Mary Margaret, Mark and Jonathan Edwards enjoy some time outdoors in the back yard. (T-G Photo by Mary Reeves) [Click to enlarge]

If there are challenges in having an autistic child, those challenges more than double when there are two. Ronnie and Jeanne Edwards' two older children, Mark, 14, and Jonathan, 11, were diagnosed with autism when they were toddlers -- and while Jeanne was pregnant with their third child, Mary Margaret.

"Mark was almost 4 and Jon was almost 2," said Jeanne. "Although people seemed to think two would be easier for me to take it in and go through it a second time, it was worse."

In some cases, she said, it was easier -- they were able to get Jonathan into the needed therapies earlier than they had Mark.

"But emotionally, it was much more devastating."

When Mary Margaret was born, they also watched her carefully. There has been some indication that genetics may be a factor in autism, but the Edwards family doesn't dwell on that.

"We're 10 to 12 years into this," Jeanne said. "The causes for us aren't really an issue. We are more concerned about services and assistance."

Mary Margaret did, in fact, display some of the signs of autism. She needed some speech therapy and still has a tendency to walk on her tiptoes.

"Typical children do that, too," said Jeanne. The alarm bells go off when several of those signs are grouped together, she said.

At one point, however, the parents could breathe a sigh of relief.

"The therapist said, 'There's nothing wrong with this child!' But we had to be sure ..." said Jeanne.

Jeanne homeschools the children.

"It just works out better for everyone," she said. Homeschooling, however, means she has to find the speech, behavior and occupational therapists herself. Despite both being autistic, Mark and Jonathan are very different, and require different approaches.

"Mark has a very strong personality and is very vocal about what he likes. His problems tend to be more in being anxious, easily annoyed, frustrated, irritated." she said. "It's hard to predict because you don't know what he's thinking."

Mark, like many autistic children, is very intelligent, especially when it comes to math and science.

"Very often with the math, I don't have to explain it to him," she said. "He just reads the book and does it."

He also has a strong musical talent and takes drumming lessons from a music therapist who incorporates her therapy session with the drums.

"He picks things out on the piano and has played drums with the praise band at church," said Jeanne.

Writing, any of the language arts, are more difficult for him -- but not so for his younger brother.

"Jonathan doesn't have those anxieties," said their mother. "For him, it's more of a social thing, not knowing what's appropriate behavior."

Jonathan, she said, will walk into the room and jump into an ongoing conversation with one of his own, completely unrelated to what was being discussed. And he likes to ask questions -- lots and lots of questions, all of the time.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm on a game show," Jeanne said, laughing. "I'm answering questions all day long."

Jonathan also "perseverates" -- becomes fixed on one particular video game or DVD, wanting to watch it over and over again.

There are physical quirks as well -- Mark "air drums" a lot and his little brother "stims" -- self-stimulates by making hand gestures.

"Both can stop when asked," said Jeanne. "But when they were in school -- it was all about the autism. They would spend all day trying to make him stop."

By homeschooling, Jeanne can set different priorities, educating the boys and their little sister, and wasting less time on stopping the hand gestures.

Not that the Edwards haven't made some mistakes on the way. When the possibility of medicating the boys to help deal with their behavior came up, the doctor suggested they try modifying the children's behavior instead, as well as their own.

"He pointed out some things we were doing wrong," said Jeanne. "When you have a disabled child, you feel sorry for them. I wanted to make them happy."

The behavioral therapist, a research psychologist from Vanderbilt, explained how they were reinforcing some bad behavior. By correcting their own actions, they were able to modify the boys'.

"It is a day-by-day thing," said Jeanne. "There are dark days, there are difficult days. We've been able to get though it because we don't let ourselves stay in that dark place."

Their faith has played a major role in that survival.

"It's been a part of this at every turn. I have been there -- where I was so angry at God and telling Him so -- why me?

"But that was about me -- not them. It was selfish," Jeanne said. "I had to turn loose of that idea. If they are happy, if they're growing, they're learning, that's good enough."

Thinking about her sons' futures isn't something she does a lot.

"We just pray for direction," she said. "What do I need to do today? What do I need to do for tomorrow? We put them in God's hands.

"Not even typical children get everything they want," she said. "Some kids don't get married, some don't go to college. It has nothing to do with disability -- it's life."