autism
ATASTE OF SUCCESS ThisFair Lawn bakery’ s mission istobreak barriers for workers with autism WRITTEN BY STEPHANIE NODA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANNE-MARIE CARUSO
Soon after Oradell’ s Kelly Castro learned that her son had autism, she began hearing the tough truth from other parents: School programs and other support for autistic children largely disappear after kids turn 21.
“ No matter where Iwas, nomatter who Iwas speaking to, every single [ parent ], they all described itthe same way: Once they turn 21, they fall off acliff,” Castro said.“ I didn’ t understand at first, but one mom told me,‘ Everything your son gets right now, that all goes away.’”
Instead of accepting that fact, Castro has set out in her own way tochange the status quo. InMarch, she opened her second business designed toprovide work opportunities and training to adults with autism.
Her Fair Lawn bakery, Just aTaste of New Jersey at 25-05 Broadway, not only works with adult students with autism, it also features goods and products from other local businesses that employ people with disabilities.
“ There’ sall this focus on these individuals in school, orearly intervention before they are even in school, on‘ how do we get them to progress?’” Castro said.“ It’ sall about progress, and then they turn 21 and don’ t have anything to do with the skills they worked so hard to get.”
Just aTaste is an expansion of the operation she started out of her home in 2023, Carson’ sCookie Dough, which also trains students with autism. The business was inspired by Castro’ s 8-year-old son, Carson, who was diagnosed with autism at an early age.
His mother was“ terrified” after hearing about the diminishing prospects for kids like Carson once school support runs out.
She started renting time at akitchen
HELPING HANDS Kyle Evetts measures flour; Mark Gagui behind the counter; Kelly Castro and Isabel Aranda share amoment. in the Westwood Community Center, where she would work with two to three adult students with autism at a time, helping them learn to prepare and make her cookies. But scheduling became difficult, as the kitchen was shared with other people.
Castro searched for abigger space to call her own and found something unexpected: aformer bakery in Fair Lawn that provided both akitchen and astorefront. Instead of just making cookies, she realized, she also could sell products of businesses with asimilar mission.
She called the venture Just aTaste because it’ smeant to give customers“ a taste of what these adults are able to do,” Castro said. Products on sale include popcorn from Piscataway-based Popcorn for the People, coffee from Little Falls and Morristown cafe Ethan & the Bean, honey from Pony Power Therapies of Mahwah, and more.
“ Every product that we have in there is made byacompany which specifically hires adults with autism, Down syndrome, and differently abled adults,” Castro said.
Having her own storefront has been a“ complete game changer” for Castro’ s efforts, she said. About 20 adult students can now participate five days a week tolearn job skills, such as speaking with customers, making coffee or running aregister. The volunteers are people ages 18to21who attend autism programs at Cresskill public schools, Northern Valley Regional High School and the Park Ridge school district and in Little Falls.
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