About Alex

If you know me very well, you probably know that I have a fifteen year old son who has Autism. If you have been to our church or been around me, there is a good chance you would have seen him or heard me talking about him. He is pretty hard to miss: very loud and moves around a lot. He can be difficult to understand because he has unusual speech patterns and usually speaks to himself in the third person - often during quiet or inappropriate times. He repeats phrases again and again while rapidly tracing letters with his index finger in the air as though he is writing out his thoughts on an invisible chalkboard. His laughter is high-pitched, loud and contagious. He sings a lot - his choir teacher once told us she thought he had perfect pitch. He knows the titles and writers of countless songs and movies. He remembers people's names with frightening accuracy and he has a great understanding of direction. He used to tell us what exits to take on the toll road when he was six when we took long drives. Alex has an effective IQ of about 88. He can read and write at a 2nd or 3rd grade level. He is driven by time and gets frustrated if something doesn't happen when it's supposed to. He has difficulty remaining focused enough to accomplish even the most basic of tasks like getting dressed. He almost always puts his shirt on backwards. Personal hygiene is a challenge. He can go into a panic if he feels like he is alone so we make sure that an adult is with him 24/7.

I have never written about Alex before but I think you should know who he is. My wife, Chris and I have shaped our lives around Alex and the disease that affects him and thousands of other children around the world. He has become as much of who we are as we are. Over the course of my life with him, I have felt that God has spoken to me through him; sometimes through the miraculous and sometimes through painful experiences. I will probably be writing about some of those but I thought it important I introduce him to you, first.