In order to understand what an amazing group of kids we spoke to last night I want to inform you what TORCH stands for. It is Turning toward Others and Reaching out with Christian Help. My high school junior has been a member of this group for the past few years. They are known for their outstanding work with the Pro-Life movement.
The guest speaker was Jessica, an 18 year old student at Villa Marie, the special education school that the Marian sisters run. Jessica has autism and gives a power point talk on what it is like to have this disability. She was amazing!
Joseph, however, did what I thought he would do but surprised me at the same time. By the time we got to the school he was very negative, demanding, loud and grumpy. I knew he was simply overwhelmed with the unknown. His main mission as soon as we arrived was eating. He demanded to eat or he was leaving. Sister hurried things along and Joseph was first in line. He ate a lot and quickly. I should have seen this as part of his sensory overload but did not catch it in time as I was working on my speech. Soon he was sick with a tummy ache and decided he would just go to sleep. And he did! Knocked out cold!
Then Sister called his name and asked if he had anything to say. To my shock and amazement he said yes! He walked to the front, smiled for what seemed an eternity, waved to everyone and said "hi, my name is Joseph!" That was it! That was his big moment!!!!!!
Talking to the group with, of course, no eye contact.
My heart, of course, exploded with pride and joy! Sister guided him along from that moment on with the help of Joe's big sister, Mattie. She asked him how old he was on this night and he held up 10 fingers. She asked him if he liked sports and he nodded his head. I thought that was it and he would not talk again. But then she asked THE question! "Joseph, what is your favorite movie?" And he said, "TRANSFORMERS!" with a huge grin. And one of the boys hollered "oh yea!" When Sister asked if there were any questions for Joseph hands went up. One boy asked what sports he liked he said football. Another one asked where he went to school.
A proud and loving sister....
Mattie was beside him the whole time.
And then.....they rolled out a cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to him and presented him with $10 to buy a Transformer toy!
His reaction to singing Happy Birthday to him!
Mattie sang her song "Camouflage Angel" that she wrote for Joseph and will be singing this Sunday at the walk. There were many tears in the room. After we all prayed together (and several of the prayers were regarding autistic children, their families and teachers, and for our family and Joseph) we prepared to leave. I looked over and Joseph was surrounded my boys looking at his Transformer toys he had brought with him. I'm sharing this story for two reasons.
First to show how far Joseph has come. There was a day when he would talk to no one! I could not even get him to be a sheep in the background of a Christmas play at church. And here he was running to the front of this big group and saying hello! Praise be to God!
Secondly, to praise an amazing group of young people that treated both Jessica and Joseph with respect. How many high school kids do you find sitting in a school cafeteria listening to two autistic children talk about their world and then praying for and supporting them? These kids are amazing! They will be dressing in camo on Sunday and taking a bus down to the walk and walking in honor of our Joseph. However, all those dealing with autism.....adults, children, families, teachers, schools.....have been assured of prayers from this outstanding group of youth! Thank you Bishop Neumann High School TORCH group. I am so proud to be a parent supporter! God bless you all!!!
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