Christina Collura’s work with son’s autism inspires educational, chalkboard-based puzzles
BY REID CREAGER
“Something magical happened where it was almost like a connection between his world and my world.” —Christina Collura, after seeing her son write his name for the first time
The unmistakable red flags snowballed before Christina Collura’s blue eyes as she watched the early development of Luca, her youngest son: fine motor skills challenges; lagging oral communication; problems with social interaction.
Her active, irrepressible son was 3 years and 2 months old in May 2016 when she took him to a doctor for what was a foregone conclusion. After the formal Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosis, it was easy to imagine her coming home and asking herself:
“Now what?”
“That is literally what I said,” remembers the mother of two and 20-year elementary school teacher from Stouffville, Ontario, Canada. “I cried for a little bit.”
She was determined that his learning wasn’t going to be a barrier. “It was going to be figuring out what worked for him and then going with it.”
Challenged with this and painful life circumstances, Collura was prepared to plow through times when hope went dark. One source of light was right there all along.
Light-switch moment
Luca is a name with Italian roots meaning “lux,” or “light.” She wasn’t aware of that until this interview, but it couldn’t be a more perfect fit
After his diagnosis, Collura—who has also taught special education and kindergarten—discovered all the learning tools at her disposal “were just not cutting it. But I knew his diagnosis wasn’t going to be an end-all. It was going to be the beginning of a beautiful journey.”
Luca was struggling heavily with fine motor challenges. “Even just the simple act of holding a pencil was stressful to him.”
About a month after the diagnosis, she took a regular name puzzle with the letters of his name. Underneath the four letters was a horizontal blank piece consisting of indented spaces with the shapes of the letters in his name.
“I decided to take chalkboard paint and just paint within the indented spaces,” she says—the literal and figurative signature strokes of Creative Beginning, chalkboard-based puzzles that are encouraging and empowering people from kids to seniors. These educational tools are exploding in the United States, Canada and Australia, and touching other corners of the world.
With the addition of the printing component, the puzzles build fine-motor skills. The puzzle is labeled with colored shapes for a multi-part learning experience that includes the identification of numbers, shapes and colors. For printing and drawing, the chalkboard puzzles include 4-6 pieces of small chalk.
The idea for a chalkboard base was a natural because Luca likes the feel and use of chalk. Within four weeks, he was able to write his name and recognize it.
“Something magical happened where it was almost like a connection between his world and my world,” she recalled with some emotion.
As he was able to write within the indented spaces, not being able to go out of the lines, her light had a new light in his eyes.
“It was completely mind-boggling to me. So, I brought the same concept into my kindergarten classroom at the time with a child who was also on the spectrum.”
She quickly found that other kids wanted to play with the puzzle as well. “That inclusive factor sort of just like kicked in right away. There was no mention of a diagnosis. It wasn’t ‘He’s autistic, she’s not.’ It was, this is a puzzle that we all want to play with.”
Boom with a view
Suddenly, Collura had her second “Now what?” moment of the year. This one was less daunting and much more exciting.
She decided she needed a prototype. “And how do I apply this to a full alphabet? How do I get a patent? It was like, ‘boom, boom, boom.’ Because I knew that if somebody got their hands on this idea, we all know what will happen.”
The details could become overwhelming as a “single mom, a one-woman show” also tasked with teaching young children. So she worked with Luca on his therapies for a while before going full throttle, using the prototype in her classroom and seeing the need to make her invention a product
Eventually, expansion included a full alphabet and number board with the chalkboard base, indented space and tracers. Collura also designs and paints the puzzles.
Her invention journey has presented some pleasant surprises, such as conducting a prior art search and finding nothing like her idea. Her discovery was even more groundbreaking than she thought.
“So my concept comes out patent pending, everything is in order. And then there’s a study released by the Science of Reading [an interdisciplinary body of research spanning over 40 years, providing evidence-based insights into reading instruction] that states that using identification and printing in unison for the success of printing will yield greater results than just identification.
“It was just something that I couldn’t wrap my head around. You mean to tell me—I came up with this before you did?”
She says her company has the necessary intellectual property, with the chalkboard-based concept—the ability to put chalk within the indented spaces—at the top of the list as a patent pending
“There’s nothing like it out there. That’s me.”
Global ambassadors
Luca is the second light in Mom’s life, chronologically. He and Joseph—four years older at 16, his proud supporter and protector—enjoy their roles as young ambassadors for autism awareness through Creative Beginning.
Collura looks wistful about piecing together the Luca puzzle during these post-diagnosis nine years. He’s comfortable with being the face of his mother’s invention despite social interaction challenges.
She says that “with oral communication, he didn’t fully speak in sentences until at least only until Grade 1 but he could identify numbers and letters and shapes. At 18 months, he told me ‘156’ but couldn’t put a sentence together. Even ‘Mama’ didn’t come out for a little while. …
“He might have a little bit of giftedness in him because early, he would process the smallest details. He has an obsession with details. His technology base is incredible, impactful.”
Luca loves animals. “We had a therapy dog that we just said goodbye to in the summertime, and she was very, very in tune with Luca. I can totally see him doing something with animals” as a career.
Joseph exudes a tender, brotherly love for his sibling that is mature beyond his years. But he’s still very much a teenager who “knows what bothers Luca and will trigger him a little bit.”
He also makes it clear he’s the only one allowed to mess with Luca. A standout baseball player standing 6 feet 2 though not quite 16, “Joseph will use his presence to make sure people know that ‘This is my brother.’ He just has to stand there.”
She and her boys enjoy being first-person myth-busters: “The biggest myth about autism is that these kids are not teachable. I think it comes from people’s perception when you meet a child in the spectrum. We automatically think that because a child is diagnosed that they can’t do things that are typical in the mainstream.
“But you adjust and adapt to what they require to learn. It seems so simple, but people just get stuck on ‘Oh, gosh, it’s gonna be a challenge.’ Well, who is perfect?”
Her passion for advocacy entails numerous public speaking events because “it’s about educating and providing that understanding. And if you don’t educate and don’t have conversations, no one’s gonna learn.”
She also works to dispel the notion that people on the autism spectrum lack empathy. “They often have really deep empathy. But they may express it differently” than what you usually see.
Newly found audience
A leader who follows the light, Collura emphasizes strengths in her children and others—to the extent that she wrote an award-winning storybook on the subject a year and a half ago. “Have You Filled Your Pie Today?” debuted at No. 1 for inclusive education on Amazon.
“There’s no mention of any diagnosis in the book. It’s all about different kids that have different needs, and how do we address those needs? How do we build on the strengths they already display? I connected it to the chalkboard-based concept as well.”
One strength exhibited by Collura—as a person as well as an entrepreneur—is her understanding that everyone learns at different paces.
“The best part about our puzzles is that they’re progressive learning. You can figure out where you are in the learning process and then adapt to the different puzzles depending on where you are.”
Her most proud honor is being named to the top 100 women of influence for autism awareness “out of Austria, of all places. It was something that I wasn’t expecting. … It was like at that moment, I knew I had been heard. And who else is it going to reach next?”
She recently found out.
A few months ago, she got an email from a nursing home with a dementia patient “obsessed with our alphabet puzzle because he’s showing us he still remembers how to print. It’s like occupational therapy for them.”
Collura sees future opportunities with her product and senior citizens because it can help anyone at any point in their lives. It all began with that simple mission—the basic purpose and desire of any teacher.
“I think the invention itself came from my teaching background,” says Collura, currently teaching third-and fourth-graders in Toronto. “I firmly believe that. It came from the thought process I have with helping kids, and it becomes a lot more personal when it’s your own child.
“I use the perspective of, I would never give up on a child. I would never give up on someone in my classroom. If they came with challenges, I would never just toss them aside. I would figure out what works for them.
“So when Luca was diagnosed, my mind shifted in the same way.“
With the expanding reach of Creative Beginning, Collura says she’s “go-go-go” with a mission that won’t stop-stop-stop.
“It’s about making an impact, a word I use a lot,” she says. “There are so many perspectives that people can take from what the puzzles bring, and I’m grateful for helping to do that.”
Details: creative-beginning.com
Loving Strategies
Christina Collura’s top five strategies to navigate life with a child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (from Medium.com):
- One day at a time! Figure out how your child learns! Build on their strengths and figure out how to “fill their pie”—by building on those strengths.
- Someone is always going to have an opinion—but your insight into your child is stronger! Don’t be afraid to speak up to the negativity. Be your own child’s best advocate!
- Caring for a child with ASD can be demanding, so it’s important to take care of your own well-being, too. Don’t hesitate to seek support from other parents, therapists or support groups. Taking care of yourself will enable you to be the best possible support for your child.
- Children with ASD often thrive on routine and predictability. It helps reduce anxiety and provides a sense of security. Create daily schedules that include regular times for meals, school, therapy and play. Visual schedules can be particularly helpful.
- Communication challenges are common in children with ASD, so developing effective ways to communicate is crucial. Depending on your child’s needs, this might involve speech therapy, using picture exchange communication systems (PECS) or learning sign language. Consistency and patience are key.