I first want to thank this group for caring and supporting people like me who live with polyneuropathy.
My name is Cynthia and I ask for prayers for healing and ability to function better. I recently took on teaching two youngsters at church. Although it is only once a week, I really try to find ways to make the lessons memorable and meaningful to these children. They brother and sister are 7 and 9 and both have autism. I recently learned that the older brother did not communicate verbally until recently. I was teaching them sign language to show them how to say I LOVE You and he already knew sign language because that is how his parents had communicated with him for years. WOW, just WOW!
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Hey Snuffywife,
Having taught people with disabilities for 10yrs, it really can be quite amazing just the things that some people can pick up on. Some people are of the belief that individuals with intellectual or behavioural issues canāt learn and this couldnāt be further from the truth. A big part of my teaching role was to adapt the resources to meet that individual clients needs. Main stream education may say āJohn canāt readā, so then if John canāt read a recipe, therefore John canāt cook. So Iād get John to choose a recipe, take it home and cook it, taking photos of each step along the way. Then Iād set the photos up in chronological order, with the written steps beside each photo. Between the pictures and simple words (and a bit of direction) John and I would cook the recipe. We had 4-5 recipes setup like this. John would choose a recipe and we cooked it, with each week Iād do less and less until John could do it all on his own.
All his life he was told āYou canātā but the joy he got when he was told he could and the boost in his confidence was huge. It even improved some of his word recognition, so may not be able to read a book, but he certainly improved his ability to cook and recognising the words in a recipe. He already had some skills, but to be supported in using those skills, it was like flicking a switch.
Sometimes it really can be amazing the skills that can be developed, even with people who society often consider ādumbā.
Merl from the Moderator Support Team
Hello Snuffywife
I simply wish to commend and encourage you in the time you are taking to share Godās love with these children. You simply never know how your gift of time will be used.
I am a Lutheran minister who can no longer serve in ministry due to CIDP. In my first parish I had a lady phone me one day asking to see me as she and her family wished to join the congregation. She chose our church simply because some thirty odd years earlier she had been a child in our kindergarten (at the time over 120 children per day going through the doors) [Kindergartenās in Australia provide pre school education to children 3-4 years old]. During her time at our kindy she had heard of Godās love and this drew her (and family) to the Church many decades later.
God may choose to do amazing things through these children you are teaching.
Jesus said that the Kingdom of God belongs to these little ones (Mark 10:14)
Pax Christi ā¦ jokhere
I will add you to my growing prayer list. God can and does answer prayers in many ways. He has given you a unique opportunity to teach but better to minister love to these two children. You in turn are being blessed, and yes WOW JUST WOW. I will be watching for your updates. JDU