Autism not a hindrance to spirituality

COLUMBIA -- For the moment, there is only one Sunday school pupil in Room 120 at State Street Baptist Church, a 19-year-old man who loves puzzles and songs and has painstakingly memorized the books of the Bible.

John Stack's autism and halted mental development set him apart. But his parents, Tim and Ann Stack, don't think that should limit their son's access to Sunday school and the spiritual lessons that have been so important to him through his life.

The Stacks have developed a class for teenagers and young adults like John, people with special needs who require routine and repetition but who have "aged out" of traditional Sunday school classes.

They hope that John soon will have classmates joining him in Bible study.

"We had been thinking about this for several years," Ann Stack said. "He really towered over the other children because they were third- and fourth-graders. Mentally he fit, but physically he didn't."

John always had enjoyed Sunday school and church. For years, a church volunteer, Kathy Collins, served as his "shadow," attending classes with him and helping him follow the Bible lessons and craft instructions.

But the Stacks knew that John no longer belonged at the little tables.

"We just felt that it was time for him to move on, and there wasn't another place for him to go," his mother, a retired school teacher, said. "We wanted him to continue to grow spiritually and in the church, and we just didn't see that that would happen there."

The 'A' word

As a baby, John developed normally until about 10 months of age, when he suffered a massive seizure.

He continued having small seizures, and at about 1 year of age was diagnosed with epilepsy, his parents said. At 18 months, his intellectual abilities started to slide.

"We went through all the available medications at that time," Ann Stack said, "and that is how we got on the surgery track."

Eventually, after examination at the Medical College of Georgia, Emory University and the Scripps Institute in California, John underwent the first of several surgeries at age 4 to remove parts of the brain that triggered the seizures.

Then, at age 6, doctors told the Stacks that John was autistic.

"It was the first time we had heard the 'A' word," Ann Stack said.

They adjusted their lives and their dreams to accommodate their son's needs and worked to keep him at home.

"In 2001, he was so mentally unstable we didn't know if we could keep him," Ann Stack said. But eventually, their son's physicians were able to prescribe medications that stabilized their son.

"We wouldn't trade him for anything," she said. "So many people have regrets and don't live the life God gave them. We feel like that they are God's gifts and we can learn from them."

God as your neighbor

The couple researched curriculum and attended special-needs classes at congregations to prepare for the kind of class that would appeal to mentally and physically challenged young people like their son.

They attended classes at Mount Horeb United Methodist Church in Lexington, which not only offers a weekly Sunday school class but also a special-needs Vacation Bible School and basketball league.

The Stacks also sought counsel from Steve Cannon, whose late father founded a successful special-education class in 1967 at Spartanburg's Bethel United Methodist Church. Jack Cannon developed the class because his daughter, Suzanne, was mentally and physically challenged, his son said.

"We have been going strong for 42 years," said Cannon, who took over as director of the class after his father's death in 1996. The Spartanburg class averages about 30 to 35 students weekly, all mentally challenged and some autistic. It has been an ecumenical outreach, Steve Cannon said, drawing Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Greek Orthodox and Mormons among the membership.

"You don't know exactly what gets in their heads," Cannon said. "You have to present God as if he was your next-door neighbor."

The Stacks already knew that repetition and routine worked for John in his daily life, and they were determined to keep that approach as they worked on their lesson plans, as Cannon and others recommended.

God and family

On a recent Sunday, the lesson came from 1 Timothy 5:4: "But if any widow has children or children's children, let these see that it is right to take care of their family and their fathers and mothers: for this is pleasing in the eyes of God."

For special-needs students, that Biblical complexity is reduced to one simple phrase: "Take care of your family."

But first, John participated in his every Sunday routine: singing "America the Beautiful," and reciting three pledges: the Pledge of Allegiance, the Christian Pledge of Allegiance and the Pledge to the Bible. He then recited familiar Bible verses sang some favorite songs.

John then read a simple version of the Old Testament story of Joseph, who reunited with and forgave the brothers who sold him into slavery in Egypt.

Tim Stack asked simple questions to make sure John understands the story: "Where did Joseph live?" "How can we show that we love and care for our family?"

And this: "Who is in your family?"

John looked from one parent to the other: "Mommy, Daddy and John."

After a prayer, the lesson ended right on time, and John prepared for his snack.

But not before he turned and hugged his mother.