YouVersion Bible App Empowers Autistic Boy to Communicate

The YouVersion Bible app continues to transform lives around the world. Lauren Jones, an ordained minister and widow, says that the Bible app for kids helped her son, Kent, learn to communicate.

Kent struggled early in childhood when he was diagnosed with autism and was nonverbal. “I didn’t know if he would ever speak,” she said. “ didn’t know if he would be potty trained or be able to live on his own as he grew older.”

Jones suffered further hardship when her husband, Gabriel, died from a fatal seizure when she was pregnant with their second child. “I was very afraid when they were babies and toddlers,” she said. “I didn’t know what their lives would look like as they grew up.”

Jones later found encouragement when she received emails on YouVersion’s Bible App for Kids, which she would use as a tool for her children. “I just loved it,” she said. “I thought that it would be a great way for me to introduce my faith to my children.”

YouVersion Bible App for Kids hits 100 million

Kent learned to speak by mimicking Bible stories from the YouVersion Bible App for Kids. “I was so excited to hear his voice,” Jones said. “I would send the videos of him reciting the story [of Daniel in the lion’s den] to my mom [and] to my siblings. It just made me so excited.”

Kent, now a teenager, earns good grades and plays trumpet in his school band while also playing drums on the side. “I’m very glad I’m able to talk,” he said . “It’s a super, super-duper necessary skill.”

His story was featured at YouVersion’s one billion downloads celebration last November at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, with 13,000 people in attendance. “Thank you for letting the Bible app make a huge difference in my life and in the lives of countless people around the world,” Kent said.

–Alan Goforth