In winter 2004, Leslie Moon picked up her son Trevor, then 3 years old, from an early intervention program for those with special needs.

When she arrived at Encompass, a children and family social service agency where the program was held, an employee pointed to Leslie and asked Trevor, “Who’s that?”

Leslie vividly recalled his response:

“Mom,” he said.

“Clear as a bell,” she said. “We were all crying. It was the first time he had ever said that.”

The Encompass staff looked at Leslie and said, “Merry Christmas.”

“It doesn’t get any better than that,” she said.

It was the only time that he has ever said it without mirroring it from hearing someone else saying it first.

Trevor, 5, has autism. A twin, his sister Elly functions normally.

“I think the best thing about my Mom is that she loves us,” Elly said.

She made a paint board for her mother for Mother’s Day because she knows her mother likes to do art, she said, and she rarely gets to do it.

For Mother’s Day on May 14, Leslie’s husband Scott, a manager of a motorcycle shop on the Eastside, plans to hire a baby sitter and take Leslie out for a special dinner.

“We like to cut loose now and again when we can,” he said. “Since I’m so busy with work, the job she has, of course, is huge, especially with Trevor’s special needs.”

Autism is the nation’s leading childhood developmental disorder; its origins are undetermined. Those with autism are unable to learn naturally from the environment, typically showing little interest in the world or people around them.

Though autistic children may develop some normal skills, they exhibit a wide range of behavioral deficiencies including, but not limited to, abnormal responses to sensations; absent or delayed speech; and/or abnormal ways of relating to people, objects or events, according to the organization Families for Effective Autism Treatment of Washington.

“If you look at 10 different kids with autism, it’ll be 10 different kids,” Leslie said. “The intelligence is there with him, but getting him to connect with us, he doesn’t get that.”

Leslie, a stay-at-home mom, was recently honored at the Encompass “Queen for a Day” fund-raiser as “This Year’s Very Special Mom.”

“She’s really turned it [her situation] around and made it into a positive,” said Marsha Quinn, the family resource coordinator at Encompass who has two young boys with autism. “My motto is, ‘things happen for a reason.’ Leslie’s learned from her challenges and I think she’s ready to inspire others to show that it’s not a tragedy and it’s who Trevor is and who Elly is.”

Scott and Leslie met in 1996 at a motorcycle event. Then residing in Shoreline, Scott introduced Leslie to snow mobiling and when the two married in 1998, they moved to North Bend to be closer to outdoor opportunities.

In 2000, Leslie and Scott Moon found out they were pregnant. At 20 weeks, they found out they were having twins; a girl and a boy.

“We were like, ‘score,'” she said, noting that the couple had eventually wanted a girl and a boy.

In February 2001, Leslie gave birth prematurely at 33 weeks. She said she and Scott were prepared for delayed development, something common with twins, especially those born seven weeks prematurely. But they had never considered that one of their children could have a disability.

Leslie, 33, said she remembers that as babies, Elly and Trevor used to look at each other, laughing and playing, until he reached 1 1/2 years.

“Then he stopped connecting with everything,” she said. “He went from playing with her to everything she did, he gave a blank face.”

Trevor was tested for his cognitive abilities; at age 1 1/2, he scored in the 0-3 month range for his development.

“They knew something was wrong with him, they just didn’t know what,” Leslie said.

“My little guy, who would find my eyes no matter where I was, suddenly acted as if he could no longer hear me and no longer did he stare at me,” she said in a speech she gave for the Queen for a Day fund-raiser on April 30 in Seattle.

In November 2003, Trevor was diagnosed with classic autism, with moderate to sever capabilities in certain areas.

“It was as if someone had died,” she said about how she felt upon hearing the diagnosis.

“When you see [those words on paper] you think, basically your dreams get shattered at that point,” she added. “You wonder what his life is going to be like. Will he have friends? Am I ever going to hear ‘I love you, Mom.’ You have these ideas about what your family will be like. Then you realize your life will involve years of therapy, and with a kid like him, you’ll always know it’s there.”

Over time and with much work from therapists and his family, Trevor has developed language skills, Leslie explained, but not communication awareness.

“A year ago, did I think his teacher would be saying that he could read words? No. But two years ago, did I think we would be completely out of it? Yes. The fact that he has language is huge, so I have hope,” she said.

The hardest part for her, she said, is not knowing what is going on inside his head, especially when he is crying.

“There’s no answer to your question,” she said. “You can say to Elly, ‘What do you want?’ You can’t say that to him.”

Elly attends Montessori school for half-days five days a week and she and Trevor both attend Snoqualmie Elementary School’s special education preschool. For Elly, it is an opportunity to have exposure to others with disabilities and the school invites typically-developing children as peers to model behavior.

Trevor also has therapy almost daily.

“Even though I feel sometimes I’ve lost myself, I know it’s temporary,” Leslie said. “Despite everything I’ve been dealt, I still feel very lucky because I have two incredible, healthy children; both who have such wonderful personalities.”

Elly has developed a social and easygoing personality, Leslie said, noting that Elly and her brother have since rediscovered their relationship because he enjoys physical play, and so does she.

“He’s pretty fun most of the time,” Elly said.

Trying to give both children equal attention can be difficult sometimes, especially when, as Leslie pointed out, a typical 5 year old can be demanding enough, but Leslie said she makes an effort to make Elly feel special.

“I love the conversations that I have with Elly and the things she says that you just have to write down,” she said. “But I miss that with Trevor.”

Beyond strong family support, Leslie attends Encompass’ “Mom’s Moment,” a support group for parents of children with special needs.

“[In the group] we talk about how much you lose yourself; my world is preschool and therapy,” she said. “I realize how lucky I am to have Encompass and to be here and to have that support. I needed someone to understand what it was like to lose your dream of whatever you thought a perfect family should be. To find that is amazing.”

“It’s just different,” Leslie said about the way in which their lives turned out compared to what they imagined. “It’s still wonderful in a lot of ways. Does it make me sad sometimes? Sure. But we still go camping; we just learn how to deal with everything. We’ve adapted everything that we want to do.”

For more information about Encompass services, call (425) 888-2777 or visit www.encompassnw.org.