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SSTN # 98 - November 14, 2005


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IN THIS ISSUE OF THE SSTN e-NEWSLETTER:


Keep Christ in CHRISTmas!

1) Special Needs Children
2) Special Needs Children
3) Report Cards
4) Sunday school falling apart
5) Special Needs Children

Thanksgiving Activity!

6) Fall Games
7) Special Needs Children
8) Special Needs Children
9) Simple and funny skits?
10) Alternative to prescription bottles
11) Special Needs Children
12) Sunday School Falling Apart


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Keep Christ in CHRISTmas!

Do you remember the fun of making paper-cut snowflakes as a child?
This holiday season relive the nostalgia with friends and family by making
Christ-filled, Chrismon Snowflake Ornaments.

To see a video of the Angel Snowflake being cut, go to:  
 http://www.ChristianCrafters.Com/chrismon.html  
(you may need to copy the address to your browser)


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1) Special Needs Children

Dear Holly and any other Moms and/or Dads with special needs children,
 
    Greetings in our Lord and Saviour's name Jesus Messiah.
 
    As mother of a thirty nine year old son who has Down's Syndrome,  I
have two observations:  One, Education of People as to the child's
condition,  Two,  Experience with The Passing of Time.
    There were people in our church who accepted our son as he is.  There
were and probably still are people who were not able to accept him.  About
10+ years ago when he was baptized,  a time of people sharing testimonies
followed.  Several shared how they had a problem accepting him, then
something would happen and they were able to see that he was like them and
their attitude changed.
    He is not able to converse but uses sign language even though he can
hear.  Yet God has used him to "brake the ice" in greeting people.  He is
at the door of the church greeting people as they come in.  This did not
all happen overnight.
    With having said that, I recognize that there are children with more
severe problems and with different kinds of problems.  Is there a parent
support group in your area?  Is there one person in your church who is
understanding?
    I hope I may have been of some encouragement. 
Mary in New York



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2) Special Needs Children

Our church, which is a large one (~3000 attendance), uses "buddies" for
special needs children.  There are a number of people who have
volunteered to be buddies and they regularly go into the Sunday School
class with a child with special needs.   They specifically focus on that
child, meeting their needs, showing them love, and keeping them from
disrupting others.  That may not work in a small church, so you might
need to find a larger church with the resources to spread out to special
needs children.  Young adults or seniors might be good volunteers for
this kind of buddy system. 

Beth
Seattle, WA


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3) Report Cards

>Maybe things like attendance, responsibility to homework,
>bringing bibles and books etc.....

Do you really think a report card is necessary?  The children go to actual
school 5 days a week.  When they come to Sunday School I like them to
learn and have a good time at the same time....get away from the "school"
atmosphere.  Do you really assign homework?  Don't they have enough
problems getting their own "school" homework done as well as extra
curricular activities.....sports, piano & dance lessons?  I am all for
rewarding attendance, bringing Bibles and their friends, but there has to
be another way.  Extra stars or stickers on a charts, etc.  Let them earn
points for a reward.  Come to think of it, my first year of teaching
Sunday School (about 30 years ago) we did have a report card.  It was very
time consuming and am very happy we only had it that one year.  It didn't
have things like you mentioned.  It was more of paying attention, speaking
up in class,etc.
God bless,
Joni

 
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4) Sunday school falling apart

Thank-you to all of you who have responded to my note. We've had over 20
children coming to S.S. every Sunday so far and it is great. I feel (like
all of you) we have to do what we have to do to get them in the Church.
The kids have been enthusiastic and so have the teachers so that has made
it fun. This web site is wonderful and want you to know how much I've
appreciated it. Thanks again for all the input.
 
Lois


 
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5) Special Needs Children

As a Sunday School Teacher for the past 17 years I would like to give my
opinion on having special needs children in classes.  I am all for it, but
you need to help prepare the teacher who may have no experience with their
needs.  When I first taught I would not have been very competent to have a
special needs child in my class.  The parents would have had to give me
more information privately and maybe then I could arrange for an extra
helper for my class.  I have had an autistic child in my class.  They came
a lot one year, but due to family issues it was just one morning too many
to try and get out the door for a certain time.  I see the mom at school
when we drop off our children and have chatted about it.  She was very
good with giving me the information I needed to teach with her son in the
class.  I was also able to prepare the children in my class, with her and
her son's help, so that the other children felt comfortable with him. 
They accepted him.  He played after church during our coffee and
fellowship time with the other children.  Over the years I have had all
kinds of children in my classes.  I find if I can speak with the parents
or they make me aware of any problems then I adapt my class to fit all the
kids.  Everything from extreme shyness, to hyper activity, and maybe a
slow reader or writer.  I work hard to remember and not put any of the
children on the "spot".  Keep at it. Talk to your pastor, parents, other
volunteers at the church.  The more who are aware of your needs the more
help will become available.  I would recommend another child or older
student to "befriend" your children and help them around the class and
church.  It also gives you and them a much needed break
from each other.  My prayers are with you.
Alex in Canada


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6) Fall Games

>i need ideas for our coming up the end of october. anyone have any games
>we may be able to play?

For our last lesson before Halloween, we explained the pumpkin gospel to
the kids and how even if they went trick or treating with their families,
that everytime they saw a pumpkin, they could be reminded of what Jesus
does for us, then we played pin the nose on the pumpkin.  It's real easy
to do, just print out a picture of a pumpkin on three to six sheets of
size (most printers will automatically give you this option in most print
shop type programs) then paste it on a poster board and print out "noses"
for the kids to stick on.  They seemed to love it and it went along with
the lesson really well.


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7) Special Needs Children

This is for Holly in OK, we are a really small church in rural PA, we have
had and still have special needs children coming to our church.  We love
them and want to offer them as much as we can but space and resources are
limited.  As the pastor's wife I really aprreciate it when the parents
come and talk to us so that we know how we can help them and their child.
We are willing to work with them, but we need to know how.  We have not
seen any problems with the other children accepting them.  I would suggest
talking to your Pastor and to others
in the church, they may not even know how to help. 
Nancy in PA


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8) Special Needs Children

In response to Holly in Oklahoma who is the mother of 2 special needs
children and is unhappy with her church’s response to them, I wanted to
let her know that I, too, am the Director of the Sunday school program in
a medium-sized church, and I, too, am the mother of an autistic son. 
Because of the size of our congregation, our parish does not have a huge
track record with special needs kids, simply because we don’t have the
population to support a program.  Therefore, when my son was in the
nursery, I made sure that the nursery director was as well-informed as I
was regarding my son’s disability.  I printed out pages of information
from the internet, and she, in turn, took it upon herself to read books
specializing in his particular disorder.  Now that my son is in
pre-school, I did the same thing for his Sunday school teachers.  I
prepped them months before he started by giving them the names of websites
which addressed his disorders.  I also stopped teaching a different grade
myself so that I could serve as his aide in the classroom.  I am not shy
about telling people in the congregation about my son’s disorder, because
it helps to explain his sometimes bizarre behavior.  I have also found
that my experiences have helped to draw in a few new parishioners with
special needs kids of their own.  My son absolutely LOVES going to church,
and the response of the congregation towards him has been nothing but
positive.  We are truly blessed to be there.  I hope that your situation
improves.

Lisa in NJ


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9) Simple and funny skits?

Hello friends,

I need simple and funny skits, which teach good thing , understand about
Bible and Lord Jesus Christ. If any body can help me. Please send as soon
as possible.
Thanks and Best Regards,
Antony . P

--from SSTN: check our skits and links pages:
http://www.ChristianCrafters.Com 

Also, I can't stress this enough, if you have a theme you are more likely
to receive a response, as well as create your own ideas.
ysic, sarah keith <><


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10) Alternative to prescription bottles

In response to the question/discussion about prescription bottles,  my
son's cubscout  den made small first-aid kits out of the plastic film
canisters. It seems like these would work for most things that presciption
bottles would be used for, and might have less potential for risk of any
negative connotations. - Lisa


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11) Special Needs Children

>>Please help! I have 2 special needs children of my own..... 
 
Dear Holly,
We have a special needs child in our Kids Church.  She has severe Cerebral
Palsy, is in a wheelchair, has no verbal communication, and can do nothing
for herself.  She is completely accepted by the children in our Sunday
School.  A lot of that has to do with the way the children have been
introduced to the whole issue of the additional needs, both at the Kids
Church, but also the prevailing attitudes at home.  Accepting parents tend
to breed accepting children, and judgemental or uncaring parents tend to
teach their children to respond the same way.
A couple of the children in our Sunday school actually fight over who will
wheel her to wherever she needs to go.
We roster an integration aid specifically for her each week, whose sole
role is to work with her.
Initially we had some questions from the children which we have answered
simply and respectfully, but now, none of them seem to even recognise a
difference - she's just one of them.
If your children aren't being accepted, perhaps you should consider
whether the children at your church are being set a good example to follow
from their leaders and family, or is the lack of acceptance more broadly
spread?
I don't advise jumping from church to church everytime you experience a
problem, but perhaps for the sake of your children's happiness you might
like to shop around a little and see where else they will be accepted and
then make your decision.
We have explained to the children in our church that everyone is different
and good at something in particular.  Some are good at swimming but
someone else might be not be, they might be good at drawing instead.  We
explained using the example of gifts from the bible, you know, some are
teachers, etc, etc..  We then went on to explain that this little girl's
muscles don't work very well for her, but she has the best and biggest
smile that any of us have ever seen.  There is always something you can
find a special needs child is good at.
It's natural for children to be inquisitive, but it needs to be carefully
handled so as not to become offensive to the special needs child or their
family.
One of our children had been away when we prepared the children for the
new person who was going to join us.  When she returned, the special needs
child had already started.  The child who had been absent looked at the
special needs child for a couple of minutes, then quietly said to me "Why
is that girl in a wheelchair?"  I explained to her that the child's
muscles don't work very well for her, so she needs a wheelchair to help
her get around instead of walking.  The child nodded her head then said
"What's her name?"  I told her.  I was then very proud and pleased to hear
her say "She's very pretty isn't she?"  There were no further questions,
she was just a part of the group!
That's how I believe it should be.  It is hard enough to parent a special
needs child without having to battle with unchristian christians.  You
should be enjoying support not segregation.
I hope you find it soon for all your sakes.
Christian Love,
Julie Sanders
Australia


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12) Sunday School Falling Apart

I read this article with interest.  As a teacher/Super. We at our SCS
reward our students with a point system.  We call it "Club Zion".  Points
are awarded for attendance at SCS, church, choir, acolyte duties, serving
at church suppers, fall clean uop etc.  Then at the end of the year we
have a "Spring Fling" where the points get prizes.  We have a fish pond,
bingo table cake walk lotto table, canteen etc.  The students use the
points as money and since we jave been doing this we  have noticed a boost
in the attendance.  Bribery or what ever..it works.  We call it a reward
for faithful and perfect attendance.  The kids love it! Barb K at Zion in
Nova Scotia


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