20% of children and young people have an additional need or disability of some kind; if your church includes children and young people, some of them are likely to need additional support. Many of these children and young people, and their families, feel excluded from a wide range of social and other activities, including church, … Continue reading Six Ways To Make Your Children’s Work And Holiday Club More Inclusive
We’re in a battle, whether we like to think about it or not. Whether you have a faith of any kind, or none, one thing that generally unites us all is a belief that there is good and evil in the world… and that these two forces are totally and utterly opposed to each other. … Continue reading Spiritual Warfare And My Additional/Special Needs Child
Epilepsy Awareness Day, or ‘Purple Day’, is on the 26th March, and this will be the first ‘Purple Day’ since James, our 15-year-old son, added Epilepsy to his growing list of conditions that already included Autism and Learning Disability… It’s been quite a year, quite a journey, as we’ve rapidly learned about a condition that … Continue reading Autism, Epilepsy, And The One-In-Three Chance Of Both
Jesus met lots of people, engaged with lots of people, helped lots of people during his three years of ministry; some of these, perhaps a surprising number, were children. Some of the children had additional needs of some kind, although not all, but each of the encounters Jesus had with these children can teach us … Continue reading Children Jesus Met And What They Teach Us About Additional Needs
Have you ever played poker? Maybe you’ve played recreationally, as I have, perhaps using tokens, matchsticks, or chocolates for the ‘stake’? Maybe you’re a more serious poker player, with higher level stakes? Or maybe you’ve never played the game at all… this blog post isn’t about the rights or wrongs of playing cards… but whatever … Continue reading Why Additional Needs Parenting Is Like A Poker Game
Oh my days, that’s quite a blog post title isn’t it? All sorts of controversial topics wrapped up in there too… but it represents a compact summary of a bunch of things that have collided in the news, and in my mind, over the past few days. Things that have in turn outraged, angered and … Continue reading Children With Additional Needs, Autism Cures, And Abortion Advice
That moment… that moment as a children’s or youth worker when you realise during the ‘talk time’ that you’ve just lost some of your group. They were able to focus for the first three or four minutes, but now, five minutes in, you see them starting to get distracted, starting to fidget. You’ve lost contact … Continue reading Additional Needs Children’s Work: Using What They Enjoy To Help Them Learn
The Bible is full of stories about children and young people; some of these stories are among the most well-known of all (Mary, Joseph, David, Samuel, Esther…), some are lesser known, more obscure, but none the less important stories (the widows son and Elijah, the slave girl of Naaman, Jairus’ daughter…). In thinking about some … Continue reading Children Of The Bible And My Autistic Son
Devoted… an important word, one which we often hear, and a word that we all probably think we fully understand; but do we? How truly deep a word is it? And what might it mean in the context of caring for a child or young person with additional needs; whether as parent, carer, other family … Continue reading Be Devoted To One Another In Love
James has an infectious laugh; it is one of those laughs that can start as a chuckle, a little giggle, and then builds and builds into a raucous belly laugh that barely gives him opportunity to take breath. All sorts of things can set him off; maybe something he’s watching on his iPad, once he … Continue reading How The Sound Of Our Autistic Son’s Laughter Helps Us Dance!
Delightful Handmade Dog Products and Gifts
An additional needs Dad and Son baking adventure...
Special Education Teaching Resources, Sensory Stories and SEND Information
The Additional Needs Blogfather 