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Education | Only a handful of Christian schools provide high-end help for disabled learners | Lynn Vincent

Nine-year-old Colten Wolverton's passion is stockcar racing. But he also loves Winnie the Pooh and Franklin videos, as well as throwing books down stairs because he likes the thump-thump-thump sound they make on the way down. Colten finds that plastic bowls tossed on the floor also make a pleasing noise, bouncing and spinning as they do. And VCR buttons fascinate him: On, off, on, off, on, off—again and again, until mom or dad tells him that's enough.

Colten has autism, a debilitative form that is evidenced by obsessive-compulsive disorder and may render him unable to live an independent life. But that hasn't stopped his parents, Shane and Ann, from pursuing an education for Colten. At first, he attended a Greenville, S.C., public school. But after the Wolvertons became concerned about his safety, they enrolled Colten at Hidden Treasure Christian School (HTCS), a Taylors, S.C., institution serving special-needs kids.