What's your policy for identifying people with special needs who may need support at your church?
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I spent most of Sunday afternoon hanging out with my laptop, a chai latte, and a cinnamon crunch bagel at Panera, pounding out some written policies for Access Ministry at our church. One policy, which you can read in its preliminary form below, is about identifying individuals who have disabilities or special needs that could make it difficult for them to be involved at our church. You see, while some people have visibly obvious disabilities - like the facial features of most individuals with Down syndrome or like a wheelchair or walker used by someone with a physical impairment - other disabilities aren't as obvious.
In two separate instances at our church, a few years apart, two children with autism spectrum disorders were involved in our church each week. While their behavior was not typical, volunteers in one class thought that the child was naughty (because he often flapped his hands, refusing to sit still, and because he yelled and threw things when he became overwhelmed with sensory input, like hearing too much noise or having too many people close to him) and volunteers in another class just thought the other child was withdrawn (because he never talked or made eye contact). We found out about the first child's diagnosis when the teachers spoke to the parents about his behavior after class, and we found out about the other when we converted to a computerized child check-in system (called KidCheck) and the parent typed "autism" in the section labelled "allergies and medical information." (And we're looking into adding a yes/no option with the question "does your child have any special needs?" but we don't understand all the ins and outs of KidCheck yet, so I'm not sure when and if that will happen!)
While some actions can make parents feel more comfortable about disclosing a disability - for example, a confidentiality policy to prevent the information from being shared publicly - there isn't a perfect solution to this. Even adding a question like the one we're trying to add to KidCheck isn't foolproof; some parents may ignore it if they're in a hurry, and others might not want to tell us about the special needs until they're sure they can trust us. I'm not implying that we should give up, just acknowledging that no solution will completely remedy the issue.
Here's our policy so far.
What do you think? How does your church handle this? How do you actively identify kids or adults who might benefit from the special needs ministry program at your church?
In two separate instances at our church, a few years apart, two children with autism spectrum disorders were involved in our church each week. While their behavior was not typical, volunteers in one class thought that the child was naughty (because he often flapped his hands, refusing to sit still, and because he yelled and threw things when he became overwhelmed with sensory input, like hearing too much noise or having too many people close to him) and volunteers in another class just thought the other child was withdrawn (because he never talked or made eye contact). We found out about the first child's diagnosis when the teachers spoke to the parents about his behavior after class, and we found out about the other when we converted to a computerized child check-in system (called KidCheck) and the parent typed "autism" in the section labelled "allergies and medical information." (And we're looking into adding a yes/no option with the question "does your child have any special needs?" but we don't understand all the ins and outs of KidCheck yet, so I'm not sure when and if that will happen!)
While some actions can make parents feel more comfortable about disclosing a disability - for example, a confidentiality policy to prevent the information from being shared publicly - there isn't a perfect solution to this. Even adding a question like the one we're trying to add to KidCheck isn't foolproof; some parents may ignore it if they're in a hurry, and others might not want to tell us about the special needs until they're sure they can trust us. I'm not implying that we should give up, just acknowledging that no solution will completely remedy the issue.
Here's our policy so far.
We do our best to identify individuals with special needs who may need additional support to function well in our church body. Some disabilities, though, are not immediately obvious in appearance. Additionally, others are manifested by behaviors that seem disobedient or intentional. And some individuals, especially some of our youngest participants, may have special needs that haven’t been diagnosed yet. Because of this and because you have been shown extravagant grace by God, show grace to each person you encounter.*As a note of explanation, allergy information is printed on nametags to advise the teachers, so if a parent lists something like autism in the field for allergies, it does print out in that space. We make sure parents understand that and advise that they remove any information that isn't crucial, particularly for children whose classmates can read. If we add a field in KidCheck for special needs, that will not be printed on the nametags for obvious confidentiality reasons.
If we find out that an individual in your class has a disability or other special needs, we will let you know. If a parent or individual shares with you that he/she or his/her child has a disability or other diagnosed special need or that the child is going through the process of diagnosis, please let the Access Ministry coordinators or a Family Discipleship staff member know and do not assume that we already know, even if the disability is printed on the KidCheck nametag*.
What do you think? How does your church handle this? How do you actively identify kids or adults who might benefit from the special needs ministry program at your church?