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The Five Stages of Discovering Autism: For the Christ following Parent
303 Plays1 year ago
Ever wondered how your journey raising an autistic child as a Christ-following parent can bring glory to God?
Join us as we explore "The Five Stages of Discovering Autism: For the Christ-following Parent." Have you experienced denial before or after receiving your child's autism diagnosis? Did you face grief and eventually come to acceptance? How did you navigate changing family dynamics to this new normal? What is your life like now as you learn more and advocate for your autistic child? These are the stages that we walked through as parents of an autistic child. In this episode, we'll dive deep into each stage, sharing relatable stories, insights, and point each other to the truth of the gospel.
Discover how God's purpose and glory are intricately woven into your unique path of raising autistic disciples. Whether you're seasoned or new to this journey, this series will equip you with the tools and perspective to raise autistic disciples for God's Kingdom.
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Transcript
Introduction & Podcast Purpose
00:00:03
Speaker
Hi, friends. Thanks for listening to Raising Autistic Disciples podcast. This is episode four of the Five Stages of Discovering Autism for the Christ Following Parent. And I have back with me the one, the only, king of all dad jokes, Colin Roberts. I like bad jokes. You're good at them. You make people laugh. Well, there you go. And we need a lot of laughter in our life. Yes, we do. Yes, that is accurate.
00:00:32
Speaker
We've got a lot of hard days, but you are one that keeps us laughing along with our youngest as well, who takes right after you.
Personal Experiences & Intentions
00:00:41
Speaker
Yes. Wow. We have a fourth episode of this podcast.
00:00:47
Speaker
So as far as this particular episode, it has a very long name, very long title. Very long. But it's very intentional. Sure. So why don't you dissect it for us? Sure. What is, what are we talking about? You know me. I am really big on prefacing things. Oh man. Absolutely.
00:01:04
Speaker
I love a good preface. That's right. Our whole marriage has been a preface. It is. I preface everything. I like to make sure that before I say a statement or before I go into a story or conversation, I am prefacing, hey, just before I go into this, you know this, this, this.
00:01:20
Speaker
I will have to say most of the time by the time you get to the actual story the preface is so long and I don't even know what we're talking about. Absolutely. I will take that. That is me. This episode may be a big preface, but just in the terms of it setting up, setting the stage for these stages,
00:01:38
Speaker
Of what we're going to call the five stages of discovering autism. For the christ following parent now that is a chunk but it's it's purposeful but before we get into the details of that. Of this episode of the title we need to say preface is that we're not doctors.
00:01:57
Speaker
We're not counselors, psychiatrists or any professional in the field. We are parents. Yes. We are Graham's mom and dad with firsthand experience where his advocates. As he is on the autism spectrum now, but we do have a point of view, though, of raising and keeping safe, discipling, nurturing, disciplining and helping him navigate the world of autism. Yeah.
00:02:27
Speaker
But we want to be very specific that we, we're not calling ourselves doctors and these stages are not in an encyclopedia of anywhere.
Stages of Discovering Autism
00:02:36
Speaker
You may, you may have some of these, some of the people listening may have experienced the stage as different or may have manifested itself differently. So for us, part of the therapy and the cathartic part of this is just to
00:02:51
Speaker
just to talk out our particular stages. That may be helpful for others going through it. And so I think the encouragement, especially if you're a husband and wife going through it, or if you're a grandparent. Caregiver, yeah. A caregiver, whatever sort. Whoever is in charge of caregiving for your special little ones, and even your adult autistic children, just to be able to spark a conversation. Is this accurate?
00:03:16
Speaker
Because some of the rub between family members or just in general, just between people who are experiencing it on a daily basis and ones that aren't, is just a lack of being seen and talking about things like this.
00:03:34
Speaker
So this point of view is more or less just a, are talking it out and putting it into the world. But it may look different for the people. Right. I think it's also helpful to see yourself where you're at in the process. Yes. Not necessarily labeling it, but just saying, okay, well, I am in this stage, I believe. So how can I either ask for help?
00:04:01
Speaker
or take a new step to try to get in to the next phase, or just... I mean, we're never gonna graduate from this, right? Oh yeah, absolutely. But it's helpful in a sense of knowing that each different stage, in our opinion, has different emotions that bring with it. That's right. And it's the same thing for a Christian life, too. He gives us enough for the next step.
00:04:24
Speaker
And so we're not promised five years down the road, this is what your sanctification is going to yield. Your word is a lamp to my feet. It's a right now moment. And sometimes it feels like that. And so even as you're going through this, these stages are more or less a process of discovering the autism as you're
00:04:45
Speaker
moving towards discipling your little ones.
Faith & Parenting
00:04:48
Speaker
And so part of the big preface of this episode is
00:04:54
Speaker
to set up the stages so that as you're seeing how the Lord has worked in your, in your lives, that it's, you just give it words. Sure. Give it a place to celebrate. That's a, that's a great way to put it. Episode title, the five stages of discovering autism for the Christ following parent. So we could have just ended it with autism. Why, why do we tack on the ending statement for the Christ following parent?
00:05:18
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and it goes back to the reason why, why this is like we talked about the beginning, why this podcast exists for us as parents is it's an intentional, we want you to know, we want our kids to know who the Lord is, know who God is. And for the Holy Spirit to work out love in their heart, no matter how it is going to be rent, how it's going to be taught. So for adding for the Christian parent or the Christ following parent is out of your, out of your discipleship and your love for the Lord.
00:05:47
Speaker
your natural desire should be for your children to do the same. These five stages are not supposed to be a crippling, demoralizing thing. Let's give words to it. Let's give feet to it because the Lord is present in the suffering. He's not external. He's not just transcendent. He's imminent. He's near. That's a good thing. We're studying through the Psalms right now as a church.
00:06:14
Speaker
It just, some of this just gives language to the anatomy of our soul. Like, why are we feeling this way? And so that's a lot of what these stages are intended to communicate is that it's not a, you're not, this is not destroying. This is a, is an effort to give words and to give feet to what the Lord's doing.
00:06:32
Speaker
Absolutely well. So jumping in, really, this episode could have had many titles. It could have had the title of the big preface. It could have the title of what we're naming it now, discovering autism for the Christ-following parent or the five stages. But it also, really what we need to hit on in this episode is there is a pre-stage.
00:06:56
Speaker
or what comes before you step into the five stages.
Recognizing Signs of Autism
00:07:02
Speaker
And what do you think that is? Do you want me to name it or do you want to give the illustration? You go ahead and give your illustration. If it's going to be a pre-stage, it might as well be a stage. Sure. But essentially at the end of the day, what we're going to be talking about today is the check engine light, so to speak.
00:07:20
Speaker
Like you're driving along, things seem to be going well or well enough. And then there just comes a point in time where you just, the check engine light comes on and something's wrong, right? So before you even get to the denial and the diagnosing of all it is, and then the stages that we're going to discuss, there's a clear moment in time, probably for all of you were just like, wait a minute, something's off. And not in a overly negative way, just like there's something clinical here, something that we are not equipped for.
00:07:50
Speaker
And, and even sometimes maybe shift. Okay. I'm not just a pet parent, like something is something needs to be, something needs to be looked at here. And so that's the goal of this episode is to talk about that pre-stage and to introduce them. Sure. And so that check engine light, so to speak.
00:08:07
Speaker
Which is, so that's the guy language equivalent to what we'll call something's not right. Yeah, that's right. So there is a something's not right pre-stage. And that's a stage that happens with all diagnoses. Like, hey, just something's not right here. Let's take a closer look. Let's get some help here. So just really kind of wanted to...
00:08:30
Speaker
tell our story a little bit deeper touched on it a little bit in the introduction but our something's not right began about three and a half years ago. Graham's currently six years old will be seven and a few months and so when he was around two years old
00:08:49
Speaker
Bless his heart. He was living the life as the only boy. And a week after his two-year-old birthday, we had Levi. And so he became a big brother and kind of rocked his world. But he was a, I mean, from what we were seeing, a normal two-year-old, right? Normal two-year-old boy, loved dirt and cars and outside. Did you remember that video you sent me when he was in the doctor's office and he's sitting there?
00:09:18
Speaker
Can you send it to me yes is babble away is babble away and it's the cutest thing ever clapping hands babbling doesn't sound like words but it's just talking away like he's yeah.
00:09:30
Speaker
Absolutely. So that was during before Levi. So I think for us, we were in a different state than we are now. And for me, when it kind of clicked, when I had that moment, and it was probably a series of moments, but where I remember or where I can read back in my journals is the fall festival, the Halloween thing at our church, the fall festival train.
00:10:00
Speaker
And when I say train, I mean, we lived in the South. Um, and so there was a, a lawnmower and a Deacon and a bunch of those barrel things behind it and a lot of Tootsie Rolls. And so all I remember is getting there and I am, I am a Levi's a baby. I am, he's in the carrier and I'm just really excited about
00:10:23
Speaker
when we got home that night eating all my kids candy. And that's what I'm excited about, right? And that did not happen because the moment Graham laid eyes on this lawnmower train, he got in one of those barrels the moment we got there.
00:10:40
Speaker
And that thing took at least 100 laps. In the three hours that we were there and he did not get out. No, he wouldn't get out and he wouldn't get out and they loved it. The conductor, I mean, every, every loop, it was another two year old. Graham was living his life. And so.
00:10:58
Speaker
Thought this is he sees all the jumpers. He sees the petting zoo He sees candy everywhere, but he's not getting out of this train and I mean We're gonna say a lot probably in this episode if I knew then what I know now kind of thing Yeah, I can see well, that's sensory. That's that's movement. That's a train, you know kind of thing And so that's when really I started to go this is this is a little bit, you know crazy, this is something's
00:11:24
Speaker
Probably not right, but I yeah, I wasn't I wasn't there yet completely. Yeah after that You know getting into two and a half years old we we were experiencing some some behavior and that probably as I look back now
00:11:39
Speaker
that was a hard season in our life. I think the behavior really, because our daughter, our daughter did not have behavior issues. I mean, she wasn't, she wasn't perfect of course, but she was a girl. She wanted to obey. But even in those moments at, cause it was specifically during at a childcare
00:12:01
Speaker
most of his, um, his behavioral, my, probably all of his behavioral outbursts were at preschool. Yeah. And he was not talking then to, I remember our friends had a little boy, similar age, um, and was just talking away. And so I do remember grandma talking and, and that was still the stage of like, Oh, he's just late bloomer, you know,
00:12:23
Speaker
He'll talk kind of thing. Like I mentioned in the introduction episode, like he'll talk when he wants to kind of thing. And so, uh, but we kept hearing like almost every time we would pick him up, he just doesn't listen or he's too aggressive. I mean, he bites all the time, which we thought normal two year old behavior, two and a half year old behavior. Um, at this point he's almost three. He was still a two and a half year old boy at home, but these,
00:12:47
Speaker
types of things weren't happening at home for us to mitigate and us to correct. Because most of it was when other, looking back on it, when other children were involved, when it came to toy sharing, when it came to things that he couldn't communicate, I want that and you have it. And then he would resort to what he needed to, to get what he needed. But it was a very distinct moment in time and
00:13:16
Speaker
And obviously I'll never forget cause I was the one that get to experience this. I mean, it was day after day that that particular year he did this wrong. He's doing this wrong in the, in this particular situation that the person running that particular program as old school, the right word, maybe I go old school or very old school way of seeing all children and that, um, if they bite.
00:13:43
Speaker
What do we do? We make him feel the sensation, we bite him back, and then he won't do it anymore. And I'll never forget the moment whenever I heard that. And then that very day, this person pulling me in a room and praying over his discipline. Praying over your discipline at home. Yes, absolutely. Saying you were lacking in some area of discipline. And that somehow that was the
00:14:11
Speaker
Uh, no coming alongside, no, no being in, and now listen, we're not perfect parents and we're not perfectly disciplined by any stretch of the imagination. But there was, there was clearly in that moment, there was something that was, that was wrong. And, um, and it's just, in that moment now, looking back on it is, it's so easy to see that. I know, I know in this very moment, when I see a child acting, acting out in a grocery store,
00:14:42
Speaker
My whole mind is reversed. Exactly. Right. Like my first thought is maybe that child's stimming, maybe this child has not that everybody's autistic. When you see major outbursts and you see something like where somebody's in anxiety and distress, or even when they're acting in a similar behavior, that you're there's, there needs to be a level of empathy and sympathy that steps back and before proceeding into the let's fix this.
00:15:11
Speaker
It's parent lacking discipline as a parent liking discipline or there's just gotta be something you're not doing well dad or you're not doing well mom, right?
Challenges with External Advice
00:15:19
Speaker
that if you'll just let me help you I can fix it and It was hard and hurtful. Absolutely and like I said, I don't mind corrective. Sure feedback and kind of you know, like your youngest child he's He's a lot
00:15:35
Speaker
We need all the help I can get a ton of energy. And he's a, but in, as far as that go, who may not discipline him well, but being able to, being able to shift in that moment, in that room when she was praying, that was a moment for me, it was just like.
00:15:52
Speaker
Not only is this not, it doesn't, it's not that it doesn't feel right. It's like we don't have something's off. Well, I remember vividly too. And listen, we're just sharing our life and sharing our story so that we can convey that we have, we are in this with, I think feedback has been
00:16:11
Speaker
story after story of those listening have said I've had a similar story and I remember vividly you calling me on the phone one day after that hard year of like you said every day after every day after every day and I remember you calling me on the phone because you know you had to work I had to work too but I was working from home thankfully I own my own business and you just said hey I need you to come get him and I thought oh
00:16:36
Speaker
What again, like what, what did, and at this point it was so like, it was one thing after the other that I just gave him grace because he was two and a half. And so I just finally was like, okay, I'll come and get him. I didn't ask what he did. I didn't everything. And you put him in the car and you put him in his car seat and you looked at me and you said,
00:16:55
Speaker
I was called to come down and to either spank him or to help him get control of himself. And you said to me, you felt the Holy Spirit say something so simple in your heart that every time you walk down this hallway, he only sees angry dad. That's right. Yeah. And you said you weren't going to do it anymore. Yeah. Because it was because when I would, every time I turned the corner, it was just sheer terror in his eyes. Not because of me.
00:17:25
Speaker
But just because whatever was triggering at the moment, it was just too much for him to handle. Yeah. And I'll be honest, I do look back at those times and I know I think this is a pre-stage for a lot of us parents when we did not know. Yes. And it floods me with guilt.
00:17:43
Speaker
Oh, a hundred percent. Like that's a moment. Yeah. Yeah. And all the time where it's. But God's grace has washed over us for those moments. Um, so yeah. So just kind of moving on from that, like there's a lot in between there. Of course, everybody's stories has, has a lot of details, but, uh, we then moved. That was it. That was a big deal in and of itself. We're moving to a new place. We don't know anybody. Um, we're putting our kid, which we know there's something not right.
Starting Evaluations & Understanding
00:18:11
Speaker
So from our previous pediatrician, we had gotten some hints before we moved here. Like it was, it was becoming more clear every time we had to fill out those sheets about what he can and can't do. It was like, right. None of this. He can't do this. He can't do that. He can't do that. I remember, I remember when I went to the last one before we left and I got to check that he, uh, Oh, what was it? He could drink out of a cup by himself. We celebrated. Heck yeah.
00:18:40
Speaker
one out of 60. Even those sheets were demoralizing. Yeah, those were tough. Like I said, working is tough with with a child with autism. I mean, so kudos to you moms and dads who work and then juggle childcare and then maybe having to get called to
00:18:58
Speaker
to help or whatnot. So that is totally leaning on the Lord in that aspect. But we got here because I was working and you were too, we needed childcare. And so this preschool that was near our house, actually near our church too, and we said, you know, we've heard good things, we're going to sign them up. So we did. And we actually had a visit with the director beforehand because we were nervous.
00:19:26
Speaker
And so we were kind of learning at this point, like, hey, we don't need to spray anything on anybody. And so we had a meeting with her and she asked me, hey, he can come, you can register him, but you're going to need to stay after you drop him off. And so day comes, Levi goes to the baby room and I drop Graham off.
00:19:51
Speaker
Well, I think I was naive and from what we'll talk about next episode, I was definitely in denial. This is going to work. It's going to be fine. He's a preschooler. They're preschool teachers. They're trained for this, you know, kind of thing. Well, I left and she called me within 15 minutes. Hey, Ms. Roberts, we asked you not to leave, like, and she was kind about it. Hey, can you come back?
00:20:15
Speaker
Sure, absolutely. Well, between the time I left and the time I got back there, things had already escalated, gotten rough. We're not trained for this, which was okay. That's right, yes. But it's still got me. Yes, absolutely.
00:20:31
Speaker
is, you know, we're not trained for this. We're not trained for him. Yeah. And so, but she invited us into her office. I was crying. You were there. You had come over from work and, you know, she was sorry, but she knew I'm trying to protect y'all. That's right. Yeah.
00:20:51
Speaker
I was so grateful from what we had just previously that whole previous year. I'm still grateful to her for this day, but what she also did is she recognized in us something that she had experienced and she began to tell us her story about her son being autistic, which was like a wow moment. She just encouraged us as parents. She wrote the number for what North Carolina calls
00:21:15
Speaker
uh, uh, the exceptional children, exceptional children program. She wrote the number down to the person, the director for us to call. Um, and so that, that we'll, we'll talk about in a second, but just a blessing from the Lord. Uh, we call just to kind of wrap this, this section, uh, we call exceptional children. We get an appointment for a, uh, evaluation so that he can get plugged into a preschool classroom.
00:21:40
Speaker
Um, so we had the evaluation and man, uh, they saw the whole gamut full grommet. They saw Graham. I mean, to the, I mean, everything they saw all of Graham. Um, and so, which was a blessing that he just didn't go in there and just play with cars. All, you know, uh, minds is peace and cues. No, he, he showed them every piece of, uh,
00:22:08
Speaker
Yeah disability really that he had I mean everything that could have triggered him stem. He was doing it sure absolutely and so At this point. I am still in denial I'm in those rooms with him, and I'm thinking you know oh they commented that he did a good job here Oh, yeah, nothing's gonna be wrong
00:22:25
Speaker
Oh, but they just gave him a mark here. And so, um, yeah, so, but I will remember this is another, something's not right. Um, because, because by the third evaluation, I was like, I wonder what's going to happen. I think you may pass a little denial, but, uh, the OT came up to me and she said, Hey, I just have a few questions to ask you. This is, you know, Graham was another room and this was a private conversation. And she says, she'll never forget it. She asked me a question. Does he do anything weird? Yeah.
00:22:56
Speaker
And I didn't know how to answer that question. Yeah. Because my first thought is, oh lady, like. Just come see our circus. Like our whole family is weird. Like what, like what kind of question is this? And to further define what that term means. Exactly. And so, but she was serious. Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:12
Speaker
And so I had to have her elaborate because I didn't really know what she meant. And so she just started saying, does he flap his arms? Does he clap? Clap? Does he make loud high pitched sounds? And it's the Holy Spirit. I know it is like because I didn't really know how to answer, but I did say the words. Yeah. You know, one thing, I mean, he doesn't do many things weird, but the one weird thing he does do that we've caught on is he will put his hand by his face really closely to his eye.
00:23:41
Speaker
Yeah. And almost sometimes talk to it as well. And, but he'll run with his hand by his eye and she being as explained to me, like all these OT terms of yes, that's something that's, that's what we call whatever the word is.
00:23:54
Speaker
And she's like that's that's what I was looking for kind of thing and then she left me so I was like, okay Well, yeah, where do we go
Community Support & Faith
00:24:02
Speaker
from here? And so but I Will say out of the whole I think we'll touch on with the diagnosis part, but I'll go ahead and say it now and then we'll say it again Looking back It brought freedom. Yes. Mm-hmm
00:24:19
Speaker
So the check engine line has come on, but we figured out that it's really the whatever. We're trying to figure out the code. Right. We're getting closer to the problem spot. Correct, correct. So that's a little bit of our story of how we got here.
00:24:38
Speaker
I'm sure this will be said on more podcasts later, but like when we're talking, when I was starting to recollect, like the rooms where he's been evaluated in, in our county and where we live and the myriad of people that have interacted with our child.
00:24:56
Speaker
man, like from OTs to EC directors to the Lord has been so kind. Absolutely. Every teacher, every person and the people that the Lord puts in your life to transfer you from that moment of something is wrong or something seems wrong, that something is wrong.
00:25:17
Speaker
Yes. Yes. The people that are the Lord puts in your life to help you come to that discovery. Yeah. Special. Right. So if I could like wrap that whole entire season of something's not right, I learned so much about the Holy Spirit. Yes. More than I ever did just in my growing up years was, and now looking back and we say this phrase a lot, he has marked every single step. Absolutely.
00:25:44
Speaker
God has marked our steps toward people and toward services and toward friends. Yes. To his classmates. To his classmates. And those classmates' parents. Right. Like marked every step. And so the Holy Spirit literally
00:26:01
Speaker
when you are a Christ follower, when you're a Christian, a believer in Jesus, and you are faced with this, something's not right with my child, something's not right with my parents, something's not right with my friend is sick, whatever it may be, that's when you truly learn the Holy Spirit's role in your life.
00:26:21
Speaker
and the Holy Spirit's never gonna use your circumstances to confuse the mission. Correct, yes. Everywhere you're at is mission. Just like we discovered last, suffering is not for nothing. It's not. God doesn't waste anything is what Pastor Connor reminded me. In that episode, every technician, every anesthesiologist, all of that, there's moments for the gospel. Absolutely. In every situation.
00:26:50
Speaker
The hardest part as a, I think as a Christian, as a believer, if you can get through episode three and you get to this point where you're talking about, like if you're recollecting in your mind, or if you're even going through this check engine, like phase of this pre-phase that the Lord is going to send you, he's going to walk you through it. Like he's, he is your good shepherd. He's not going to leave you. That's a promise. So he's not going to in an effort for his kingdom to advance and his name to be known. Right.
00:27:20
Speaker
And so the same thing you want for your child is the same thing that all your OTs and your PTs and your teachers and.
00:27:28
Speaker
specialist and all those people, they need Jesus. They need Jesus, yeah. And if they don't already. But the mission is there. So he's going to mark your step toward that purpose of his kingdom being known and more people coming to know his son, Jesus. And so there are so many aspects to this where I get completely overwhelmed. Oh, yeah. Is that he would put an autistic son in our life to mark our steps toward people
00:27:57
Speaker
who were once far from God. But because out of my, I feel like I'm a miss half the time. But when I roll up in that car line and his teacher walks out and I'm able to have a conversation with her, it connects the dots. It does, yes. That she doesn't know Jesus. So the reality of that is she will not spend eternity with him. Yeah.
00:28:23
Speaker
But when God gives me the opportunity, because I've now built a relationship with her, the gospel now I can be sure, because of my autistic son being in her class. And that goes, it's not just for classroom settings, y'all. It's for grocery store settings. It's for play dates. It's for on the soccer field or the tee ball field.
00:28:44
Speaker
It's everywhere we go. We have opportunity where God is marking our steps toward gospel conversations and toward His kingdom being known. And that's overwhelming that I get to be a part of that. Yes. That as you seek to endeavor to disciple your autistic child, or even young adult, or whatever stage of life he or she is in,
00:29:09
Speaker
that in your endeavor to do so, that the Lord is still working that out for His glory and for your
Growth Through Trials
00:29:14
Speaker
good. Right. I mean, who would have thought that the preschool fiasco of the 15 minutes in the classroom would have led us to the director telling us that her son, that he has now graduated high school and is doing this, this, and this, and then her encouraging us of parents and then giving us a phone number to where we were able to move along in the process.
00:29:34
Speaker
I mean, that's just the Lord. And so you mentioned wisdom a while ago, and that's something I have learned from James is that, I mean, it says in chapter one, ask for wisdom and God will give it to you generously. So it is a promise that he doesn't hold back on. Now it's not going to be, it's not a magic potion. No, no, it's not comfort.
00:29:54
Speaker
It's not comfort because like we know suffering is real. It's going to happen. Trials are going to come, but trials are a pathway to maturity. Every trial we go to is the purpose of making me more like Jesus. And so like ask for wisdom, man, we're asking for wisdom right now for potty training. We don't know how to do this. God, we have no idea. Would you please give us wisdom? And I know that's not too small of an ask.
00:30:19
Speaker
community. That's right. Um, cause I know he, he is faithful and I know he's going to give us wisdom in his time. So Graham may not be potty trained in a year, but God is going to give us wisdom and he already has to, to, to do one step at a time. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So essentially those, those trials that use, that you just so well said lead us to maturity are also effective in making us better ambassadors for him is everywhere we go. It is.
00:30:48
Speaker
It's not only this that there's a resolve, but there's a steadfastness. Yes. It just, as he says, is going to produce in us in a way that is effectual for the
Introduction to Future Topics
00:31:00
Speaker
kingdom. So in an effort to wrap this up, because I think we pretty much nailed down the check engine light. So before we finish, why don't you go and set up what are the five stages that we're going to be talking about?
00:31:14
Speaker
And then what the future episodes are going to look like. Sure. So like we said previously, these are just the stages that we have ventured through. They may look differently in every situation, but from what we can look back on and even are still in actually, but that would be denial.
00:31:34
Speaker
moving to diagnosis, going towards grief and acceptance, then family dynamics, which is your new rhythms and your new normal, some people say, and then into education advocacy. So education advocacy.
00:31:49
Speaker
And so yeah, so those are just the five that really stuck out in we could pinpoint which seasons that we stepped in to and then from So that's what we're gonna be talking about in the remainder of the season. So again, we are just parents and
00:32:09
Speaker
Just want to clarify that one more time. We are just parents, not doctors, psychiatrists, counselors. We tremendously urge you to see all three of those, if need be, at the right time. We are fellow sojourners on this road, scraping and clinging to the hope that we have in Jesus. And just like the last episode that we talked about, the future hope we have that one day he will come again and make all things new.
00:32:39
Speaker
Thank you for listening to this episode, friends. Grace and peace as you raise autistic disciples for God's kingdom.