This page considers the approaches available to congregations to include persons with disabilities, especially children and youth, in Sunday School or Christian Education settings.  See also these resource pages:

• Sunday School Inclusion Resources
• Including Children and Youth on the Autism Spectrum
• Disabilities Awareness
• Reviews of children's books about disability

A variety of approaches are open to congregations that make an effort to include individuals with disabilities in their Sunday School or Christian education setting. Most options fall into one of two broad categories. In any case, a basic understanding of the child's disability is important.

• Special settings.  A separate classroom for children with disabilities is comparable to a "special education" classroom in the public school.  In other words, children with disabilities learn in a class that is set apart for their own learning abilities. For a large church with a significant number of children with disabilities at a similar age and intellectual level, this may provide Christian education that is especially well-suited to their needs.  The disadvantage, even for a church that can manage this, is that segregation limits the social and educational interactions between children with and without disabilities,
• Integrated settings.  In this option, children with disabilities participate in Sunday School classrooms with other children at or near their age level.  This enables all of the children to interact with those who may be very different from them.  Integrated settings may require an extra teacher or aide who helps the whole class, but pays particular attention to the needs of the child with disabilities. See the August 2009 issue of ADNotes for a discussion of the advantages of inclusion, along with suggested strategies.

We invite your for additional Christian Education resources, particularly those intended for adults.

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