Kristine Barnett was delighted with her baby son Jake.  He was a vivacious and responsive child, and she and her husband Michael eagerly looked forward to following his development from infancy to manhood with all the stages in between.  Their delight soon turned first to worry and then to fear as Jake seemed to go more and more into himself.  Eventually it seemed that Kristine and Michael ceased to exist for him.  His world became one of endless order – toys and cards, string and pencils – all became objects of obsessive ordering that consumed more and more of his time.  Although he had begun to speak very early, speech soon disappeared.  Their little boy lived in a world apart from them, in silence and a seeming disregard for human life around him.  The physicians’ diagnosis was autism. 

The Spark is a true story of how Kristine never gave up hope that path totally into self could be retraced, and that Jake would find his way back to her and Michael and to the life of their family.  Kristine herself had grown up as a woman of faith in the Amish tradition.  Her grandfather, a famous inventor, built a small church in which the family and the Amish congregation could worship.  Kristine built her trust and heroic efforts on her grandfather’s confidence that Jake could return. This energized her battle for Jake’s future.

Kristine had noticed during the many therapy sessions that tried to help Jake that his real desire was always to return to his work with patterns and order.  Skillfully she reinforced this behaviour by allowing Jake to express himself in this manner. His “obsessive” behaviours slowly began to make sense.  The real breakthrough was during a visit to the local planetarium (Jake loved to study books on astronomy – that contrary to Kristine’ expectation, he actually understood.   At the planetarium Jake shocked her by answering the lecturer’s questions and delighting the audience with his skillful replies.  Up until this time Jake had been silent.

Today Jake in his mid-teens is a researcher at a high level scientific institute in Waterloo where his teachers and colleagues predict a bright future for Jake because of his creative insights into the make-up of the universe.  Kristine’s own great insight was that she could never give up on Jake.  Strengthened by her grandfather’s confident faith she has her son back.  Now you can see him for yourself on Facebook! –  https://www.facebook.com/Jac0b.Barnett