What is autism? The word is frightening; it conjures images of children sitting in a corner and rocking. In fact, the word means "self oriented" and describes a wide variety of syndromes where a child's damaged nervous system fails to support normal social development. Autistic persons usually have trouble giving normal eye contact, and if they are capable of learning normal social behavior, have to actually "learn" it, like a foreign language. They cannot "soak it up" as typical children do, simply by interacting with adults and other children.
Some autistic children can speak quite well, but fail to understand the proper social uses of speech. They may give monologues or fail to pick up on their listener's lack of interest in a topic.
Other, quite different children may speak little or not at all. They may only be able to express themselves by squealing or grunting; or by physical gestures.
Parents of these children are often very isolated by their inappropriate behavior. It is hard to feel welcome if your (older) child is screaming or crawling on the floor. It is an additional challenge to the Christian community to see Jesus even in persons such as these.
From a flyer distributed at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church, Roseville, MN. June 6, 1999.