autism spectrum disorder (ASD)
Summary: Sensory processing disorders affect a disproportionate number of special needs children, both during the day and night, particularly in the autism community. Co-founded by the father of an autistic son with severe sensory challenges, zPods® is a startup on a mission to provide these children with a safe space where they can get better sleep to maximize their daytime behavior and happiness. The lessons that zPods® is learning have technological application in the broader community. zPods and the Search the Ideal Environment for Children With Sensory Processing Disorder
BECOMING AWARE OF MY SON’S WORLD During the early years of our marriage, my wife Christina and I had the good fortune to live in Germany. We moved there just six weeks after Christina gave birth to our oldest son Jo- seph. Both the birth and the willingness to pick up and go to a foreign country with so little recovery time and virtually no knowledge of the German language were acts of self-sacrifice
and heroism on the part of my spouse, as far as I’m concerned. My poor baby was not even capable of holding his head up for the passport photo, and you can see my fingers supporting his chin so that we could get a shot that would satisfy U.S. regula- tions pertaining to identification. In that formative stage of Joseph’s life, he gave us small clues that he was different from other boys his age. He stared at the
GEORGE BAILEY is the “President Sleep Talker” of zPods®, a Saint Louis startup and recipient of an Arch Grants award that is developing sensory-friendly beds for high-energy children, including those with autism. He also sits on the board of directors for Autism Speaks St. Louis and the On The Spectrum Founda - tion and is engaged in his community and church. A former award-winning university instructor, George obtained his JD from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law and his MA in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and BA in Chinese from Brigham Young University. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, German, and Danish. George and his wife have five children, three of which are blessed with autism.
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