ike a lot of girls her age, Ashlee Griffin gets no greater joy than from watching and singing along to YouTube videos of her favorite singers.

But as a child with autism, sharing that joy with others was nearly impossible, until she found the autism support class at West Penn Elementary.Thanks to the support of her teacher at West Penn, Amanda Peters, she recently had a chance to sing the national anthem at a Tamaqua Area High School volleyball game.There was some concern about how she would react, but Ashlee impressed everyone, according to her mother, Heather Griffin."Singing at the game that night was one of the best nights in our lives as parents," Griffin said.Ashlee was diagnosed with autism at age 3. But she has always had a passion for music, which is clear when you meet her. She uses her mom's cellphone to watch YouTube videos of songs. Her tastes range from pop to classic rock - she loves Pink, Journey, and of course her namesake, Ashlee Simpson.Griffin said that while they don't do many of the things that mothers and daughters typically do, they connect through music."I see my daughter live in her own world daily and just wanted to become part of that world to be able to communicate with my daughter.For the last three years, Ashlee has been a student at West Penn Elementary in the autism support program.It's taken time, but Griffin said that the program, and especially Ms. Peters, has decreased Ashlee's anxiety in social situations.Griffin says while Ashlee always had a negative reaction when she would leave her, now she's excited about being in school."She's been so good for Ashlee, helped her with everything," she said. "They're so encouraging in school."For months, people suggested to Griffin that it would be a good idea to get Ashlee to sing at a sporting event. So over the summer, she decided that she would teach Ashlee "The Star Spangled Banner.""She learned it over the summer completely. It took time, but it's all up to her," Griffin said.Ashlee practiced a few times at the Tamaqua Area High School gym before her big debut.Finally her debut came before a packed house, and it was a hit."To see a 10-year-old girl who could not speak any words to hearing her belt out our national anthem was more exciting then any amount of money in the world," Griffin said.Videos of the performance quickly spread online, being played hundreds of times on Facebook and YouTube.Griffin hoped to get the video to Ashlee Simpson. While that didn't happen, she said that the experience will hopefully get Ashlee closer to her goal of meeting Simpson.And she couldn't say enough about the staff of the autism support group at West Penn."It takes a really special, special person to be able to deal with autism," she said."She's being included more and more, thanks to them."If you want to watch Ashlee's performance, you can check it out on YouTube at

http://bit.ly/2fIDNEp.