Comments on: Children Of Some Other God?

By: KDL

KDL — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 04:35:51 +0000

Our church is very welcoming and understanding – maybe because the pastor is also a special needs parent. In fact, it seems like more and more families with special needs are coming and “sticking around”. Over the last year we went through some real behavioral challenges with our daughter (ASD) in Sunday School. Only one person suggested removing her to her own class, and when I explained that we had to keep her in with the other children in order to help her learn how to behave toward them she understood. What we did instead is bring in a behavior expert to do a workshop with our Sunday School teachers. She helped them understand what was happening for our daughter and how to best support her during class. They all responded immediately and so did our daughter. We’ve also switched to a “home grown” curriculum that really simplifies the lessons and makes it easy to engage all of the children with the materials. I taught yesterday and had 5 kids in class. Only two of them were neurotypical. The other three have various levels of ASD. We had a great time. When the mom of one of the ASD kids came back to pick him up her son gave me a hug and she said that was the first time he’d ever done that. It is a lot, as someone else mentioned to be the parent and the teacher, but I only do 1 Sunday a month and then coordinate for the other teachers so they know which lesson to do, etc. And after days like yesterday I feel like it is all worth it!

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 21:07:08 +0000

My heart aches reading each of these stories. Yes, the church should be a safe haven, and for those people who were so off-base and ignorant in suggesting that your child’s challenges were caused by someone’s sins…theirs is a shaky, shallow faith–a circumstantial faith.

And, speaking as a church nursery director as well as a mom, I really wish that more parents realized that a “small” cold for their child could be very, *very* serious for another child.

I’m praying for y’all!

By: Mrs. Mac

Mrs. Mac — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:17:45 +0000

I once headed up a special needs Sunday school because there was no place for my son … this was too overwhelming to be the parent of a special needs child AND the leader of such a class. After we moved to a new state, and tried several churches, I end up staying home most Sundays .. hubby goes to church .. sometimes I have one of my adult kids watch our son. Our son has DS and needs a lot of supervision. The current church has no place for him (I asked .. then left and went out to the woods on my property to have ‘church’ alone with God. That’s pretty much where I go to church …

By: Jennie

Jennie — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 04:04:49 +0000

Our church has a fantastic ministry called Barnabas Disability Ministry. There are two mom’s Bible studies, a monthly dad’s book study group, Sunday school classes for adults with special needs (very well staffed), and quarterly respite nights (for the children and their siblings, staffed basically at 1:1 and open to the public, not just to church members). Every Sunday morning there is someone from Barnabas staffed on each floor of the children’s ministries (infant/toddler with early childhood, elementary, and upper grades). Between the early childhood director and the Barnabas coordinator, they determined which classroom would be best for our son the first Sunday we showed up there, new to town. I thank God for the hearts of all who work to make our family not feel out of place at church. They love our son so well… brings tears to my eyes.

By: Missy

Missy — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 01:39:01 +0000

I do not have a child with special needs but it is just breaking my heart to real all these posts.

The church I attend here in Houston and the other several churches I am affiliated with (via family, bible studies etc) are all extremely welcoming – some even going so far as to have a Sunday School class just for autistic or DS kids, full time deaf interpreters, parental support groups…I guess I have been in a bubble of wonderful churches because the stories y’all are telling are just making me stomach sick.

What can I say….move to Houston!!

By: Sara Broers

Sara Broers — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 16:29:48 +0000

Interesting comments here. I think churches should be welcoming to EVERYONE! I don’t get it when people/churches begin to single people out. I am so thankful that in our church we do open the doors to anyone and everyone. Now, I do not have a child with special needs, other than a 14 year old who has struggled with tourettes- we’ve managed to enjoy participating and partaking in activities in our church. His tourettes is not as bad today as it was a couple years ago, he’s maturing and learning how to deal with it. I feel so bad that many of you have had to change churches or not even go because of your special needs children. When it’s an immune system thing, I can understand. But, does your church offer videos of the servcies, etc? Food for thought. Nice post and I’m glad you brought this issue out!