This is a guest blog from Molly Ashton, a long term home educating mum. She and her husband have four children, two by birth and two by adoption. Their older two are now young adults and she continues to home educate their girls; additional needs are a part of this journey...
In the context of children and young people, could it be that in some cases the “disability that affects the acquisition of knowledge and skills” is more a ‘teaching disability’ than a ‘learning disability’?
What is the ‘big picture’? In this blog post, I'm going to share some stories, some statistics, some tips, and some resources, so why not grab a cup of tea or coffee, settle in, and let's go on this journey together.
When thinking about working with children or young people with additional needs and disabilities, churches typically find themselves at one of three waypoints on the journey; accessibility, inclusion, or belonging. But what do each of these waypoints look like...
We’ve all seen it haven’t we? A car pulls into a disability parking space and out gets the driver, with no blue disability parking badge on display, hurrying away before anyone challenges them. So why do people do it?
Today we helped James to do some baking and he absolutely loved it! It combined two of his favourite things, food and doing things together! Baking sessions like this provide a great opportunity to have fun, get some screen downtime, get messy (!) and spend quality time together, all great objectives to achieve! We learned … Continue reading Learning While Baking Chocolate Brownies!
As the return to children’s and youth work after the summer holidays gets closer for many of us, or has already started for some, it can be a time of great anxiety and stress for some children and young people, especially children and young people with additional needs. It can also be a challenging and … Continue reading 10 Top Tips For Returning To Children’s And Youth Work
Is there more going on here than what we might observe if all we see is the challenging behaviour itself? Perhaps if we dig a little deeper, look back a little further into the timeline that has concluded with what is being perceived as challenging behaviour, we might realise that we are only acting on a part of the story, we've missed some vital communication, and our response needs to be very different.
We only get one shot at this, one opportunity to show a child or young person with additional needs how valued, loved and cared for they are. Let’s not blow our big chance, but let’s do all we can to be the difference for every child and young person who chooses to journey with us. Let’s have them at “Hello!”
There are many more stories like this that I could share of groups and churches that have recognised how important it is to create accessibility, inclusion and belonging for the one-in-five children and young people who have additional needs of some kind. What about your group or church, does your group or church include children and young people with additional needs, could this be your story too?
An additional needs Dad and Son baking adventure...
Special Education Teaching Resources, Sensory Stories and SEND Information
The Additional Needs Blogfather 