Dear ASHA, My name is Rhema and I am autistic. I was trapped in silence for twelve years. My autistic body would not obey my intelligent mind. To be totally stuck in your own head is a nightmare. Sometimes I hurt myself and did destructive things because I was so absolutely frustrated. The one hope I had was one day that I would have a voice bigger than I could imagine. My mother took me to learn RPM and this was the moment I was sure I would be able to speak one day. It took a lot of work but I learned to make my finger point on my letterboard and keyboard and I learned t ..read more

“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – ~Emily Dickinson When Hope was 3 or 4 years old she wanted to know what in the world I did with myself when she wasn’t around. Especially after she went to bed. I told her I go flying at night for exercise. “Really?” she asked wide-eyed. “Yep. After you fall asleep, I grow a tail and feathers. My nose curves into a beak. And I flap my wings and soar through the air.” “Where do you go when you fly???” “Oh, I just fly around the neighborhood. With my other bird fr ..read more

Today Rhema teamed up with her friend Miss Jess to share a presentation with a wonderful team of specialists at Boston Ability Center. Rhema agreed to share part of her presentation here. To help Rhema prepare, Jess provided the questions. Question: How do we walk the fine line between choosing activities/designing therapy for our patients (autistic individuals) that is functional for classrooms, social scenarios, the work place, etc. while also incorporating the idea that we don’t want to “force” our clients to act as neurotypical individuals. What kind of therapy would you like to get if you ..read more

In 2017, Rhema moved from the letterboard to the keyboard. Some of our favorite Rhema quotes this year: to you i am a girl who found her voice but i am a bird who has taken to the sky . i am a hyena who laughs at the world . i am a frog who jumps for joy . i am an aard vark who . play s all day . with worms . i am a lion who rulles the day.  i am a giraffe standing talle r than ever . i am free. * Only receiving answers to prayers does absolutely nothing To notice how much God shows his love we have to learn to trust when the answer is no * “I do not want to cure autism Autism only is a p ..read more

Years ago, I began reading The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida. Naoki is a non-speaking autistic young man who communicates through the use of an alphabet grid and computer. I was eager to read his thoughts, hoping to unearth insights into my own daughter, hoping to find a reason to believe that she too had words inside waiting to be unlocked. But as I read, I discovered that Naoki did have some spoken language. It was largely echolalic language, but that fact alone caused me to put Naoki in a different category, a “higher” category than my girl. Rhema had no spoken language – the few words s ..read more

Rhema’s story (and our story) was shared in church on Easter Sunday. Rhema said, “to hear my words in auditorium was so amazing. only God could do this.” (Thank you, Michael Curtis and M & T Films ..read more

Rhema and her precious friend Syd often have play dates on Sundays. When I ask Rhema what she wants to do with her friend, her answer is almost always “talk.” She treasures it, after all the years of silence, the gift of conversation. And she genuinely enjoys getting to know her friend better. On this particular day, she typed: i want to talk with syd about girl stuff. And with those simple words I remembered once again that my soon to be thirteen-year-old girl is my soon to be thirteen-year-old girl. Her days don’t look very much like those of other girls her age, but she shares many of ..read more

Our church has been doing a series entitled “Who Cares? Caring for those who are not just like ‘us’”. Today Rhema and our family had the opportunity to share about life as a special needs family, our experiences in church (good and bad), and practical ways the church can come alongside and support families like ours. This is a topic that has long been near and dear to my heart. I’ve written a lot about our desire to see (and help!) churches implement creative ways to reach special needs communities. A few years ago I wrote about my ‘odd dream, a desperate prayer and an even bigger hope’ that R ..read more

Last night Rhema shared her story with an audience of 300 people, primarily college students. She spent days typing her message. She used the text-to-speech app on her iPad. Last night she pressed the “Speak” button and the app spoke her words and were broadcast on a screen. It was such a special moment. Here is her story in her own words: My name is Rhema and I have autism. One year ago I found my voice through pointing on my board. It was my only way to share the story of how God saved me and I am so happy to tell it to the world. When I was younger I could not speak with my mouth but I ..read more

This week Rhema attended a science class at her beloved friend S’s school. She stayed in her coat with the hood pulled up and her headphones on. She colored vigorously on paper, and she never looked up while Miss O, the teacher, or other students were speaking. A few times she got up to throw balled up paper in the trash or walk to the front of the class to get to Miss O’s desks and find new markers. To many it would appear that she was completely out of place and “in her own world” because the environment was too much for her. Or that she was incapable of paying attention. Or that the science ..read more