Josh Miller looks like a typical third-grade boy.

But when he talks, Josh says whatever he thinks, unfiltered.

One might understand such candor in a 3-year-old. But Josh is 9. It is an aspect of his autism that sometimes has proven awkward for his parents.

"There were so many embarrassing moments, we finally had to just relax and enjoy him," said Jennifer Sollars Miller, Josh's mother and a co-founder of the Tulsa Autism Foundation.

"Given the situation, one can either laugh or cry. I choose to laugh," she said.

Miller is using her experience with having an autistic son as fodder for a comic strip, Neuro Logic, which is drawn by Dayne Dudley of Tulsa.

Through the strip, she hopes to bring a unique, less serious twist to raising awareness about the disorder.

"I've been writing down funny things he's said for a while. I call them 'Josh-isms,' " Miller said. "He takes things so literally. It can be really humorous."

Josh is one of an estimated 1.5 million Americans with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, which is characterized by difficulty in developing social skills and inappropriate behavior.

One in every 150 children has an autism-related illness, a number that has climbed dramatically in the past decade, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Each child with autism can be very different.

Josh is highly functional and very intelligent. But he did not speak until he was 4.

"The child hasn't stopped since," Miller said, with an easy laugh.

"I am hoping the comic strip will raise awareness and educate people about autism. Maybe this will help people interact with a child with autism," she said.

Yet Miller said she has another motivation in her quest to get the comic strip syndicated: She would like people to gain an appreciation for the individual that is her son.

"We really enjoy him for who he is. I can't imagine Josh being any different," she said. "We laugh a lot. I think you really have to. And I enjoy Josh so much. I enjoy his sense of humor. I enjoy his innocence."

Josh brings an insight into ordinary things that she never would have thought about before, she said.

"I guess I'd like people to think before they judge a child," she said.

Almost at his birth, Josh's parents knew that something was different with him. Doctors diagnosed craniosynostosis, which means Josh had no soft spot in his head, leaving no room for his brain to grow. As a result, Josh is legally blind, she said.

Doctors used magnetic resonance imaging to examine Josh's brain. The images revealed that Josh was born without a corpus callosum, a broad band of nerve fibers that connect the left and right hemispheres of the brain, Miller said.

Josh did not know of his autism spectrum disorder diagnosis until recently, when his younger sister, Reagan, told him, Miller said.

But Reagan, 5, has been a good companion for her brother, Miller said.

"She's been the best therapy for Josh. She's taken on the big-sister role," she said.

Miller and her husband, John Miller, realize that Josh likely will always live with them, she said.

"We would like to see him have a meaningful job and feel like he's contributing to society," she said. "Our biggest thing is we want him to be happy."

Kim Archer 581-8315
kim.archer@tulsaworld.com

To send feedback about the comic strip, e-mail info@autismtulsa.org.

Signs of an autistic child

Children with autism generally have problems in three areas of development: social skills, language and behavior. This is a list of some signs of autism:

Social Skills

• Failure to respond to name

• Poor eye contact

• Appears not to hear at times

• Resists cuddling and holding

• Appears unaware of others' feelings

• Prefers to play alone, retreats into own world

Language

• Starts talking later than other children do

• Loses previously acquired ability to say words or sentences

• Does not make eye contact when making requests

• Speaks with an abnormal tone or rhythm, may use a singsong voice or robot-like speech

• Cannot start a conversation or keep one going

• May repeat words or phrases verbatim, but does not understand how to use them

Behavior

• Performs repetitive movements, such as rocking, spinning or hand-flapping

• Develops specific routines or rituals

• Becomes disturbed by the slightest change in routine or rituals

• Moves constantly

• May be fascinated by parts of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car

• May be unusually sensitive to light, sound and touch

Source: Autism Society of America

For more information about autism, go online to www.autismtulsa.org or www.autismsociety.org.