Interview Marcia Hinds

Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada with some important words about autism.

And with me in the studio today is Marcia Hinds. Marcia, welcome.

MARCIA: Thank you for having me.

JONI: Absolutely, Marcia. You are a special needs mother of Ryan, a son with autism and you have written a book “I Know You’re In There.” I love that title. And friend listening, Marcia has researched this mysterious cognitive condition for so many years. And so Marcia, tell us what did Ryan’s autism look like? When did you realize there was a problem?

MARCIA: Well, I knew there was something wrong when he was very, very young, but in the beginning all of us are kind of in denial. We hope it is anything else and we—you know our children are brilliant and so it is hard to tell that what is causing this is autism.

JONI: What were some of his behaviors that clued you in?

MARCIA: Well, he loved to go around the house and plug this little portable radio into every outlet in the house – over and over and over again. He loved to go play with all the light switches; play with all the water. But you know, you couldn’t protect him. I mean, he had no apparent fear of death.

JONI: or injury…

MARCIA: or injury

JONI: And that describes so aptly the challenges that many of our special needs mothers face when they come to our family retreats, but you wrote in your book that multiple interventions are needed to help kids recover. What do you mean by that?

MARCIA: Well, for Ryan once we treated his autism medically, we reduced the total load on his immune system. Once we did that, then he was able to learn the things that he couldn’t learn before. So just treating him medically wouldn’t have been enough. Just doing the educational and behavioral intervention wouldn’t have been enough, but putting them together is what made the difference.

JONI: And you kind of developed a system of doing that?

MARCIA: There was no one out there to help us. You have to remember Ryan is 29 now. And back then there wasn’t even internet for us to look for help.

JONI: Okay, how did it affect your relationship with your husband? Couples really struggle under the stress of autism.

MARCIA: They do, and that is in my book too because we almost didn’t make it through this. I mean the arguments; the terrible things that happen, and that I am told over and over again by people who read the book. The moms who read the book tell me that, “Oh my goodness, you wrote my story. You are saying exactly what I go through every day”.

JONI: So when did you know Ryan was going to be okay?

MARCIA: He works at a major aerospace company now as an engineer and it wasn’t until he was at his job for about a year, and I knew they still loved him, that I knew it was okay.

JONI: So his repetitive behavior when he was a child, plugging things into electrical sockets, has served him well in this aerospace industry.

MARCIA: One time he called me upon the phone and he says: “Mom, mom, my boss just told me I have fabulous people skills” and we both started laughing. Because that is one of the big things, they don’t have the social skills that they need, but compared to the other engineers; I guess he looked pretty good.

JONI: Absolutely! Well it has to have affected your faith in God, this whole challenge of raising a son with autism.

MARCIA:  I have to tell you, I was kind of a non-believer before Ryan, okay. But everything that happened in my life, including 15 years before he was born, was so I could help this kid and so I could help the other children and I know it wouldn’t have happened without God’s help. I felt like He was leading me the way I needed to go. I can’t retire yet until the rest of the world realizes that this is medical and is treatable and that we don’t keep losing kids.

JONI: Well I know that we have many parents listening who have children or grandchildren with autism. If you want more information on what Marcia has been describing, it is all in her book called “I Know You’re In There.” Friend listening, if you’d like more information about Marcia’s book, just visit our radio page today at joniradio.org. Marcia thanks for coming.

MARCIA: Thank you.

© Joni and Friends