When Gavin Snoke was 18 months old, his parents began to worry. He wasn’t speaking yet. Instead, he communicated through grunts, pointing and tears. At his wellness check, their pediatrician referred them to SARRC, and within months, Gavin was diagnosed with autism.
“It was scary,” says his mom, Jennifer Snoke. “I didn’t know anything about autism. I just knew I would do anything to help my son.”
In March 2022, Gavin started at SARRC’s Community School Tempe campus (one of four SARRC preschool locations). He had never been in a childcare setting before. Jennifer remembers crying on his first day, unsure of what to expect. But she quickly found comfort in the teachers.
The Community School provides high-quality early childhood education for children without autism, while also creating an inclusive environment where students with an autism diagnosis, like Gavin, learn and grow alongside their peers. In these classrooms, students with autism receive individualized, ABA-based support woven into their daily routines — ensuring they thrive both academically and socially.
“The teachers were just so caring and comforting,” she says. “You didn’t feel like you were doing it alone. You felt like you had somebody who cared just as much about your kid as you did.”
At the time, Gavin was nonverbal and easily frustrated. If he couldn’t express what he wanted, he would melt down. The school’s 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio and blended classroom gave him the individualized support he needed.
The biggest change was communication.
“Within a year, we were getting several words out of him,” Jennifer says. “He was able to tell me what he wanted and tell me what was wrong. That was huge. A lot of the reason he would cry and get frustrated was because he couldn’t tell us.”
With guidance from his teachers, Gavin learned to sit through circle time, focus on tasks and build social awareness. Instead of running up to every adult for hugs, he practiced appropriate greetings and peer interaction. He also responded well to positive reinforcement systems in the classroom, proudly earning stars that led to small rewards.
Just as meaningful as his communication growth was a friendship that began at school.
Gavin met Cruz in class, and the two quickly became inseparable. “They are just best buddies,” Jennifer says. The boys were in class together for several years, and their friendship extended beyond school walls. They met at birthday parties, pumpkin patches and even weekly therapy sessions. Today, they still look for each other every Tuesday to share a hug.
For Jennifer, that friendship represents something powerful: connection. Conversations at Community School pickup turned into a lasting family bond, and the two families continue to celebrate milestones together.
Gavin graduated from the Community School in June 2025. During the ceremony, teachers shared personal notes about each child. Jennifer remembers the love in the room.
“You could just tell how much they cared about these kids,” she says.
Now 6 years old and thriving in kindergarten, Gavin still talks about his time at SARRC. “Mom, I want to go back to my old school,” he tells her.
For Jennifer, that says everything.
“He just blossomed,” she said. “Community School gave him his voice — and his best friend.”