Today we’d like to introduce you to Derhiava Gibson
Hi Derhiava, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My name is Derhiava Gibson. I am currently a 8th grade ELA Teacher.I graduated from PVAMU class of 2018. In 2019, I had Carter Frank with my college sweetheart . As a 1st time mom everything started off rocky . I was adjusting from a three person household to a two person household. Amongst this very permanent and necessary change, I noticed some changes in Carter. He was about nine months at the time. He wasn’t doing simple things that I thought nine month olds should be doing like looking at you when you call his name or noticing that you’re talking to him.So that definitely was starting to kind of sound off my alarm. What sealed the deal was when he was one years old at his 12 month check up, his doctor and I were talking about some of my concerns ,and Carter was sitting in his stroller. Instead of crying for his juice cup that was in the cupholder above his head in the stroller like most toddlers would have. He strategically climbed up the stroller, grabbed his cup and carefully, put himself back into his seat ,in the stroller, in front of us. It was at that point the doctor suggested that we test him for autism. I never knew what autism actually was. I actually had never heard of it before until she stated she thought it was necessary. So she recommended us go to a neurologist for testing. At the time I was a school teacher and it was my first year teaching. I was teaching first grade absolutely hated it by the way. I vividly remember taking him to get the test done and about two weeks later I got a call in the middle of class. I had to find somebody for my class to take the neurologist call. I remember getting in my car and telling the doctor I was ready to talk. The doctor asked was I sitting down and did I have a moment. At that point, I knew something was up on his results. The doctor stated that Carter’s autism test came back showing results that he was in fact on the spectrum at a moderate to severe level. I had so many thoughts run through my mind at that point in time because by this point I already knew something was wrong with Carter and I guess as a parent it’s just the satisfaction of listening to your gut and knowing that you’re right, even though everyone thinks you’re crazy and your child is just too young to have any issues. However, at that moment, I just burst into tears. I’m not sure still if I was crying from relief that I knew something was wrong with my child or if I was crying for the road that I knew was ahead an uncertain road to say the least. The doctor, of course, could hear me sobbing, but he still had to do his job, and I understood that. He then proceeded to tell me that my child may never speak and that he recommended putting him into ABA therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy. He told me that the road ahead would not be easy and was full of uncertainty on my end and their end as autism was still something new that they were learning. After that phone call, I had to dry my eyes, clear my head and go back in and teach a bunch of rowdy first graders as if I hadn’t just gotten the worst news of my life. I remember when all my family found out they were very supportive. I remember being angry with God also. That’s a part I think people always seem to exclude. I was always taught not to question God so I didn’t , but I was angry for a long time with him. Despite this, as the doctor instructed instantly put him in ABA therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy and he’s been in them ever since for the most part. This happened in 2020 fast-forward six years and Carter is the most energetic and loving child you’ll ever meet. He definitely has his days as does any other kid. He will be six years old in April and we’ve been maneuvering through autism ever since. Some days he likes to eat everything some days he won’t eat one thing for me . Some days bathtime is a total challenge some days it’s not. Some nights he goes to sleep some nights he has “Club Carter” in his room until the next day. Our road to autism is never a golden paved road with all the answers. We take everything day by day and hope that it’s a great day. My biggest goal for Carter since 2020 was to always give him a life full of normalcy. I wanted him to have as normal of a life that I could provide as any other child his age. I put him in things like baseball, he played in the Miracle League for the YMCA. He has the biggest birthday parties and it feels like the entire world shows up .He goes to birthday parties, he goes out to eat, he goes to fun activities. He lives a fun, normal life, even though he has autism and is considered nonverbal. Fast forwarding to 2025, I wanted to figure out a way to embrace Carter and the journey that we’ve traveled for the last five almost 6 years. Since 2020,I have had another child, August Moffett, and he and Carter are like the best of friends. So right before the holidays of 2024 I sat down and I wrote a book from the perspective of August because he does talk. As I observed their behaviors since 2022 ,August has been like Carter’s guardian angel on earth. He walks him where he needs to go. He keeps him on the right track. He keeps him out of trouble. Sometimes, they help each other get into trouble. They wrestle,play,and embrace brotherhood together. A normal sibling bond is what they have. He is very in tune with everything that Carter needs and most of what Carter wants. He believes that he is Carter’s voice until Carter finds his own. So I wrote our 1st book, “ A Car-Car Like Mine: A Brother’s Love”, as it supposed to highlight the sibling bond of my boys, as we take on Carter’s autism journey with him. The book got the title that it got because of August . He calls Carter”Car-Car. Where did this name come from? I think more so Carter was extremely hard to say in the beginning stages of August talking so he just started saying “Car Car” and it’s stuck ever since .This is the first book of what I believe will be many. The point of our books is to highlight the siblings, viewpoints of children with autism or any other disability . However, clearly, our books are centered around our journey. Autism is not a journey that everyone will share the same as everyone’s journey through this is completely different. There may be similarities, but everyone is an individual and as being an individual, you develop different journey paths through this. Our story is told through the eyes of August as he sees his brother’s daily challenges with autism. August being only two years old doesn’t know that his brother has autism. That is something that we are still explaining to August and getting him to understand what it is. All August understands is that his brother is cool and he always wants to do anything that he’s doing. So their brotherhood and bond was most definitely the motivation for this story. I also included them as the authors of the story, even though I wrote it because without the two of them, I would have no story to tell. They are the original authors. I’m just the magic mind behind the pen. I am actually working on a new story that I’m hoping will be released by the summer. I look forward to telling their story so that the world will understand that autism is not what they have perceived it to be all these years and that it’s simply a special journey that someone may go through on their path to victory. As Carter and August‘s mom, I am filled with great pride in knowing that I am raising two boys that are full of love and curiosity. They are intelligent. They are resilient. They are worth every trial and tribulation that comes our way and we will always overcome them together as a family. In 1 million years, I would’ve never anticipated my life being the way that it turned out .At times I used to always question my purpose for being here and now I totally understand why I’m here. I used to never understand why I was so strong mentally ,even as a kid, but I believe God was preparing me for the hardest battle yet . I know with him all things are possible and we will be just fine as soon as we get to the other side, this too shall pass. In the meantime, we will embrace this journey together, and we hope that the world will tune in on our journey and share it with us one book at a time. 🧩💙‼️
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t been a smooth road. The biggest challenge is that Carter doesn’t talk. He is considered nonverbal. So in the beginning, it was really frustrating. Trying to figure out what he wanted was challenging for sure. It was a lot of crying. It required a lot of patience that I didn’t have yet. Sometimes I would sit and just cry because I couldn’t understand why this kid would not stop crying. As I’ve matured from the 23-year-old I was when I had him, I learned that with Carter it required more patience than being with a child that could talk. I started teaching Carter how to be self-sufficient instead of crying because tears were gonna get us absolutely nowhere. He started pointing. He started expressing himself in other ways, and that helped us to start maneuvering through his autism and his challenges with verbalizing his needs and wants. With his autism it’s been challenging with my job being a teacher. It is extremely demanding ,principals are not always understanding. As their focus is usually only of their schools and not of their teachers personal lives. With Carter having autism and being sickly in the beginning, I missed more school than I would have liked in 2020 along with his new diagnosis of autism he spent a week in the hospital with pneumonia and bronchitis, and my Principal gave me the blues for it. I was literally rotating shifts with his dad of sleeping at the hospital at night while his dad worked and I went to work in the mornings teaching first graders while his dad stayed at the hospital all day. I remember getting several write ups that first year due to Carter’s conditions ,me missing work ,and all that we had going on. It was an extremely stressful time. I remember almost giving up on teaching altogether due to this. Trying to get Carter to eat in the beginning was a challenge because he would only eat pizza and I refuse to allow him to eat pizza only.I cooked candy yams, greens, cornbread, chicken, all kinds of foods and I would make him try it. I would sit at the table with him every night as I still do to this day to show him that we eat food daily all kinds of food. I am very big on sitting down with my children at the end of a day sharing a meal. We also work on table manners during this time, which is also a challenge, but we are getting through them.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a ELA teacher for the largest district in Houston. However, I’m most proud of being a mom to my boys ! What sets me apart from others is probably my drive to succeed. I’m determined to be successful in all aspects of life, my career, and being a mom. Being a teacher was never my first choice and it’s not my last choice. I really wanna be a lawyer still that was the goal from the beginning. It’s just taking a little bit of time to get there.
Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
You can grab your copy of our children’s book on Amazon!
Book link : https://a.co/d/h96fcIF
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Thank you to everyone for all the support we have already gotten and all the support to come.
Pricing:
- Paperback Book $17
- Kindle $9.99
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