New book for inclusive ministry...

..written by a parent of a child with a disability.

"“The Special Needs Ministry Handbook” offers step-by-step instructions on how to establish a special needs ministry for children pre-school through middle school. The book includes an outline of the process, along with lesson plans, forms, guides to resources, approaches to handling various behavioral issues, tips for helping families of a special needs children, and outreach ideas.

A member of Pine Lake Covenant Church and an educator who also has a severely disabled son, Rapada has presented workshops across the U.S. to help congregations develop special needs ministries. She has drawn on material that she developed and tested over the years for the book.

In her endorsement of the book, Sandy Klein, Pine Lake’s pastor of children’s ministries writes, “This book provides clear, thoughtful and practical strategies and tools for developing a successful special needs ministry.

...“The Special Needs Ministry Handbook” is available at major retail and online bookstores.

Rapada encourages churches to try to start with a model she refers to as “total inclusion,” where children with disabilities participate in regular Sunday school classes, accompanied by a volunteer.

If churches are unable to use this approach, she recommends “reverse inclusion.” The approach calls for “specialized but not isolated” classrooms. Each student is matched with a typically developed student and adult in addition to having a teacher in the classroom. "

via covchurch.org

Via NJ Coalition for Inclusive Ministries list serv