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Category Archives: Hidden Disabilities
If Not Special Needs Ministry, What Should We Call It?
All things considered, I would favor the terms disability ministry or disability inclusion to describe the ministry our team resources and supports in churches. My hope in initiating this discussion is to spark leaders in the church to see a bigger game. The population of families who have children with what we’ve traditionally referred to as “hidden disabilities” is enormously larger than the population who have children with the physical or intellectual disabilities that come to mind in association with the term special needs. Most children’s pastors have all they can handle to serve families of kids with special needs and our team makes a practice of meeting churches wherever they’re at. But I’ll continue to communicate in a manner that constantly reminds us of the need to address the obstacles that prevent kids with less visible disabilities and their families from fully participating in the life of the church.
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Obstacles Families Face in Finding Mental Health Care For Kids
Parents of kids with significant mental health disorders frequently experience great frustration in negotiating the confusing maze that constitutes our system of mental health care in many communities across the U.S., along with the yet more confusing (intentionally?) system of paying for needed care. Quite frequently, pastors and ministry leaders are trusted resources to parents of children or teens in crisis, and my own professional society encourages parents who are looking for help for their kids to seek recommendations from their spiritual leaders. This post seeks to help ministry leaders better appreciate common challenges families face in finding the proper help for their kids, and offer some resources to share with parents looking for help.
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Posted in Families, Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry, Mental Health, Parents, Resources
Tagged AACAP, access, adolescents, children, church, Facts For Families, families, mental health, NAMI
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May Series…Hot Topics in Children’s Mental Health
If kids and teens affected by mental illness and their families are to be successfully welcomed and fully included in our churches, the church will need to make great strides in its’ understanding of mental illness. That’s where I hope we can help.
May is designated as National Mental Health Month, and the week of May 6-12 is officially designated as Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. In order to promote better understanding of common mental disorders in children and teens and the challenges faced their families, we’ll spend the month looking in depth at some of the more controversial topics in the field of child and adolescent mental health.
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Downloads and Free Registration for the Children’s Ministry Websummit
Just a reminder…my video presentation on our current blog series, Square Pegs and Round Holes…Helping Kids With Asperger’s Disorder and Social Disabilities Grow Spiritually, will be available online from April 2-6 as part of the 2012 Children’s Ministry Websummit.
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More Stuff You Should Know About Kids With Asperger’s Disorder
This past Tuesday, we reviewed the diagnostic criteria for Asperger’s Disorder and emphasized the notion that the unique pattern of strengths and weaknesses seen in kids with the disorder complicates efforts to serve them programmatically. We’ll continue our discussion today by examining three additional characteristics of many kids with Asperger’s that often complicate their ability to participate in activities at church.
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Square Pegs and Round Holes…Understanding Kids with Asperger’s Disorder
As we begin our discussion of how churches can more effectively connect with, welcome and support kids with Asperger’s Disorder as they mature spiritually, a good place to begin is to establish a common understand-ing of the condition. Continue reading
Posted in Autism, Hidden Disabilities, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Resources
Tagged Asperger's Disorder, church, Inclusion, Key Ministry
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New resource on including kids with aggressive behavior at church
Here’s a one-stop resource tying together the blog series from last fall, Beyond Zero Tolerance…When Kids Become Aggressive at Church. In addition to an edited version of the entire series in a single article, I included a SlideShare presentation of the lecture I was invited to present on the topic at last Fall’s Bioethics Conference and Through the Roof Summit at Cedarville University.
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Rhonda Martin…Nurturing Spiritual Growth in Kids With Anxiety
Rhett Smith’s outstanding interview on his new book, The Anxious Christian, has generated lots of interest in the topic of anxiety and church. In the process of compiling resources pertaining to spiritual development and anxiety, I came across this interview that Katie Wetherbee conducted with Rhonda Martin for the 2011 Inclusion Fusion Special Needs Ministry Web Summit.
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Interview With Dr. Matthew Stanford…Part Two
On Tuesday, we introduced you to Dr. Matthew Stanford from Baylor University. Dr. Stanford discussed his research on the relationship between mental illness and faith practice in Part One of our interview. Today, he talks about Mental Health Grace Alliance (a new non-profit organization he founded) and two books he’s authored, The Biology of Sin and Grace for the Afflicted.
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