No malice on my part. Really need input!

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1990Domer

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Today my pastor asked me to speak to cathechists at an Archdiocese of Philly symposium on how to meet the spiritual needs of children with invisible disabilities. He sees the failure of our Catholic schools and religious education programs in serving this population. He has also seen the sad result of many fallen away Catholics who give up on the Church.

I feel honored, blessed and really, really scared. If anyone has any advice or links, I would appreciate help and especially prayers. This will be a 40 minute talk on Oct. 3. I have to have my abstract completed in 10 days.

Thank you in advance. This is something I have been advocating for…oh, for about 7 years. Finally, some progress and not doors slammed on me.

Thank you in advance and God bless!
 
1990Domer said:
Today my pastor asked me to speak to cathechists at an Archdiocese of Philly symposium on how to meet the spiritual needs of children with invisible disabilities. He sees the failure of our Catholic schools and religious education programs in serving this population. He has also seen the sad result of many fallen away Catholics who give up on the Church.

I feel honored, blessed and really, really scared. If anyone has any advice or links, I would appreciate help and especially prayers. This will be a 40 minute talk on Oct. 3. I have to have my abstract completed in 10 days.

Thank you in advance. This is something I have been advocating for…oh, for about 7 years. Finally, some progress and not doors slammed on me.

Thank you in advance and God bless!
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Oh, wow! Congratulations!

Make sure and have a handout to give attendees with good resources and a quick summary of the points of your talk.
 
Perhaps start with the general definition of ‘Invisible disabilities’ for people like me who never heard the term and guess at what it means, and then show how the term applies specifically in Catholic church
 
Does he mean learning disabilities or depression and abuse victims?
 
1990Domer said:
Today my pastor asked me to speak to cathechists at an Archdiocese of Philly symposium on how to meet the spiritual needs of children with invisible disabilities. He sees the failure of our Catholic schools and religious education programs in serving this population. He has also seen the sad result of many fallen away Catholics who give up on the Church.

I feel honored, blessed and really, really scared. If anyone has any advice or links, I would appreciate help and especially prayers. This will be a 40 minute talk on Oct. 3. I have to have my abstract completed in 10 days.

Thank you in advance. This is something I have been advocating for…oh, for about 7 years. Finally, some progress and not doors slammed on me.

Thank you in advance and God bless!
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As a former catechist and a special educator, I have never heard of the term invisible disabilities. I would suggest defining the term, provide suggestions on how to identify these individuals and provide learning strategies to help this population succeed in class/church.

I would provide an outline of your presentation so that those in attendance can take notes.

Provide statistics on this under served group to convince audience of the need to accomodate them. Use examples of other parishes that have successfully implemented learning strategies in their religious Ed programs.

Provide samples of lesson plans that teachers can use in their classrooms for the regular and accommodated students.

Provide handouts that can be used in the classroom.

List websites that offer additional help.

Good for you for volunteering to help with this! God bless.
 
When you write this, can you post it in forums? Don’t forget the Q&A.
 
Very interested in this. My four year old is autistic. Of course, he looks like any other kid but isn’t. We get stares and dirty looks when he stems. I know modern churches are moving away from the cry room, but I wish there was a place we could go sonwe wouldn’t be on display but still attend mass as a family.
 
Sue_D_Num said:
Very interested in this. My four year old is autistic. Of course, he looks like any other kid but isn’t. We get stares and dirty looks when he stems. I know modern churches are moving away from the cry room, but I wish there was a place we could go sonwe wouldn’t be on display but still attend mass as a family.
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What does it mean when your son 'stems?
 
Anglewannabe said:
Perhaps start with the general definition of ‘Invisible disabilities’ for people like me who never heard the term and guess at what it means, and then show how the term applies specifically in Catholic church
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Thank you for telling me you have not heard the term. That will set the framework for my discussion. I do plan on asking my so 's therapist for (name removed by moderator)ut. I will handle incorporating the Catholic message.

God bless and thank you.
 
pianistclare said:
Does he mean learning disabilities or depression and abuse victims?
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It means stuff like autism, OCD, bipolar, mutism, ADHD. I will ask about anger management issues, but they tend to really tend to be separated because the act outward to people. Many kids with these diagnosis can fly under the wire when needing treatment.

In my case, I will emphasize autism, as it is the fastest growing developmental disability in the U.S. and most people’s perception is Rainman (who was not autistic).
 
Faxero said:
What does it mean when your son 'stems?
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That is a great point I will add in. Stemming is rapid physical movements that kids use to express themselves when they are non-verbal, are verbal but can’t express themselves, or need to alleviate excitement and/or stress.

I want to give this talk some day to churches so that you wouldn’t have see the stares.
 
TheDoctor said:
You may have already reached out to them, but if not, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has an office for persons with disabilities. Perhaps they can supply some links or reference material:

archphila.org/evangelization/resplife/pcpd/pcpd.htm
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Thank you. I have reached out, but they deal with more conventional disabilities like blindness and deafness. They didn’t have resources for me (or my friend who was looking for personal resources for her son). 😦
 
Sue_D_Num said:
Very interested in this. My four year old is autistic. Of course, he looks like any other kid but isn’t. We get stares and dirty looks when he stems. I know modern churches are moving away from the cry room, but I wish there was a place we could go sonwe wouldn’t be on display but still attend mass as a family.
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Loyola Press has a curriculum and learning aides for children with Autism for First Reconciliation, First Eucharist, and Confirmation.
Ask your pastor to invest in these resources, and ask fro a catechist to work with your son one on one. I’ve used them, and they are very effective.
Best wishes!
 
pianistclare said:
Loyola Press has a curriculum and learning aides for children with Autism for First Reconciliation, First Eucharist, and Confirmation.
Ask your pastor to invest in these resources, and ask fro a catechist to work with your son one on one. I’ve used them, and they are very effective.
Best wishes!
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Thankfully, my son made all his sacraments in a mainstream setting. It was his social quirkiness and lack of discipline in the school that got him bullied.

We did, early on, homeschool him because our old parish refused to work with us! Sadly, the lost several other parishioners with special needs as well.
 
Well, the options are changing rapidly for families like this. As someone said, most of the Archdiocese and Diocese are forming Ministries to assist families and Pastors.

Perhaps you could offer yourself as a sounding board to these ministries and so make a very positive contribution for these children and young adults! Good luck!
 
pianistclare said:
Well, the options are changing rapidly for families like this. As someone said, most of the Archdiocese and Diocese are forming Ministries to assist families and Pastors.

Perhaps you could offer yourself as a sounding board to these ministries and so make a very positive contribution for these children and young adults! Good luck!
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I am glad to hear it is happening in other places, as it has been very slow to catch on here. I have been met with resistance for years. Sadly, we lost many Catholic families over this issue. I have reached out to the Archdiocese. Sadly, I think they have much more pressing matters to deal with. They do not have any funds to invest in starting a project like this. The priest abuse scandal hit them hard. There have been any church and school closings. So, naturally, my request was politely “blown off.”

My son has Aspergers. He is very smart, very pious, but he lacks age-appropriate social skills. Teens can be clever…he is naive. The smell that and take advantage of him. Despite brining in my son’s therapist to explain and educate the teachers, they still didn’t get it. Their not getting it made life worse for my son. It wasn’t malice by the teachers…it was simple ignorance. My role is to at least open the door and help cathechists who have children who can fly under the wire with their diagnosis (read: the can function well in mainstream classes with little intervention) to not make matters worse or to not allow bullying to happen. This is foster caring and acceptance of these kids.

I hope I explained myself better.
 
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