Viviana Espada sympathizes with those around her. She’s an aspiring artist who cares about everyone, feeling sadness or satisfaction when others aren’t able to. Arrive home angry after a frustrating day at work and that soon-to-be 9-year-old will notice.
“She can sense my moods,” her father, Joe, said this winter, recalling a story. Over the past six seasons, the Houston Astros have been mired in such a slump that he stopped smiling as much at home. Out of nowhere, Viviana asked him why.
“She cares so much about the little things,” Joe said this week. “It allows me to kind of control how she reacts to the smallest things. I’m like, ‘Dude, it’s nothing.’ The game, the routine on the baseball fields is nothing (compared) to what she has to go through.
Perspective is lost in the life of a baseball season. Joe Espada receives it every time he enters his house. A missed call, a bad pass or a series of second places in manager searches are nothing compared to the difficulties encountered by her daughter.
Doctors diagnosed Viviana with autism shortly after the Espadas moved to Houston in 2018, providing finality after a few years of developmental delays and uncertainty about what caused them.
“She makes me a better person,” Joe said. “She makes me work harder on communication, listening and knowing that things aren’t easy. You have to be patient, sit down and take the time to understand what people are going through. She really helped me achieve a lot in life.
Tuesday night, Joe will crouch behind home plate to watch Viviana’s ceremonial first pitch before Autism Awareness Night at Minute Maid Park, a game aimed at celebrating people living with autism and recognizing the challenges which they face.
Three sections of Minute Maid Park – 156, 305 and 405 – will benefit from lower volume from the sound system, while another will feature a sensory room for those who need it. Awareness groups will also be present.
“I think it opens your mind to people and the different challenges that we all face, whether you have a diagnosis or not,” Joe’s wife Pam said. “’It makes people think about how you treat someone or tell your kids to be nice to people.’
The Espadas’ oldest daughter, Eliana, spoke in full sentences by the time she was 18 months old. Viviana didn’t meet the same standards as her sister, but because children develop at different rates, the delay didn’t immediately worry Pam or Joe.
The ages of Viviana’s other children continued to reach levels she had not reached. Joe noticed that she had difficulty communicating with children her age in parks or at meetings while the family still lived in New York. Viviana – who the family calls “Vivi” – started talking and had what her mother called “a pretty decent vocabulary.” But a subsequent visit to the pediatrician raised a peculiar question: Could Vivi connect two words together? Pam said she couldn’t, so doctors suggested an early intervention program for toddlers suspected of having intellectual disabilities.
“At that time, she was so little they couldn’t even diagnose her with autism,” Pam said. “Usually between 3 and 4 o’clock would be the earliest point.”
Early intervention programs offer a variety of therapies to children who may be on the spectrum. Psychologists, speech therapists and occupational therapists all saw Viviana, who began attending a smaller school alongside other children with developmental disabilities to jumpstart her socialization.
After Joe accepted the Astros bench coach job in 2018, the family moved to Houston and founded THINK, a Texas-based neurology center specializing in the treatment of children. Pam sought clarification on an as-yet-undiagnosed illness and sent for Vivi. At the end of a 45-minute appointment, doctors told Pam and Joe that their daughter had autism.
“It’s hard to hear even if it’s something you thought it would be, just because it’s a challenge,” Pam said. “For her, she’s grown so much and she works so hard and I think that shows her resilience. I hope one day, in some way, I hope she appreciates being a little different. But there are definitely difficult days and difficult things.
On the day of Vivi’s diagnosis, doctors told Pam, “If 100 is severe autism, Viviana is like an 8.” According to her mother, Vivi is “on the spectrum, but very low on the spectrum.” Noises or lights do not affect her and she is able to move through crowds at Minute Maid Park without problem. She even spent Friday night on the field for postgame fireworks, soaking in her father’s second game as a major league manager.
Some sensory issues arise from time to time – things as simple as sometimes not wanting to wear a backpack to school. An overflow crowd at Joe’s introductory press conference overwhelmed Vivi a little, but not enough to stop her from giving a candid interview in front of a multitude of cameras.
The sweetest 45 seconds from Joe Espada’s press conference today: His daughters Eliana, 12, and Viviana, 8, open up about what it’s like to watch their dad fulfill his dream of becoming@astrosnew manager.#Astros @fox26houston pic.twitter.com/VSVMJVY8pq
– Maggie Mckethan (@maggiemckethan) November 13, 2023
“Seeing how hard she worked, that’s what I’m most proud of,” Joe said. “How hard she works trying to learn skills that she knows she needs to work on. It’s been amazing to watch her and how far she’s come.
“She’ll tell me, ‘My mind gets stuck,'” Pam said. “She can’t get over something, so she’ll break down a little bit.”
Therapy helps Vivi better verbalize her feelings. She attends a mainstream school, where she is passionate about science and art. Getting involved in more extracurricular activities is a goal, but sometimes its competitiveness creates too much anxiety.
As Vivi approaches age nine, she becomes increasingly aware of her diagnosis, but only realizing that “my friends don’t go to therapy.” Her family isn’t worried about whether they understand her diagnosis accurately.
“Who really wants to be defined by that?” It’s not who you are,” Pam said. “But I think by telling people all these things, it puts a different face on some people.
“As a parent, it doesn’t matter if you have a neurotypical child or someone with some kind of disability, no one gives you a book. You try to do your best and help them have the best life possible – to be happy.
Concerns about Vivi’s future loom, but what parents don’t worry? Pam prefers to quote her husband, who often reminds her: “God doesn’t give you more than He thinks you can handle.” Joe has always loved children, Pam said, and he empathizes with them in a way that other adults can’t. He now has a perfect child to complete him.
“People think of autism as a disease,” Joe said. “I see her as a special kid who has skills. She’s a great artist. She’s super caring, super sweet and I just couldn’t imagine her being any different than she is.
(Top photo: Courtesy of Espadas)