Autism & Learning

Yesterday in class, we had a guest speaker from the MU Thompson Center, which is a research-based center at Mizzou that works with Autism and other Neurodevelopmental Disorders. The speaker presented on the lessons that she does with kids who have autism. Kids between the ages of 6 and 14 come in after school to be prepared for the "real-world": how to engage in a conversation, how to make eye contact, what different facial expressions mean (happy, sad, frustrated, angry), etc. I thought it was interesting because all of the work that the kids and teachers are doing is based on research--to the best of their ability, teachers make lessons that the research shows will work, at least to the point where the research is at today. More research is constantly going on to find out the best possible ways to teach these kids vital information that they need in life. But because there is so much research going on, it means that not every single person with autism can be reached, not until the capacity of the center increases and they begin to help kids at a faster rate with a better end result. Right now, the research is focusing on how best to reach the kids and to do it efficiently.

It made me think of a parallel to ministry: there has to be both a "doing" and a "learning," searching deeper and deeper to find out more and more the reality of truth. We could choose not to do the "research" and help people, serve them, love them, but then is it being done 1. with the outcome that we feel it should have, and 2. effectively? Or we could do all "research," knowing more and more, but never interact outside of that sphere and serve no one. In this case, the research is dead, there is no point to the learning. There are millions of people who need to be reached that aren't, and they never will be in this scenario. I guess I see theology and learning as a tool to do the "doing" better than we could have before. Ministry is definitely a search--a search for more truth, and a craving for this, because there IS more and more truth to know. But this search must lead to practice. The more we come across, the more questions we have; the more questions we have, the more we want to know; and the more we want to know leads to a seeking to develop a greater understanding of God and the world, a better alignment with his desires. And the more in line we are with those desires, the more the fire is kindled in our hearts to reach the world.

At first glance, the autism center doesn't seem to be "doing" much. There are kids out there who aren't being taught everything they need to know to develop another stage of independence. There's a wait list to be taught by these professionals. But the center is filled to capacity with what they can do because they do value research, and they are willing to invest in an ongoing process because they know that in the long run, the research needs to be done in order to take the next step...and then the next.