Special needs ministry policies: HOW do you identify individuals who might need support?
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The question posed in the title might seem like an odd one, especially if you are just starting a special needs ministry. For some individuals - like those with physical impairments or obvious outward features of a disability, such as those with Down syndrome - it's not hard to identify the presence of a disability. For others who have less obvious special needs - like Kim's daughter from Friday's guest post - it could be hard to know if a person might need more support.
(And, by the way, I have written about this before and shared an earlier draft of our policy there. This is more detailed and updated than that post, though there are couple spots of redundancy, for which I apologize!)
Won't families let us know? Why do we need to do anything proactively?
Honestly, when I began coordinating Access Ministry at Providence, this "how" element didn't occur to me. I knew we have a handful of kids who needed support who had already been identified, and I knew we already had a class for adults with disabilities. Those kids and adults, though, all had visible disabilities.
Some families will let you know. Some won't. Some will let someone else know - a Sunday school teacher, a pastor, a youth leader, or even the greeter at the door.
Some will do what one of our families did: have several conversations about difficult behavior in class with the child's teacher before mentioning, "well, he does have autism." Those teachers had no idea until then. They were flummoxed by the child's behavior but, with no background in special needs and no indication of a diagnosis, the teachers just handled the behavioral difficulties in the same day they had handled misbehavior in the past, not realizing there was more going on.
In an example like that last one, you may not be able to do anything to get the parents to disclose the diagnosis of their child right away. That's why it's crucial to demonstrate grace to everyone you encounter. No one is an inconvenience. No one. No one. Breed that mentality in your children's ministry and youth ministry and adult ministries at your church. You don't know anyone's full story. Think about how you would feel if you had a sign around your neck with your full story. It's tough to be vulnerable. If you expect every person to disclose every special need on day one, then you're expecting them to be vulnerable.
Vulnerability grows from trust. Is your church a place that breeds trust? In other words, is your ministry fully directed by the One who is ultimately trustworthy, or are you trying to run it from your own flesh and strength and energy?
So... How do you identify individuals who need support?
I'll paste the section about that from our guidebook below, but first let me share a couple of things I do that aren't in the written policies:
(And, by the way, I have written about this before and shared an earlier draft of our policy there. This is more detailed and updated than that post, though there are couple spots of redundancy, for which I apologize!)
Won't families let us know? Why do we need to do anything proactively?
Honestly, when I began coordinating Access Ministry at Providence, this "how" element didn't occur to me. I knew we have a handful of kids who needed support who had already been identified, and I knew we already had a class for adults with disabilities. Those kids and adults, though, all had visible disabilities.
Some families will let you know. Some won't. Some will let someone else know - a Sunday school teacher, a pastor, a youth leader, or even the greeter at the door.
Some will do what one of our families did: have several conversations about difficult behavior in class with the child's teacher before mentioning, "well, he does have autism." Those teachers had no idea until then. They were flummoxed by the child's behavior but, with no background in special needs and no indication of a diagnosis, the teachers just handled the behavioral difficulties in the same day they had handled misbehavior in the past, not realizing there was more going on.
In an example like that last one, you may not be able to do anything to get the parents to disclose the diagnosis of their child right away. That's why it's crucial to demonstrate grace to everyone you encounter. No one is an inconvenience. No one. No one. Breed that mentality in your children's ministry and youth ministry and adult ministries at your church. You don't know anyone's full story. Think about how you would feel if you had a sign around your neck with your full story. It's tough to be vulnerable. If you expect every person to disclose every special need on day one, then you're expecting them to be vulnerable.
Vulnerability grows from trust. Is your church a place that breeds trust? In other words, is your ministry fully directed by the One who is ultimately trustworthy, or are you trying to run it from your own flesh and strength and energy?
So... How do you identify individuals who need support?
I'll paste the section about that from our guidebook below, but first let me share a couple of things I do that aren't in the written policies:
- I aim to make sure all of our ministry team members know about Access Ministry. Our church is large, and it is housed in a former hotel building, with the old ballroom as our worship center and the hotel rooms as our classrooms. (We got rid of the bar less than a decade ago, and this past year we removed the check-in desk in the lobby as we renovated the main areas.) I mention all that to emphasize that not everyone knows who I am and what we do. Beyond that, not everyone knows where to find me. I couldn't assume that people knew what we did or how to respond if an individual with special needs showed up or called the church. As a starting point, make sure you inform everyone involved in welcoming people as they arrive because those are the folks who may have first interaction before you ever meet the person or family. Same goes for informing whoever answers the phone during the week, so they know what to do.
- I submit to God's sovereignty. I won't know every disability represented in our church. I can't control every element. I can't be fully trustworthy. I simply can't do it myself. And I don't have to. God can. And he's the best one to do it.
Identification of individuals with special needsIs there anything I've left out here? How do you identify individuals who need support at your church or, if you don't serve in special needs ministry, how do you think that could be done well?
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, show grace to each person you encounter.
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.