Brittany Cartwright is getting candid about handling her son Cruz’s autism diagnosis.
The Valley star, 36, shared a post on Instagram with a lengthy caption as she announced that she and her son have partnered with Autism Speaks to create Cruz’s Crew. This new initiative will aim to raise awareness and support children and families in the autism community.
In her caption, Brittany shared that navigating her son’s autism diagnosis has been multifaceted for her.
“If you’ve been following our journey, you know navigating Cruz’s autism has been both challenging and incredibly rewarding,” she wrote. “I’ve learned so much about the power of early intervention and how vital a supportive, understanding community truly is 💙.”
She shared that her new initiative just kicked off with their first event at Chuck E. Cheese, where the restaurant hosted a special sensory-friendly play day.
“Seeing Cruz light up and connecting with other amazing families meant the world!” Brittany said. “Through @cruzs.crew, we’ll continue to raise awareness and support Autism Speaks so families everywhere can enjoy inclusive experiences like this.”
This past April, Brittany shared with PEOPLE that her son had been diagnosed with autism six months prior.
“He crawled early, he walked early,” she told PEOPLE. “He was talking, he was saying, ‘Mommy,’ ‘Daddy.’ He was saying ‘Hot Dog!’ from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Then, as he got closer to 2, we started noticing that he was regressing in his speech. He stopped talking almost completely.”
Brittany shared that Cruz was diagnosed with autism. Though he’s mostly nonverbal, the proud mom said he will “sporadically say different words,” like “Mommy.”
“It can be difficult because I’ve never heard him say, ‘I love you,’ but he is so loving, and he shows me he loves me every single day,” she said. “He is such a mommy’s boy.”
Since learning of Cruz’s diagnosis, Brittany said that she’s been adjusting to a different normal.
“This is a whole new life for me,” she said at the time. “I don’t have any close friends that live near me that have kids with autism, so I don’t really have anybody that can relate to what I’m going through. They’re all super supportive, of course, but there’s just a lot of ins and outs that a lot of people don’t really understand.”
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At preschool, Cruz has a therapeutic companion who joins him, and he continues to do speech and occupational therapy several times a week. At home, he has a sensory room fitted with a trampoline and lights to help him regulate when he’s overstimulated, or “stimming.”
“Sometimes Cruz does this thing where he’ll put his hand up to his mouth, and he’ll kind of blow into it,” she said. “That’s his main thing that he does when he’s stimming. Sometimes he likes to spin in circles. He doesn’t really flap his arms that much anymore. Whenever he does start the stimming, I just embrace them. Sometimes I will flap with him, or I will spin in circles with him, or I’ll just give him a hug. He loves tight squeezes.”
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