but what we do know is that raising a child with autism presents some real challenges. not just for the parents, but for the siblings, the grandparents, even the friends. emily colson s 20-year-old son max is diagnosed with autism at age four. emily has pioneered an innovative communication system to help max and authored a magnificent book, called dancing with max. emily and her father, former special counsel to president nixon, chuck colson. chuck, emily, so glad to see you. thank you very much for being here. emily, first of all, max was diagnosed at age 4. how did you know something was different or unique about max and did you suspect it even before the age? very much so, i could tell from the very beginning, he cried all the time and didn t hit any of those marks we look for with kids, he didn t crawl when he should have. didn t walk when he thud have. didn t make any gurgling
significant the problem is because we re not able to cross the tresh hold to get there to say we need help. i started to bring max back to church a few years ago, we had been five years at home, and i thought there s one thing he loved about church when he was young, he loved it to be over. when we went back when it was over. mike: it s not just autistic children, emily. so we went back at the end of church, we called it backwards church. and a man came up to max and asked him to help stack chairs, so max started helping out and at the end of the service came back to max and put his hand on the shoulder and said, max we could use you on the grunt crew, the team that cleans up the church afterwards, he was so proud to be asked. it just took that one invitation, and for six years, we went to backwards church and max became a central part
sounds. what was the first raeshg, everybody hopes it will be a perfect child and story book life. it wasn t a story book life. no, it wasn t. i became a single mom was max was just 18 months old. so on the heels of divorce, max was diagnosed with autism. no, this has not the life i had pictured. i thought i would have more kids and just thought everything was going to go along perfectly and it was a pretty dramatic shift. chuck, this was news, i m sure not only tough with emily, but tough for you and your wife patty when you found out that max was an autistic child. what kind of reaction did you have and what did you even know about autism at that point? i d heard the term and knew nothing about it at all. i was devastated because every as you well know, governor, wants the best for your children and especially for your baby girl so this was a
understand max on his terms. my understanding of people who are hurting and in need and i have come to appreciate a totally different kind of love than i m used to and max gives love unconditionally. you feel his love immediately and when you pay some attention to him. it s just a joy, but you have to stop and get out of your world and into his world. and that for me, has been a life changing lesson. he s humbled me a lot and it s been good for me, great for me and i m so proud of course of what emily has done and max is being used by god. mike: it s a magnificent story and not a story to bring you down. it s a story to lift you up and also to tell you, that child who autistic is a remarkable child, a gift of god and filled with incredible abilities and knowledge and come out in very different ways and that s the story that i think is so powerful. you share it in such a magnificent way, and emily, thank you very much for being