{"id":341039,"date":"2026-07-15T16:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341039\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:04:10","slug":"miami-autism-dad-lucas-castillo-on-growing-up-as-a-special-needs-sibling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/341039\/","title":{"rendered":"Miami Autism Dad: Lucas Castillo on Growing Up as a Special Needs Sibling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"PDq2pG_selectionAnchorContainer\" data-start=\"125\" data-end=\"332\">On this episode of Miami Autism Dad, host Victor Antunez sits down with 13-year-old Lucas Castillo for an honest conversation about a role in special needs families that is often overlooked: the sibling.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"334\" data-end=\"630\">Lucas is the brother of Matthew, a child with special needs, and shares what it is really like growing up beside him. He discusses the difficult days, the experiences his classmates may not understand, and why he sometimes feels as though he has had to grow up faster than other children his age.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"632\" data-end=\"1034\">This conversation is also about love, strength, and family. Lucas explains how Matthew has brought their family closer and how he recognized his brother\u2019s abilities even before their parents fully understood what Matthew could accomplish. Fiercely protective and deeply compassionate, Lucas shares what he wishes other children knew about respecting, including, and supporting people with disabilities.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1036\" data-end=\"1213\">Lucas also reflects on the lessons he has learned as a disability sibling and offers an encouraging message to other brothers and sisters carrying the same quiet responsibility.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1215\" data-end=\"1358\">The Castillo family supports the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Foundation (PMSF) and celebrates Matthew\u2019s journey through Team Matthew Luis.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1360\" data-end=\"1443\">Follow Team Matthew Luis on Instagram:<br data-start=\"1398\" data-end=\"1401\"\/><a class=\"decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/teammatthewluis\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-start=\"1401\" data-end=\"1443\">https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/teammatthewluis\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1445\" data-end=\"1576\">\ud83d\udc49 Get Miami-Dade disability resources, local events, family stories, and community news delivered directly to your inbox for free.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1578\" data-end=\"1622\">Subscribe here:<br data-start=\"1593\" data-end=\"1596\"\/><a class=\"decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/victorantunez.com\/\" target=\"_new\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-start=\"1596\" data-end=\"1622\">https:\/\/victorantunez.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n    Connect To Your Customers &amp; Grow Your Business&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"link-button connect-customer-business\" href=\"https:\/\/communitynewspapers.com\/request-information\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click Here<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1780414665_361_Bugle-Boy.jpg\" scale=\"0\"\/><\/p>\n<p>          <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On this episode of Miami Autism Dad, host Victor Antunez sits down with 13-year-old Lucas Castillo for an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-341039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}