Josiah’s Fire by Tahni Cullen tells the story of Cullen’s journey with her son, Josiah, who completely changes at 22 months. He stops using the words he had already learned, and he becomes absorbed in his own thoughts and activities. Cullen’s parents urge Cullen and her husband to seek an evaluation for Josiah—they are worried he has autism. While this initially angers Cullen, she soon finds that her parents are right. Josiah does have autism.

As any parent would be, she’s devastated and eager to help her son. She enrolls him in a therapy program, and she and her husband spend a lot of money on therapies. However, she notices little change in Josiah until she learns of the Rapid Prompting Method (RPM). Cullen attends a seminar about it and begins to use it with Josiah. She’s amazed when Josiah responds. In fact, after they had worked together for awhile and Cullen had trained him to use an iPad, Josiah types his first sentence, “godisagoodgiftgiver.”

From then on, Josiah continues to wow his parents with his insights and deep theological comments. His vocabulary and knowledge are far beyond his years and covers information he had never been taught.

This book is a beautiful testament to God’s love. He has a plan for each of us, and Josiah is able to remind us all of that.

I really enjoyed this book. As a mom of a child with autism myself, I understood and could empathize with Cullen’s emotions. I also rejoiced with her when Josiah finally found his voice.

However, for some parents of children with autism, this may be a challenging read if they feel that they have not yet been able to reach their children as Cullen has reached Josiah. Yet, the book does offer hope.

Whether you have a child with autism or not, this is a beautiful story of God’s hand in our lives. He never forgets us, no matter how difficult the circumstances.

-Product review by Melissa Batai, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, June, 2018