In case you missed it, Ministry-to-Children.com ran my article, Review Activity for Kids with Special Needs, this past Monday. A couple of years ago I had just interviewed a speech therapist for my writing on special needs inclusion. She was talking about the importance of incorporating touch and feel as well as movement into any activity where you wanted a child to grasp a concept and learn something new. Shortly after that conversation I began thinking about ways to help kids of all ability levels understand and absorb a Bible lesson. I came up with the Yes/No stick activity (described in the linked article) and discovered it was a huge hit with both typical kids and those with learning differences. This reinforcement exercise turned out to be a lifesaver last summer during VBS when I had a few minutes of unplanned time just before parents arrived for pick-up. I passed out Yes/No sticks to two dozen first graders and reviewed the daily Bible story while teen helpers cleaned up the room and prepared for dismissal. Because our class included one child with a disclosed diagnosis (autism) and we suspected we had at least one other child with a learning difference, this activity was great for engaging everyone.
In the picture above, you can see how I constructed my Yes/No sticks. Ministry-to-Children.com provides a free download if you want a shortcut for creating your own activity sticks. For more tips like this one check out the new volunteer training DVD Surviving to Thriving: Successfully Including the Child with Special Needs available through www.whatisorange.org.
Tips for Training Teen Helpers in #Kidmin
Today’s guest post is from Meredith Teasley and follows yesterday’s super popular post, 5 Tips for Helping a Child with Special Needs in Summer Programming. Meredith plans and leads CentriKid Camps for Lifeway. One of Meredith’s strengths is in coaching and leading teen-helpers. These pointers apply beautifully to the special needs ministry setting. ~ Amy
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3 Tips for Training Young Leaders
Teens can be a great help in children’s ministry and special needs ministry… when they are trained and equipped to succeed in their role! Use these tips to equip teen helpers in your ministry and invest in future leaders:
1. Share the vision. Too often, we get teens to sign up and then tell them nothing else until they show up. Unless you tell them otherwise, these students or teens may assume they are just a “warm body” there to help you meet a quota for volunteers or chaperones or helpers. Find a time to cast the vision for them, even if it’s one on one.
2. Tell teens what success looks like. What are the characteristics of a great teen helper or assistant or buddy? In what areas will you hold this person accountable? They may aim for nothing except showing up unless you give them clear expectations.
3. Give them a specific job. Does the teen need to hold their buddy’s hand? If so, tell him. Does he need to pass out pencils? Tell him. Does she need to sit next to a rowdy child and keep that kid calm? Tell her. At first, you may feel like the teen needs more instruction than the kids you’re leading, but after a while they will catch on. Don’t assume each teen has worked with kids before or knows what they are doing. Don’t be afraid to give LOTS of instructions!
Remember, the more you invest in teens as their leader, the more you’ll get out of them in return. You are investing not just in high school students or first-time volunteers, but you are investing in future kids ministry leaders. Make the most of the opportunity you have to create some incredible future leaders! ~ Meredith Teasley
Meredith Teasley is a former #kidmin and currently servers a Kids Camp Specialist with LifeWay Christian Resources. She has included kids with special needs at camp since 2002. Meredith offers #kidmin helps and leadership tips on her blog, www.meredithteasley.com.
Related Posts:
Training Event Outline for Teen Helpers in VBS & Sunday Kidmin Settings
Recruting Teens as Special Needs Buddies
Today’s guest post comes from Meredith Teasley who wears a whole bunch of hats at Lifeway, including planning and leading Lifeway’s CentriKid camps. Meredith has a tremendous heart for both children and the leaders who serve them. I have appreciated Meredith’s friendship and her enthusiastic support for helping churches include kids with special needs. Meredith’s post provides universal guidance helpful to every kidmin team! ~ Amy
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I have a camp background and have enjoyed the opportunity to help kids with special needs connect even at camp! Many parents are frightened to send kids with special needs to camp, and many kids ministry leaders are just as scared! The good news is that just about any kid can have a great experience at camp, with some guidance and planning. Check out these 5 tips for helping that child connect in their new environment:
- Know the issue. At CentriKid Camps, we take time to learn exactly what issue the child may be dealing with. A kid whose parents have recently divorced has a much different need than one who is dealing with a physical disability. Know the need you are trying to meet.
- Involve the kid. Give the child the opportunity to engage with leaders and other kids. As much as possible, build a relationship with the child. Anytime a kid is dealing with a special need, an extra “buddy” or one-on-one helper can really make a difference!
- Give the child choices. ASK: Do you want to play the game with the group, or sit on the grass and watch? This gives much better boundaries than simply asking if they want to play. Give the child two options whenever possible.
- Encourage the leader. We all know it can be tough to lead a child dealing with a special need. Remind the children’s ministry leader why they are helping out. Pray with them. Listen to the leader as they share how the experience went.
- Keep your expectations in check. Remind yourself and other leaders helping the child that it won’t be perfect every time. Any new situation always requires some adjusting and help along the way.
Remember your purpose in helping the child connect. It won’t always go exactly like you planned, but you’ve given this kid a great opportunity to be a part of something incredibility fun and different! Enjoy the experience! ~ Meredith Teasley
Meredith Teasley is a former #kidmin and currently servers a Kids Camp Specialist with LifeWay Christian Resources. She has included kids with special needs at camp since 2002. Meredith offers #kidmin helps and leadership tips on her blog, www.meredithteasley.com.
The Background: For a couple of years I’ve been teaching a workshop that offers 35+ ideas to better engage kids with learning differences in children’s ministry settings. The content for the workshop was developed after I volunteered in a room full of 5 year-old boys in the summer of 2009. One particular participant was especially challenging for me to understand and manage. The mother had not been forthright about her son’s needs and they were significant enough to warrant extra supervision and assistance. After feeling conviction to do my best to keep this child in our ministry, I began researching ways to successfully include kids like “Jake*.” It was out of this experience that I transitioned my writing to focus almost exclusively on special needs inclusion in children’s ministry. Over time I have implemented all the strategies I share in various church settings where I volunteer. I have personally used these ideas in environments that include both typical kids and kids with learning differences. However, virtually all of the strategies work for a self-contained special needs room as well.
As the requests to present this workshop at various conferences and churches grew, we began discussing the idea of developing a DVD. The video recently became a reality and was launched as a new product at the 2012 Orange Conference. And now…drumroll please…the DVD is available to every church.*name changed
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Orange Press Release – Special Needs Ministry Resource Release – 0052212
| Title: | Surviving to Thriving: |
| Successfully Including the Child with Special Needs | |
| Author: | Amy Fenton Lee |
| Price: | $49.99 |
| Publisher/Provider: | The reThink Group (www.whatisorange.org) |
| Where to Purchase: | https://secure.rethinkgroup.org/store/product.php?productid=1303&cat=0&page=1 |
Reproducible downloadable materials include: Visual schedule with graphics, behavior management rules with corresponding pictures, and a daily participant interview/exit ticket. Notes (with and without blanks) are provided for each segment so that viewers can follow the content through each section. Questions to facilitate an optional group discussion after each major section (sample below).
How to use this resource: This 80-minute DVD is designed to be a training tool for children’s ministry leaders and volunteers. The content is divided into 7 major sections with 13 short video clips. Each segment addresses a common challenge in the children’s ministry setting and offers various strategies to help the child with learning differences and their leaders experience success. At the conclusion of the seven major sections, optional questions are posed to facilitate an elective group discussion time. The video may be shown in completion or as individual segments, each spotlighting a particular teaching technique or behavior management strategy.
| DVD Table of Contents | Length | |
| 1 | Introduction | 4 mins |
| Part I: Jake, a boy we all know | ||
| 2 | Jake’s story | 11 mins |
| Part II: Jake needs a predictable routine with visual indicators | ||
| 3 | Set and communicate a routine schedule | 4 mins |
| 4 | Offer a personal schedule and visual timer | 4 mins |
| 5 | Provide tools for transitions and change, to prevent running off | 3 mins |
| Part III: Jake needs an interactive and engaging small group time | ||
| 6 | Define space, Engage a child through visual and tactile aids | 11 mins |
| 7 | Translate abstract Bible concepts, provide order to Bible stories | 10 mins |
| Part IV: Making sure Jake got it | ||
| 8 | Provide independent activities and reinforce the Bible lesson | 11 mins |
| Part V: Understanding Jake’s needs | ||
| 9 | Behavior is a means of communicating 4 types of needs | 7 mins |
| Part VI: Helping Jake communicate his needs appropriately | ||
| 10 | Provide visual guidelines and promote appropriate communication | 5 mins |
| 11 | Offer alternative means to communication | 6 mins |
| Part VII: Helping Jake meet his needs | ||
| 12 | Create a Chill-out space to alleviate overstimulation; meet sensory needs | 6 mins |
| 13 | Concluding words, guidance for getting started in special needs inclusion | 2 mins |
| Sample Questions to Facilitate Optional Discussion Time after Each Part | |
| Part I: Jake, a boy we all know | |
| 1. | Can you think of kids in you ministry like Jake? What makes their successful inclusion challenging? |
| 2. | Who benefits by keeping Jake involved in the ministry environment? |
| 3. | How do those people benefit? |
| 4. | What are the possible negative outcomes if Jake is left in the ministry environment and where the teachers aren’t equipped to effectively engage or manage Jake? |
| 5. | What factors can contribute to a child’s behavior other than a disability or learning difference? |
What Others are Saying:
Kathy Weltner, Contributing Author to Special Needs Smart Pages (Gospel Light, 2009) and Director of Bridges, CrossPoint Community Church in Modesto, California:
“I’m only half-way in to the DVD and from what I have seen it is excellent. You are presenting very similar material to what I present in workshops in California and in a very professional way. What I love is how it is broken into segments. I am already planning a training event for my volunteers where I can use some of your segments.”
Brenda Springer, Director of HOPE Special Learning Ministry of Bell Shoals Baptist Church, Brandon, Florida:
“Our church’s special needs ministry is fairly new. We have a group of volunteers who have a passion but very little professional knowledge about how to effectively communicate with those with more severe autism. I purchased the Surviving to Thriving DVD and was excited to try some new techniques to see if we could be more successful with one particular child. I implemented a few strategies this week and was so pleased with how well we connected with the child. In fact, we learned that before now we had underestimated his abilities. I can’t wait to see how much more this child’s gifts shine through in future weeks as we try new ideas. We plan to use the DVD in an upcoming volunteer training session. Keep the ideas coming!”
Video & Pictures from Orange #OC12
During the conference Orange Leaders hosted a live webcast interviewing the main stage speakers and many of the workshop presenters. Jared Herd did a great job of entertaining and educating the live online audience. Meaghan Wall and I had fun sharing about special needs ministry during a 25 minutes of the live cast. Tony Kummer with Ministry-to-Children.com was kind enough to capture the interview on tape. I talk a little about the new Surviving to Thriving Volunteer Training DVD and Meaghan shares some best practices for volunteer recruitment and training. Meaghan’s part of the interview was outstanding!
Below are some pictures I thought you might enjoy from our OC12 experience:
Reggie Joiner called a staff meeting just minutes before we opened registration on Tuesday evening. Reggie is a gifted leader both on the main stage and with the Orange Team. The room was full of excitement as we received last minute instruction and prepared to meet 5021 conference registrants!
The Orange staff ordered 50 pins for me to pass out to special needs ministry leaders. Woo-hoo, we ran out! I apologize to those of you who wanted one and didn’t get one. We wore these through the conference to help engage other family ministry leaders and talk about special needs inclusion.
While Meaghan Wall was teaching her workshop on using iPads in special needs ministry….
….I was on the floor at the back of the room (near an electrical outlet) uploading notes for blog posts.
I wanted to show a picture of this booth because I mentioned the Creative Board product in my “Surviving to Thriving” workshop and I showed it’s use in the actual Surviving to Thriving Volunteer Training DVD. You can’t see it well in this picture, but there is a covered board on the floor and positioned against the screen showing Ted Lowe’s picture. We used this creative board when we showed the use of Visual Schedules in the DVD. I recommend this product for use in classrooms!
I also wanted to show a picture and mention Momentum Media. Cory Richmond provided all the signage throughout the Convention Center and the Arena during the Orange Conference. He also produces signage and visual art for churches. He is great at developing visuals to match Orange curriculum. Cory does amazing work and and I would be remiss not to mention the fact he works on ridiculously short notice. Fun Fact: Cory is married to Yancy!
This is a picture of the main stage in the arena just before we started the session where Denise Briley was presented an Orange Award.
We took this picture late Friday evening after the conference was over and after sharing a celebratory meal. From left to right: Denise Briley of Houston’s First Baptist and Thru the Roof Ministry, Meaghan Wall of Stonebriar Community Church, and me (Amy Fenton Lee).
Denise Briley Winning Orange Award – Copyright The ReThink Group 2012
Each year The Orange Conference recognizes leaders who have made a lasting and eternal impact in the participants of their ministry. Nearly always the award goes to someone who has made a bigger impact in the whole field of family ministry and sometimes without even realizing it. This past Friday Reggie Joiner and Sue Miller surprised Denise Briley by honoring her with an Orange Award from the conference main stage. When it comes to special needs ministry, hundreds of ministry leaders across the United States, and especially Texas, can attest to the fact that few people have had the influence and impact of Denise Briley.
In 1995 Denise struggled to find a church that could accommodate the unique needs of her son Clayton. After being turned away from a number of churches, Lori Jones, the Children’s Pastor at Graceview Baptist in Tomball, Texas approached Denise and asked the question, “How can we help you?” That conversation would lead to a friendship and ultimately a ministry that would serve thousands (literally) of children and families impacted by special needs. Denise Briley is one of those people who constantly looks for ways to share Jesus. And the willingness of Graceview Baptist to embrace Clayton and the entire Briley family would ultimately give Denise an opportunity to change the landscape of special needs ministry far and wide. Denise has even served as the inspiration behind Lifeway’s Special Buddies Curriculum.
If you have served in special needs ministry in Texas, odds are you have benefitted either first-hand or second-hand from a training, a “how to” manual, or a conference put on by Denise. It is virtually impossible to count the number of people and churches who have in some way benefited from Denise’s passion or expertise. For an earlier post on this blog where Denise shares some of her wisdom for other special needs ministry leaders, click here.
Denise’s son Clayton went to be with Jesus on February 1st, 2009. In 2010/2011 Denise wisely decided to take a break from ministry to allow herself a period to grieve and to physically and emotionally recover. After a break, Denise was called back into ministry. And in Fall of 2011, Denise joined the staff of Houston’s First Baptist Church as the Coordinator of the church’s Thru the Roof Ministry. And on any given Saturday, you’ll find Denise speaking at conferences to teach and inspire other church leaders to better include families impacted by special needs.
Denise tells a beautiful story of faith, family and ministry in her recently released book, Feathers from Heaven.
Below we show a video where you see Denise’s face and reaction as she realizes she is the person receiving the Orange Award. You will hear Sue Miller telling Denise’s story from the stage. Since working on special needs inclusion in churches, there has been absolutely no greater moment of joy for me personally than Friday morning when I watched Denise receive a fraction of honor and appreciation that she so richly deserves. Denise, I know you want to give Jesus all the credit – and I love you for that! But please let me say, “Thank you Denise for being faithful to serving our God. And thank you for so diligently praying for opportunities for Jesus to receive glory out of your own less-than-perfect situation. We too celebrate Clayton and the way he continues to bring others to Jesus.”
Madeline Rowell is a Children’s Associate at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta, GA. She coordinates Green Light, a Special Needs Ministry that serves more than a dozen families on Sundays and through respite events. You can follow Green Light at facebook.com/green.light.ministry or follow Madeline on Twitter: @madelinerowell.
AFL: Many special needs ministry coordinators come into a church staff position unfamiliar with the politics and protocol of church leadership. What advice would you give a new person starting in a staff leadership position for the first time?
MR: A new leader may see some changes that need to be addressed in the special needs ministry. However, I encourage a person new to a leadership position or new to the church to avoid making big immediate changes to the ministry unless it’s a matter of safety and security. When I came on staff at JFBC, I saw changes that I wanted to make immediately, but my leadership reminded me that I needed to learn the church and ministry first. Too much too soon could mean creating tension with other ministries and pastors, losing volunteers, or upsetting kids and their parents. Your new church or new ministry is likely not to operate like your last church or last experience. That was a big lesson for me to learn.
In the first year serving in a new church or new ministry, spend time investing in volunteers and building relationships with families. Learn everything you can about your church’s philosophy on ministry and build rapport with your leadership and pastors. Be teachable. Most importantly, pray for your church, your leadership, and ministry. Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
After that first year of ministry, you’ll better understand how your church operates and you’ll have good grasp on the needs of the participating families. You’ll be in a better place to develop a strategic plan to implement the changes that you want made. In the past few months, God has begun to open doors for growth in our ministry and it’s very exciting! Don’t be discouraged, but trust that the Lord is for your church and He’s for your ministry.
AFL: Did you have a “take-away” from the Orange Conference that you could share?
MR: My experience at Orange was more than I could have asked for. As a new member of the Special Needs Ministry world, I have all the passion but very little knowledge for this area of ministry. The workshops were a huge resource of information, tools, and ideas. Linda Martin’s workshop for how to recruit, train and maintain volunteers yielded so much wisdom. Linda impressed the need to continually train instead of doing one or two sessions throughout the year. I loved Linda’s idea for meeting after the class each week for 5-10 minutes to debrief the morning. That’s a great time to share thoughts, address any concerns, and encourage one another.
Rome wasn’t built in a day and I can’t expect our Green Light Ministry to grow to my expectations that quickly either. My ministry has areas of growth and challenges, but with baby steps and a lot of prayer, it will become what it needs to be. The importance of taking small steps was expressed in one of the workshops and I needed someone to tell me that! Before Orange, I didn’t know anyone working in Special Needs within the church. After attending the conference, I know so many people championing this ministry. I have a network of folks that have a desire to share their passion and their wisdom. Overall, this conference was a provision from the Lord and a gift of hope.
Kristy Moser is the Early Childhood Pastor of Crosstown Children’s Ministry at Montgomery Community Church in Cincinnati, Ohio. Over the past seven years Kristy has been instrumental in establishing a special needs ministry for children and students. In addition, Kristy runs her own blog for parents of children with special needs at The Road Less Traveled Blog. To learn more about Kristy and her own journey, read the earlier post on this blog, When the Children’s Pastor is Impacted by Special Needs.
AFL: What’s one thing that you know now that you wish you’d known when you started serving in your church’s special needs ministry?
KM: The one thing I know now that I wish I had known when I started serving as staff leader over our special needs ministry is just how hard it is to get to church when you have a child with special needs. Now that I have “walked in their shoes” I now see just how much of a struggle and chore it can be to get out of the house in the morning. I never want to turn another family away from our ministry just because we didn’t know they were coming. They NEED to be in church.
AFL: Have you had a take-away from the Orange Conference special needs track?
KM: On two seperate occasions during the special needs workshops Surviving to Thriving: Techniques for Engaging Different Learners and again during Leading a Special Needs Inclusion Initiative, Amy Fenton Lee talked about the importance of parents’ spiritual nourishment. While children’s ministry leaders are privileged to minister to children, a big part of our job is to enable the spiritual development of moms and dads. Several times Amy reminded us that “the parents are the real missionaries inside the family.” This reminder is significant for special needs ministry servants. One thing that always goes through our minds as special needs champions is “Am I making a difference in this child?” or “Is this child learning and improving?” Going home from Orange my goal is going to be to evaluated on how well I am ministering to the parents in my ministry, not just my kids.
I hosted all four special needs workshops and taught two myself yesterday, so there wasn’t much downtime to load posts. I will post more “Champion Spotlights” today and probably through this weekend. In the meantime I thought you might enjoy some pictures of our group as well as some other notes and information related to yesterday and today.
Last night we had so many people show up for our networking event that we had to make an impromptu decision and move it to a new location. We know we had at least 50 people show up and we suspect more came late and didn’t know we’d moved to pizza shop down the street in Duluth. We sat out back of this restaurant and for more than 2 hours most everyone took turns asking and answering questions related to special needs ministry. There were some longtime special needs champions who shared how encouraging it was to see so many new faces who were passionate and called to be leaders in the church (local and corporate) for special needs inclusion.
Yesterday I taught two workshops. One was Surviving to Thriving: Teaching Techniques to Engage Different Learners. This is the workshop that we received such good feedback on last year that Orange decided to hire a professional video team and produce it as a for-sale video. Yes…that video is for sale now through the Orange Store. Here are more pictures of the video (including the back cover). I’ll do another post next week with more about the video. But it is broken down into 7 major sections that can be shown separately (each section is under 11 minutes) and as part of a training event to all children’s ministry volunteers. The video gives teaching strategies and ideas for helping with common challenges that show up in the children’s ministry environment when including kids with special needs.
In my second workshop, Leading a Special Needs Inclusion Initiative, my Dad surprised me and showed up in the back of the room (what daughter doesn’t love that?) You all may know (or not) that my father is Gary Fenton and is the Senior Pastor of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. In the meantime, Tom Pounder took fantastic notes in this session and posted them over on his blog, MinistryBlackboard.com.
Meaghan Wall and I will be interviewed about special needs ministry on the live webcast today from 11:45 to 12:20 this morning. Be sure to go to Orange Leaders and watch us!
Like this:
Lea Keating is a special needs parent. Lea is active in Truth North Community Church in Long Island, New York. Lea has followed Orange for some time and was excited to join the conference as a volunteer this year. We asked Lea to share a little about her perspective on the conference. Lea is also the founder of Sensory Street Kids.
AFL: How does your home church accommodate your child with special needs?
LK: While my church does not have an an official special needs ministry, they have been fantastic about accommodating Cole’s learning differences. We began attending our church when Cole was starting Kindergarten. Typically the elementary aged kids (including kindergarten-aged kids) go to the Uptown program which utilizes 252 Basics. The preschoolers are in Wild Kingdom learning from Orange’s First Look curriculum. When we first started attending the church, I explained Cole’s strengths (academic) and weaknesses (anxiety and sensory sensitivities) to the children’s ministry leaders. Together, we came up with a plan where Cole would be placed in a slightly younger class in the Wild Kingdom preschool environment. This way Cole would experience a smaller and quieter classroom inside a more controlled setting. It was great because the volunteers in the room found tasks for Cole to do and helped him to feel like a class leader even though he was a bit older than than his peers.
It wasn’t long before Cole was curious about what the bigger kids were doing. With the help of the children’s ministry team, Cole transitioned to the older, Uptown environment. Because Uptown is loud and fast-paced, I prepared the leaders that Cole might have a hard time with the large group worship and following directions. The leaders set him up with a friend and let him wear headphones to help reduce the noise. While the anxiety was there, overall Cole did GREAT.
As a parent one of the most comforting and wonderful things is that every single volunteer knows who Cole is. He’s “Mr. Popularity” – greeted with cheerful hellos and high fives by every adult we pass. His small group leaders are great about communicating how his day went and problem solving how we can improve his experience. What a blessing to be able to comfortably drop him off, knowing that he’s safe, happy, and in the presence of the Lord. We love our church!
AFL: What has been a favorite thing or “take-away” so far from the special needs ministry pre-conference workshops?
LK: I was just about brought to tears listening to Meghan Wall share about her special needs program at Stonebriar church. To realize that someone who is not a parent and not a therapist loves our children enough to learn how to fully accommodate them is awe inspiring. From preferred parking and smooth transitions with picture schedules to a sensory play room- they’ve thought of and are willing to accommodate all!The thing that stuck out most to me was hearing that once a year Stonebriar hires a professional photographer to take family portraits for the SN families. I know first hand how difficult it is to get a “nice” picture of my Aspie son. Eye contact remains our biggest issue and photos just never agree with him. Well, Stonebriar thought of everything and their pro photographer captured the most gorgeous candid shots. As if that weren’t enough they then make floor to ceiling sized murals of the kids and decorate the ministry’s rec room with the pictures! Meghan said parents were so grateful saying “you think our kids are beautiful!” I share that sentiment. Thank you Meghan and Stonebriar church for loving, including and valuing our kids.
