Anonymous wrote: Try Falls Church Anglican. We had a full-blown tourette's child in the evening youth group and both the children and adults could not have been more kind.

While in general this is a wonderful church- this is a terrible suggestion for this family. They specifically asked for a church where their child would not be expected to sit through the service. TFCA has fully embraced the idea that children should be in the service and the services are very long. It is absolute torture for non neurotypical children (it's probably torture for some neurotypical children as well.) The Youth group is much more welcoming to teens with special needs that the children's ministry is.

OP - try McLean Bible Church - it has its own ministry aimed at special needs kids. They also fund Jill's House. First Presbyterian in Vienna, named above is also good. Try Falls Church Anglican. We had a full-blown tourette's child in the evening youth group and both the children and adults could not have been more kind.

Anonymous wrote:We're looking mainly in the Springfield area, but would be willing to drive a bit for the right church. I think there's some truth to the pp's statement that we should probably look at larger churches, although I was hoping to avoid a big nondenominational mega church.

What is your denomination?

Anonymous wrote:OP. I have no problem volunteering on a rotating basis with other parents, but I wouldn't want to have to stay in the classroom with him every Sunday, as then I would not be able to attend Worship service in the sanctuary.

Do protestant churches have cty rooms OP? Almost all of the Catholic churches we attended over the years have cry rooms, and there are sometimes older kids in there.

How old is your son OP? Coule you sit in the back with him and attend short increments of church, leaving early but working your way up to him attending a full service? That might work out better in tue long run than a nursery, because very soon he is going to feel embarrassed going to a nursery.

What about a church with structured Sunday school during the service? Or a children's Mass? At our churches that did these, the kids woukd stay with the parents for the beginning, leave for the readings/homily, then return for the liturgy of the Eucharist. Maybe a Lutheran church woukd have something similar???

Surprisingly OP, what made my wild child behave the best at church was when we started attending one of those very traditional, formal, quiet, full of crabby looking old people churches. All of the kids, from babies to teens, are so well behaved there, and with the quiet and peaceful/serene building he just felt like he needed to be quiet and (mostly) still. I think it was the solumness of the church that did it. He decided on his own that being naughty would draw too much attention to himself, and he started behaving on his own. It



I hope you find a parish that is good for your family OP!

McLean Bible at their various campuses around the beltway, has a program, in addition to overnight respite at Jill's House, called Beautiful Blessings which is Sunday mornings for children with special needs aged 2-16.

I find their website difficult to find specific information but perhaps you can see if there's something there helpful to your family.

https://www.mcleanbible.org/

McLean Pres-- its right off the beltway, so easy to get to on a Sunday morning from Springfield. They have a special buddy program for special needs kids- although from your description its not clear your child would need that.

How do you feel about Baptist? First Baptist Church of Alexandria has a special connections class.

I was in the exact same search position a few years ago- albeit with slightly different criteria.