If you, like me, are home now full-time with your autistic child, please know a few things:

1. You can do this -- you are mighty
2. You may not feel mighty
3. I am praying for you every day

We all know how much any change to routine is hard for our children-- all children in fact, but especially children and adults on the Spectrum. Many states, including mine, has asked us all to stay home - not to engage in public programs and not to gather in groups.

What this means for the ASD Community is of ...
Continue reading ...

Thinking today of what I wanted to write about, I came across a journal abstract published in May of this year. If you are one of those who likes to read the full story, click here. The publication is The Journal of Religion, Disability & Health. Here is a quote from the abstract of the article:

 "studies suggest faith community participation may be more limited for people with disabilities and their families. This study reports qualitative findings from a mixed-methods study exploring the ...
Continue reading ...

A few days ago, a study presented in Environmental Health Perspectives journal (reported here) offered a potential glimpse into a linked between pollution and autism. The study, headed by Dr.Deborah Cory-Slechta of University of Rochester Medcical Center, found changes in the brains of mice exposed as babies to fine air particle pollution. These changes correlate to the brain diferences found in people with autism.

As many of us know, the search for the "cause" of autism is a primary source of...
Continue reading ...

It came to me rather forcefully at our last Special Grace service (this past Sunday) how acclimated I have become to living in what we optimistically believe to be a sensory-friendly worship experience.

Sadly, we once again had no families coming to worship (more on this later) but we DID have some guests -- visitors from another church in the Diocese. Guests are always fun because they give a chance to articulate what we live. I know for myself I am often so immersed in how we do what we do t...
Continue reading ...

Recently someone asked why we see A Special Grace as a Ministry of Evangelism and Mission. "After all, they said,"its really a wealthy white family phenomenon." You can imagine my reaction.

Even setting aside (with difficulty) the outrageous racism in presuming that "Mission" is only applied to ministries engaged with non-white populations (a whole other blog post!), the presumption of whiteness in autism spectrum diagnoses is..well...weird.

There's no reality to it.

A British Journal of Psych...
Continue reading ...

I hear this on a daily basis. I know, I get it. Establishing a pattern of regular worship with a family member on the Autism Spectrum IS hard. We'd like to say it's not, we'd like to say it's a breeze, no problem. But that isn't the reality. The reality is, it is STINKIN' hard.

Church is hard from a sensory standpoint. Churches tend to be "echoey" places, where sudden loud bangs from dropped kneelers are not at all uncommon. Any music being played is often quite loud and orchestral (split into...
Continue reading ...