When Donna and I received Surreia’s diagnosis of Autism, we felt as if we ad been dropped off in the middle of a foreign country, surrounded by people whom we did not understand and who could not understand us. Terminology such as receptive language, pervasive developmental disorder, gluten, casein, leaky-gut, and stimming was all around us. We found ourselves amongst people whose children acted much differently than we were accustomed to.

As Surreia grew and became vocal and mobile, people would stop and stare at how strangely (naughtily) she behaved. Many of our friends and family began to withdraw. We have spoken with many parents of children with special needs and hear again and again: “People just don’t understand!” For the most part, this is true. Each child with special needs speaks a unique language. They are wired differently. They speak differently. They act differently. They see the world differently.

As we advocate for our daughter, we frequently find that we expect people to understand her unique language. Should we expect people to understand her language? In this lesson, we will look at a story from the book of Acts where speaking the language of the listeners had an awesome impact for the Kingdom of Heaven. We will then try to learn from this passage and apply it to our lives as it relates to our children with special needs.