Education on Autism Outreach
Fourteen months after accepting the job as Champions Team Lead (and my first real introduction to autism), God had other plans for Cynthia. Our church needed a new ministry director. And yikes, it was me!
To prepare to lead our church’s special-needs ministry, I took classes at U.C. Davis. That proved to be tremendously helpful. Our Champions families (now about 40 of them) have children with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, cognitive disabilities, and various behavioral issues, but mostly autism.
From my experience, autism is like no other special need. It’s a neurodevelopmental disorder that can co-exist with other disorders, as well as with supreme giftings. Autism affects boys four times more than girls, but for some reason, seems more profound in girls.
The spectrum ranges from individuals who are completely nonverbal and appear to be withdrawn into their own world, to individuals who are highly verbal and genius level (sometimes referred to as Asperger’s syndrome). The “in between” on the spectrum includes every combination of abilities and disabilities. If you’ve met one child with autism, it doesn’t mean you understand autism.
Challenges & Beauty of Autism Outreach
The social part of an autistic brain is where we see challenges. The beauty and complexity of autism is in a sometimes diminished desire to please others. This can be freeing and exasperating. Whereas a “typical” individual catches on to unwritten behavior rules, a person with autism may lack the awareness needed to receive and interpret social cues. This can lead to undesirable isolation.
Individuals with autism may be more logical but lacking in the ability to appreciate or process emotion. A person with autism may not look others in the eye or read the body language of those around them.
We see examples of this in our ministry when a student enjoys talking at length about an encyclopedia-like fact without seeing the signs of boredom among listeners. The good news? We can often teach social skills that individuals diagnosed with autism can master.
Years after beginning my service inside our church’s special needs ministry, I am confident in God’s provision for my personal ministry and compelled to learn more about autism. Autism outreach has changed my life. My heart is to make friends with autism, to understand it, and to relate to it. I am as a missionary immersing myself in a culture to reach people for Jesus. ~ Kelly Sapp
