Danielle Easley has pursued her passions through most of her life.
For 14 years, that passion was softball. She played at Hilldale High School, with a competitive traveling team and at University of Arkansas and Oklahoma State University.
She said she spent much of college unsure of a major until her grandpa had a stroke
“He and my nana came to all my ballgames,” she said. “He had a stroke, and my nana told me to see about becoming a speech therapist. She said she thought it was something I would be good at.”
Easley earned a bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders from Oklahoma State University and a master’s in speech language pathology from Northeastern State University.
She worked at schools and clinics in Hawaii and Oklahoma City. Since returning to Muskogee, she’s worked at Hilldale Public Schools and various speech clinics.
“I originally wanted to work with adults, but since I got into the program, I found my passion was to work with children,” she said.
She recalled working with one nonspeaking autistic child, Kai Miller, who inspired her to write a book, “Kai’s Superpower.”
“It’s about an autistic child, nonspeaking, but his superpower is his voice and his voice is all the different ways he communicates when he’s unable to voice his wants, needs and ideas,” Easley said.
She also wrote another children’s book, “Baby’s Story Time.”
“The story is actually a bedtime song that I sing to my son,” she said. “We talk about things we’re grateful for before we go to sleep.”
Easley said she was a big reader growing up.
“I read books to my children every single day and night,” she said. “Our house is almost like a children’s book library. I also use a lot of books in therapy sessions with children.”
Both books were published earlier this year. Easley has been busy promoting her books. This included going to the Printers Row Lit Fest earlier this month in Chicago.
She said she has ideas for more books, but doesn’t see herself doing any writing soon.
“Both books took a lot of time, money and energy,” she said.
Early passion was softball
Danielle Easley recalled being passionate about softball since childhood.
“I first started at age 7, and when graduated I was 21,” she said. “All I wanted to do was play softball all the time, work out and play softball.”
She played competitive travel softball each summer with Oklahoma Force 94 in Oklahoma City. All the players were born in 1994, she said.
Easley recalled going to Oklahoma City each weekend to practice. The team went to tournaments across the United States.
She also played with the Hilldale Hornets softball team, coached by her father, Darren Riddle. She said it was a good way to bond with her dad.
Competitive softball offered more practices, more games and stiffer competition, she said. “That’s how I got recruited by the colleges.”
Easley got a scholarship to play at University of Arkansas, then transferred to Oklahoma State University.
“In Division I, I got to travel to a lot of cool places, play against good teams,” she recalled. “Played OU every year. We got beat every year.”
Connects with autistic children
Easley has a passion for helping children with autism.
“I started working with autistic children when I started as a speech therapist,” she said. “Whenever they were working on a caseload, they always gave me the autistic kids. Those are the ones I work the best with. I have a good connection with them.”
She said many people have misconceptions about what autism is.
“All autistic individuals present it very differently,” she said. “The reason it is autism spectrum is that it can go from nonspeaking individuals to individuals who are billionaires and brilliant.”
Easley said she learned important lessons about those who do not speak. She said they communicate through gestures, sign language, pointing or guiding people.
“What I’ve learned is that speaking is not the only form of communication that is valid,” she said. “No matter whether your child is speaking or not, they can still communicate where they’re at.”
Answers ad about book writing
Easley said she never thought about writing a book until earlier this year. She said she saw some advertisements for online courses on children’s book writing, and took the courses.
“Through those courses, I thought of my own ideas of what I could write,” she said.
She recalled a song she used to sing with her son.
“That’s where ‘Baby’s Story Time’ came in, I thought ‘I bet I could get that into print,’” she said. “It’s a catchy song and it could work well as a children’s book because it’s very simple and repetitive.”
She recalled being inspired to write “Kai’s Superpower” while taking a shower.
“I wanted to write a book about an autistic child, but the actual narrative that’s in the book came while I was taking a shower,” she said. “As soon as I got out of the shower, I started writing all of it.”
Easley said she worked hard to make sure the illustrations fit her vision for the book.
“My biggest reward is being able to see my ideas in a book form,” she said. “This song to my son, it’s now a book that will be a memory for both my kids. Kai’s superpower is one I can use daily and share with families and hopefully give them validation.”
HOW DID YOU COME TO BE AN OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE?
“My parents moved here when I started kindergarten because my dad got a job at Hilldale.
“After college, I got married and we moved to Hawaii and lived there for a couple of years. He did not reenlist in the Army, he retired. We moved back here to be close to family.”
WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT MUSKOGEE?
“I like that it’s a small town and that I grew up here. I am familiar with it. I also like that it’s in close proximity to Tulsa, so what we don’t have here, it’s a close drive to Tulsa.”
WHAT WOULD MAKE MUSKOGEE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE?
“Lately they’ve been doing a lot, like getting more restaurants and stores. I think it would be cool if they did more to restore downtown and clean up downtown to make it more walkable. There’s already a few sections that are pretty nice. But the whole downtown should be nicer.”
WHAT PERSON IN MUSKOGEE DO YOU ADMIRE MOST?
“My mom and my dad, Traci and Darren Riddle. They’re both my biggest supporters and always have been. They’re always there for me, and now their grandchildren. They’re amazing grandparents, and they’ve always been good parents to me and my sisters. They helped us strive to do our best in all we do.”
WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU IN MUSKOGEE?
“Being able to purchase our first home. We moved back at very end of 2020. This was the first house we purchased ourselves, so that was special to us.”
WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?
“Mostly, since my kids are so young, spend time with my kids and my family. I go to the gym and exercise, walk my dogs. Nothing too exciting.”
HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP MUSKOGEE IN 25 WORDS OR LESS?
“It has a small town feel to it, but we still have access to restaurants and stores.”