”
Edvin tries to wiggle away from the Easter bunny as soon as his mom put him down after an egg hunt for special needs children, Saturday, March 28, 2026, at 3H Farm's Market in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
After a tantrum ensued, Edvin allows his mom to brush his teeth which is a sensory tactic used to help calm him down.
Left: Edvin squirms in a salon chair while receiving the third haircut of his life by hair stylist Alicia Rigsby at Main Street Salon in Auburn, Kentucky, on Monday, Feb. 16, 2026. Right: After his haircut, Edvin runs away from his mom while she tries to change his hair-filled shirt to a clean one.
Edvin flaps while bubbles float around him in his speech therapy at Associates in Pediatric Therapy in Bowling Green, Kentucky, on April 16, 2026. Bubbles are a reward for correctly identifying toy animals with his Augmentative and Alternative Communication device.
Learning and living with Autism
According to autismspeaks.com, one in 31 children in the U.S. is diagnosed with Autism. Recent federal cuts to Medicaid in the Trump Administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” have the potential to affect those children and their families. These recent cuts put states, like Kentucky, at risk of cutting their reimbursements for autism care. Reimbursement cuts leave parents fearful of losing funding for care because their children are dependent on it.
“If Medicaid limits the amount of therapy sessions he can have, then he wouldn't be able to do therapy because I can't afford to pay for them,” Stephanie said. “But right now we've been lucky and the insurance is approving it.”
Edvin is reliant on various types of treatment, including physical, occupational, food and speech therapies. Stephanie has claimed that she has noticed regression in Edvin's learning when he is not attending certain therapy due to different circumstances that hinder him from going. Edvin's physical therapist retired in February, leaving him without the necessary treatment.
"They're getting further behind if they're having to stay on a waitlist," Stephanie said about autistic children waiting for needed therapy.
“If Medicaid limits the amount of therapy sessions he can have, then he wouldn't be able to do therapy because I can't afford to pay for them,” Stephanie said. “But right now we've been lucky and the insurance is approving it.”
Edvin is reliant on various types of treatment, including physical, occupational, food and speech therapies. Stephanie has claimed that she has noticed regression in Edvin's learning when he is not attending certain therapy due to different circumstances that hinder him from going. Edvin's physical therapist retired in February, leaving him without the necessary treatment.
"They're getting further behind if they're having to stay on a waitlist," Stephanie said about autistic children waiting for needed therapy.
Edvin leans back to fall into the ball pit at Associates in Pediatric Therapy, and often tries the same thing off his couch at home, unaware of the hard tile floor underneath him.
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"I feel exhausted and tired"
Many nights before bed, Stephanie spends hours attempting to get Edvin to wind down and go to sleep. As bedtime draws near, Edvin rushes through the house giggling, jumping on the couch, and disobeying Stephanie’s many commands. Some nights, he is calm and will go to bed at a reasonable time.
"Currently, (it's happening) almost every night, but it's not every night," Stephanie said. "It just depends on the day and how he is."
"Currently, (it's happening) almost every night, but it's not every night," Stephanie said. "It just depends on the day and how he is."
Though it was time for him to go to bed, Edvin played in a tote that Stephanie had had emptied out earlier that day to let him play in it. Even when laying down for a brief moment, he continued to squirm and move.
Left: Stephanie tickles Edvin at his request before he went to bed at their home on April 29, 2026. Right: After throwing toys all around the living room, Stephanie holds Edvin tight and kisses him.
Edvin finally fell asleep after a couple of hours of jumping on the couch and running around the house while Stephanie tried to calm him down. After he fell asleep, Stephanie fell asleep on the couch with him because she was too tired to make herself dinner, watch tv and bring him upstairs to his room.
Because Edvin can only say a few words and word fragments, he is learning to communicate with his mother and the world through other means. Edvin uses an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device to communicate some of his needs, a skill he practices in speech therapy.
A common trait of autism is “tip toe walking”, where children only walk around on their tips of their feet. Edvin walks on the tips of his feet so frequently that he was prescribed correctional braces and attends physical therapy.
Edvin is enrolled in physical therapy to correct his "extreme tip-toe walking." He wears corrective braces in therapy to learn to walk on the rest of his foot. In therapy, it's common for Edvin to practice walking up the stairs becauase he's unable to do so in his two-floor home.
For this reason, Edvin cannot go upstairs to the only bathroom in his home or his own room. He is not potty trained and still wears a diaper and pull-ups.
"I cannot pack him and step up the stairs," Stephanie said. "He's way too heavy, and I'm not really supposed to lift more than 10 pounds."
For this reason, Edvin cannot go upstairs to the only bathroom in his home or his own room. He is not potty trained and still wears a diaper and pull-ups.
"I cannot pack him and step up the stairs," Stephanie said. "He's way too heavy, and I'm not really supposed to lift more than 10 pounds."
Physical therapist Greta Roof teaches Edvin to kick over bowling pins while he wears his braces that correct his “extreme tip-toe walking,” on Feb. 13, 2025. Roof retired just two weeks later, and Edvin is currently on another waitlist for physical therapy again. He was previously on a waitlist for physical therapy for two years.
Sharing and caring
Stephanie fills in Edvin’s physical therapist, Greta Roof, about his progress with the braces used for his “extreme tip-toe walking”, Feb. 13, 2025, at Associates of Pediatric Therapy in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Stephanie speaks about her son Edvin and the help they receive from the Parents As Teachers (PAT) Little Learners Program during an event with United Way, a social services program, Wednesday, April 1, 2026, at Southern Social in Scottsville, Kentucky. The meeting was to determine how much funding would be allocated to Allen County's PAT program. Allen County is the county where Stephanie resides.
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"There's a lot of parents that need help, and I had to learn my own self just through working with children."
A stroller too small for Edvin is knocked over while Stephanie attempts to hoist him into it so she can bring him back to the car after an Easter egg hunt for special needs children, Saturday March 28, 2026, at 3H Farm's Market in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Shortly after, Stephanie received a stroller more apropriate for Edvin's size, which was improved by insurance.
Edvin hangs on his mom while she tries to lift him off the stairs because he cannot walk up or down stairs with his “extreme tip-toe walking.”
"I make bacon, and I like bacon, but I'm tired of looking at bacon."
Like many children with autism, Edvin has a variety of “safe foods,” which are foods that he is used to and likes to eat. Edvin’s safe foods are toast, bacon, Doritos, and a hamburger and fries from McDonald’s.
“I would love for him to eat other things, and I do make other things,” Stephanie said. “That's the way feeding therapy teaches you to do it, too. We don't want to force him to eat something he doesn't want.”
“I would love for him to eat other things, and I do make other things,” Stephanie said. “That's the way feeding therapy teaches you to do it, too. We don't want to force him to eat something he doesn't want.”
Edvin had been very stressed out before the weekend, according to Stephanie. She expressed that she was worn out from a long week of Edvin throwing toys around and acting differently than normal so she rocked him to calm him down.
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There is no alone time. There's no dating. There's no alone time. I have a kid 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Stephanie takes a smoke break while peeping through a cracked-open door to supervise Edvin. Being a single mother, Stephanie has to smoke while watching him from the door because he cannot sit still outside with her; she is also very cautious about leaving him in their house without supervision.
According to the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, 30% of children diagnosed with autism are non-verbal. 47% of those children who had language delays at age four went on to become fluent speakers
Edvin leans over the counter while Stephanie prepares him a treat of chocolate chips before he went to therapy, Feb. 27, 2026, at their home.
Stephanie embraces Edvin after he communicated to Stephanie that he needed his diaper changed by walking over to the diapers and holding them up for her. "My goals for Edvin are that Edvin will continue meeting his milestones and developing through therapy."