Reply to Church for family with SN kids

Forum Index » Kids With Special Needs and Disabilities

Reply to "Church for family with SN kids"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Shouldn't you feel accepted at all churches? [/quote]

Well, theoretically.  But I would imagine that many churches think they are accepting and welcoming when they really are not.
Often the problems are structural.  Also- kids with special needs have a variety of different special needs, in school they get an IEP, tailored to them.  Frequently, churches expect special needs kids to just go with the program.  
A truly welcoming and inclusive church will say things to a parent like "What can we do to help your children to make their experience and your experience at church positive."  What is good for one child will not be good for another child.

Some examples:
A kid with ADHD often does not do well when the kids are expected to be in the service with adults 'learning to worship.'  This is intensified when the services are really long.  It's not really welcoming to just smile at the poor parents who are barely able to hear anything going on b/c their entire focus is on keeping their child from disturbing others.

A kid with high anxiety is going to have a problem in a setting where everything is always changing.  Kids are expected to get up  mid-service and go out to an unknown location, etc.

A kid with a physical disability is going to have a hard time accessing a church when they keep the elevator locked, and they always have to go find someone who might have the keys- who sometimes is on a different level.

A church that truly wants to be welcoming and inclusive will sit back and think about what (often unknowing) barriers they have put in place, and think about how they can reach all children, not just the ones that fit into their mold.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics