I was often told that I must be a special person to have been entrusted by God with special children. I thought, but did not say out loud, that I did not want to be a special parent. I felt that really, God, perhaps, had picked the wrong person for this job. I told him that, too, to his face, so to speak. God is big enough to be questioned. He could take it.

I knew these people, though misguided, were trying to say something to comfort me. I knew that they didn’t know what to say.

Sometimes people also treated my husband and I as if we were a little special, too. This, despite the fact that we both have bachelors degrees. I had a major in English and nearly a double major in linguistics. I still had to keep tellingl my kids’ speech therapists that I had comprehensive knowledge about phonemes, phonology, morphology, and syntax. Sometimes people in our church and our relatives treated us as though we were a little special, too.

But the truth is, by God’s grace and help, we became the parents our children needed. God didn’t change the diagnosis of autism. He changed us.