Children with Special Needs

Every child is unique and special. All children deserve our prayers, attention, and guidance. However, some children provide more challenges than others. During the elementary years five particular groups of children often need special types of attention or help: (1) children with mental retardation; (2) children with learning disabilities; (3) children in emotional conflict; (4) children with AD(H)D; and (5) children with physical or health differences. A brief discussion of the first four follows. The importance of including all children in church settings will also be described. Because physical differences and needs are so varied and diverse, we will not discuss them here.

Children with mental retardation. Some children are classified with mental retardation in school. These children are unique in three important ways. (1) They do not usually learn as rapidly as other children their age. This is true for most school subjects such as reading, writing, arithmetic, language arts, science, and social studies. (2) They occasionally have trouble coping or become frustrated with what they are asked to do. (3) These children have some unique gift from God. It may not have been discovered. One of our jobs is to help them discover their gifts and use their gifts to honor God and help them become who God created them to be.

Most children who have mental retardation look just like other boys and girls. However, most of them receive some type of special services in school, especially if they are attending a public school. They may be sent to a special teacher for part of the day. Another way they are helped is for a special teacher or teacher’s aide to come to a regular classroom and help special students there.

Jimmy is a child with mild mental retardation. He goes to a special class in school for two hours a day. During Sunday School he attends a class for third-graders. One Sunday the teacher asked him to read from the Bible. Jimmy has great difficulty reading aloud and does not enjoy doing so in front of other people. While Jimmy was struggling to read, he came across the word synagogue. He did not know how to pronounce it, and so he tried to sound out the word. His attempt sounded like "syna-goo-goo." The other children laughed, and one of them commented, "Don’t you know anything? Everyone knows how to pronounce synagogue." The teacher was caring and tried to do damage control. However, Jimmy never came back to Sunday School.

How would you work to help Jimmy be a part of the class? How could you help Jimmy be a part of the class without asking him to do things which might unnecessarily embarrass him? In what ways could you help the other children develop caring behaviors and accept Jimmy for his abilities and differences? In what ways could you help Jimmy find his God-given strengths?

Children with learning disabilities. Another group of children who may need special guidance are those with learning disabilities. Children with learning disabilities are different from those with mental retardation. Children with learning disabilities have normal or sometimes gifted intelligence, but they have a specific type of learning problem in a particular area such as math, reading, or spelling. Just like children with mild mental retardation, they are not identified by the way they look.

Teaching a child with learning disabilities in Sunday School is not that much different from teaching a child with mental retardation. However, adults usually recognize a child with mental retardation who is slow in most subjects. They may know to make special modifications for children with mental retardation. Children with learning disabilities may present a surprise. Since these children are as good or better than most children at many things, it is sometimes hard for adults to perceive a specific learning problem.

For instance, Jennifer has a specific learning disability related to memory and following directions. Jennifer contributes much to the Sunday School class but is constantly forgetting things and sometimes can’t remember where an object is supposed to be or what she is to do. Her teacher may be tempted to say, "Jennifer you are so smart. I know that as smart as you are you can remember where you put things, and you should certainly know how to follow directions." However, this is not true. Jennifer needs a teacher to help her keep up with things and to assist her in transition times when she moves from one task to another.

How can you help children like Jennifer through transition times? How can you assist children like her in keeping up with things like her Bible?

Children in emotional conflict. Some of the most challenging students are those with emotional conflicts. There are so many different types of emotional conflict in the 21st century that each child has to be considered individually. What sets one child off will not affect another. There are also as many causes of emotional conflict as there are children who experience it. One child might cry and completely withdraw for no apparent reason, while another might become violent and strike out at others. In church settings it may be necessary to enlist the help of a volunteer who helps all children but is especially available to attend to a child with emotional difficulties. The child may need to leave the room from time to time to cool down or regroup. This would not be possible without a designated helper to assist in these situations. Parents who have a child in emotional conflict may need to be consulted to make recommendations as to how to deal with specific situations that may arise.

Church leaders may want to incorporate and post the following three rules for all children. These rules can be used to help explain to children who are violent or self-destructive why we are taking certain actions when they deviate from them. The rules are: (1) You cannot hurt yourself. (2) You cannot hurt others. (3) You cannot destroy property. Most transgressions fall under one of these three areas.

Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The number of children identified with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder increases every year. AD(H)D is a general category for four specific types of differences. These are: (1) children who are inattentive; (2) children who are hyperactive or impulsive; (3) children who are both inattentive and hyperactive or impulsive; and (4) children who have attention or activity difficulties but do not fit in the first three categories. (For more information see Jerry Aldridge, Anne Eddowes, and Patricia Kuby, No Easy Answers: Helping Children with Attention and Activity level Differences [Olney, MD: Association for Childhood Education International, 1998].)

Teachers will probably need to know about the medical and educational treatments used with these boys and girls. Many children who have AD(H)D are placed on a stimulant drug such as Ritalin. For some reason, a stimulant drug helps some children who are inattentive or hyperactive do better in school. Interestingly though, the amount of a drug necessary to help with attention may not be enough to assist with hyperactivity. The amount of drug needed to help with hyperactivity may be too much for the attention deficit. Drugs are not magic. They only bring the child to a level in which the child can then learn to pay attention or deal with hyperactivity or impulsiveness. Drugs do not make the child pay attention or learn. Drugs do not keep the child from moving from place to place. We should not say to a child, "You must have forgotten to take your medicine." What we are saying is, "You are not responsible for controlling your behavior, the drug is." We want children to learn that they have responsibility in working with their behavior. Drugs can only assist.

We want children to enjoy reading the Bible and learning God’s Word for its own sake—not because of the stars, stickers, or candy they will get. Other ways to help them include:

• Provide hands-on activities and movement.
  
  What are some ways you can provide for more active learning?
  
  
  
• Help find each child’s God-given abilities or talents and encourage him or her to use their abilities.
  
  What do you need to do to find out each child’s talents or abilities?
  
  
  
• Teach to children’s learning styles.
  
  How is it possible to meet each child’s learning style? What are some ways you can incorporate visual learning, auditory helps, and movement strategies into each lesson?
  
  
  
• Work to incorporate children’s multiple intelligences into activities.
  
  How can you go about finding each child’s multiple intelligence(s)?
  
  
  
• Provide structure while simultaneously using novel or interesting ways to teach.
  
  How can you set guidelines, provide structure, make learning fun, and be flexible all at the same time?
  
  
  
• Prepare AD(H)D children for change and guide them through transition times.
  
  What times during church are most difficult? How can you prepare students for change and then follow through in helping them with difficult transition times?