3 Ways To Make Your Church More Accommodating For Children With Invisible Needs
It's unfortunate when families feel as though they can no longer attend worship services because the needs of their children are not being met. While your church might be doing everything possible to accommodate visible needs (like physical limitations), it's important to ask yourself what you are doing to accommodate children whose needs might not be so visible.
Here are three ways to make your church more accommodating for children with invisible needs.
1. Eliminate noisy toys from your nursery.
Experts estimate that a minimum of one child in twenty across the United States today suffers with a sensory processing disorder (SPD). These children can easily become overwhelmed when they are in an environment filled with loud noises and bright lights.
You can eliminate a lot of the chaos that makes children with an SPD uncomfortable by taking the noisy toys out of your church's nursery. Incorporating more quiet toys (like felt dolls that can be used to tell Bible stories or modeling dough) will help your church more successfully accommodate the "invisible" needs of children with SPD in your congregation.
2. Incorporate some of the therapy strategies used at home.
If you want to help children with Autism or other types of cognitive disorders feel more at ease in nursery or primary classes, it can be helpful to work with the families of these children to incorporate therapy strategies used at home into your church services.
One effective therapy aid that can easily be used in a church classroom is a picture routine. Placing pictures of the activities you have planned for the day in the order they will be completed on a large board can help autistic children identify the schedule. Eliminating the unknown elements from the routine of a child with "invisible" needs can be beneficial in keeping them calm and comfortable during worship services.
3. Use non-food positive reinforcement.
Many church leaders rely on treats to help motivate young children to engage in worship services reverently and quietly. With an estimated one in every thirteen children under the age of 18 suffering from a food allergy, food-based reinforcement can pose a serious threat to the lives of some of the children in your congregation.
To ensure that parents don't have to worry about their child inadvertently ingesting a known allergen, opt to use non-food positive reinforcement during your lessons instead. Providing children with stickers, pencils, or other small items can help motivate good behavior as well as treats, but without the threat of allergic reactions.
Finding ways to accommodate the "invisible" needs of children within your congregation can help you keep more families coming to worship services in the future. For more information, check with churches in your area.
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