Town resident Maura Delany held back tears Saturday afternoon watching her 14-year-old daughter Lila step across a trampoline in the Kid Zone at the New Canaan YMCA.
A Saxe Middle School student who has autism, Lila Delany had missed last year’s inaugural Autism Awareness Family Fun Day—co-hosted by a local organization, Inclusive Together, in partnership with the Y—because she was scared, according to her mom.
“I’ve never actually really seen her play as much as she is right now, so it’s amazing for her,” Delany said as her daughter moved freely among the kid-friendly equipment with other children and teens.
Delany added: “I’m trying to hold back tears right now because she went on the trampoline for the first time today. It’s very special.”
L-R: Lauren Tarzia and Carolynn Kaufman at Autism Awareness Family Fun Day at the New Canaan YMCA, April 5, 2025. Credit: Michael Dinan
The free 90-minute event, part of the Y’s celebration of Autism Awareness Month, saw 12 families with 23 kids play in the Kid Zone and do activities in another room at the Y where a Sherman-based company, Sensory on Wheels, set up a “slime bar” and stations with dyed salt, beans and lentils, balls, scarves and other items designed to empower the kids by helping fulfill their sensory needs in a natural, child-led environment.
Part of ensuring that the environment is friendly for autism and neurodiverse families is limiting the space, according to New Canaan’s Lauren Tarzia, founder of Inclusive Together. The registrations for this year’s Fun Day filled up immediately and there’s a waitlist.
“There’s such a need,” Tarzia said.”We need to have more events like this that are sensory friendly. As you can see, it’s not so crowded here. It’s not as noisy. Aalso, everybody here is in the same family and most of the kids here, they are neurodivergent and or they have a neurodivergent member of their family. And it’s also about the parents and the need to connect. When I moved to New Canaan, I didn’t have any friends that were in the same boat as me.”
Tarzia’s son Nicky, an 8-year-old South School student, has autism.
L-R: Lauren Tarzia and Maura Delany at Autism Awareness Family Fun Day at the New Canaan YMCA, April 5, 2025. Credit: Michael Dinan
“I met moms right away that had friends that had sons that were autistic, as well,” she said. “And right away I felt more connected to the community because I finally had people who get it. It’s a very different world that we live in. It’s really important that we have more connections with each other so that we can support one another.”
Creating space and opportunity for those types of connections is something that New Canaan Y does regularly.
Carolynn Kaufman, director of inclusion & support services at the Y, said the organization’s mission is to “keep our doors open as much as we can to the entire community.”
“And since April is Autism Awareness Month, we’re shining a light on acceptance and autism awareness and inviting families to come in and use our space,” Kaufman said. “Some families are familiar with our space and it’s a chance for some new families to come in to see our space and learn about our services and programs that we offer. But we offer year-round services and programs for all kids of all abilities. Kids on the spectrum or kids with developmental disabilities. Our mission is just to keep our Y open to everybody.”
The YMCA runs year-round after-school programs, and about 14 programs per week for school-age, teenage and young adults in the community and the surrounding communities, she added.
Jackie Lee, a co-founder of Sensory on Wheels, said the stations set up at the Y are designed for participating kids to design and create something of their own to bring home.
“And we always incorporate both tabletop play and floor play, so that way wherever they can feel the best, —if they want to sit or stand, be on the floor,” she said.
Tarzia said that her organization found a ready partner in the Y for Autism Awareness Family Fun Day.
“I said, ‘You know what, we should do an event together just with the families—get them together so that they can have a day to get to know each other.’ And they were like, ‘Let’s do it,’ ” Tarzia recalled. “So we did this last year and it went really, really well. And this year when we put the word out that we were going to do it again, it sold out in an hour.”
Outstanding work Lauren Tarzia, and Jackie Lee, hoping this continues for a very long time.