Joel’s Story

By |Published On: May 23, 2018|Categories: 4-Minute Radio Program|

News flash: There are a lot of gifted kids who have autism.

Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with the story of one gifted kid who’s on the autism spectrum, and his name is Joel Anderson. When this child was only two years old, he was already taking speech therapy. Joel’s autistic behavior was easy to spot whenever he would speak. He’d land on a word, or a couple of words, and kept repeating them, and repeating them, and repeating them, and repeating them, and on and on. It’s an aspect of autism that they call “echolalia,” and it’s just as it sounds. Some children with autism make involuntary repetitive sounds over and over; a little like another characteristic of autism where certain children might flap their hands, over and over until someone intervenes. Kids with these characteristics of autism have a problem with repetitive, involuntary sounds or motions or words, and as you can imagine, it affects everyone in the family.

Now when Joel’s mother would go with him to speech therapy, it was as much for her as it was for her son. She had to learn how to intervene in an effective way so that Joel would respond. And eventually, learn to control his speech. But when his mother sat in on his therapy classes, she struggled to think that Joel would ever really change. As he grew, Joel tried to overcome his issues, but it was so hard. On top of that, when he was in elementary school, he had to deal with bullies. And when it was discovered that his younger brother also had autism, Joel had to stand up for him against kids at school and in the neighborhood who would try to bully him, too. All this was pretty tough on Joel, but he found a way to express his feelings through art. And as he learned art, he was able to discover more about himself and that, yes, he really could overcome.

And today, so many years later, Joel is living his dream of creating colorful books for children and even videos. He now travels the world, sharing his faith in Jesus Christ, as well as his incredible paintings. Look, I have met Joel and he is one amazing young man. In fact, you have just got to see this kid and his artwork, and on my radio page today, I’m providing a link to his website. You will be so impressed, so amazed at this incredibly talented young man, and you can just see the light of Jesus in his eyes when you visit the homepage of his website. So, take a minute to ‘meet’ Joel by coming on over to joniandfriends.org/radio where we have a link to Joel’s story and his imaginative paintings.

And here’s the thing: never did Joel’s mother imagine when she was helping him with speech therapy as a little boy; never did she think that one day Joel would be up on a stage speaking to thousands of people at a time. Yes, life still has its challenges, but oh, how God is using Joel to inspire and encourage others to lean on the Lord and make use of the talents He gives.

Oh, by the way, when you go to my radio page today and get the link to Joel’s artwork, ask for your free copy of our autism booklet. The team at Joni and Friends has put together a great booklet that contains helpful tips if you want to reach out to someone who has autism. Again, just ask for Joni and Friends’ booklet on autism (in which I’ve included a few more details of Joel’s story). It’s all there for you today at joniandfriends.org. I just can’t wait for you to meet my friend Joel Anderson the amazing artist. Oh, and by the way, if you have a prayer request let me know on our radio page and our Joni and Friends staff will lift up your need before the Lord. God bless you today and thanks for listening to Joni and Friends.

Photo credit: Copyright 2014 San Diego Union-Tribune, LLC

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