Not every family is able to attend church over the Christmas holidays, but lots of us want to teach our children about the Nativity. I teamed up with my daughter to bring you a free Autism-Accessible Sunday School Lesson on the Nativity of our Lord. How is it autism-accessible? sensory rich images for focus video modeling of another child participating concrete examples of big ideas imitate it at home predictable: watch as often as you wish To make it even more accessible, use this video along with an in person telling of the Nativity story. Download the Nativity story photos from my post, “Holiday Tips for Making Christmas Easier for Special Needs Families,” and use them to sequence the story as you tell it.…
writing, autism, & theology as a mother of joy
Posts from the “spiritual formation” Category
“I’ll pray for you.” “Thank you.” This interaction happens countless times each day among people of faith, and it is always good. But for years, I had some wrong ideas about prayer. For one, I thought they had to be done in a prescribed way in order to matter. For another, I thought that I had to be someone different for them to matter. And again – and trust me, this is only the beginning of a list of things I’ve gotten wrong – I thought I had to say something for prayer to matter. One of the hard-won lessons I have learned in ten years of helping my communication-challenged children talk and communicate clearly is that the love of God is not hindered…
Categories: christian, conversation, discernment, encouragement, faith, life lessons, special needs child, spiritual formation, Uncategorized
Tagged: autism, nonverbal, prayer, silence, special needs parenting
A few weeks ago, I traveled to Antiochian Village to attend the Ancient Faith Women’s Retreat. On the first morning, I went to the first talk with that morning’s Gospel repeating through my heart: Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.” The gospel had stuck in my craw that morning, stirring up the long weariness I had carried over my feelings of inadequacy in parenting. I sat myself down gingerly in front of the icon of the Theotokos, my failure smarting like a splinter I held out to the Holy Mother. The icon was screen-printed and matte. There was no gold to catch my eye. Yet, the curve of the Theotokos’ fingers did catch my eye. She was supporting…
Holiday Tips for Making Christmas Easier for Special Needs Families
Feature article
Summer Kinard
Posted on December 5, 2018
The feast of the Nativity approaches, and with it, anxiety. How will your family get along when everyone’s home? How will the kids do when you travel to visit relatives? Will you be welcomed at the church when you finally get a chance to go? For families with special needs, these questions are layered with the weight of additional needs. This week I’m sharing what I’ve learned from teaching and living with persons with special needs. Bookmark and share these best practices for home, travel, and church with special needs during the holidays. THE GIFT OF 12 DAYS Spread out gifts over 12 Days. Instead of subjecting sensitive family members -and let’s face it, lots of other folks, too!- to the overwhelm that comes…
I wrote those words over 20 years ago when I began to reflect on the way Christ came to me in mercy from my earliest childhood. I haven’t been able to shake that image, through all these years, of the saving gift of tears. I read about tears in spiritual writings. I have experienced the gift of tears when I have needed healing or repentance. I practice tears. I am in many ways still a beginner, but I have learned a little about the discipline of weeping: If you’re going to clear your eyes of false reality, you have to learn to cry in truth. The fathers advise us to weep for our sins. Yet, most of us don’t spontaneously burst into tears of…
There are lots of reasons that women wear hats or scarves or veils. Some people wear them because they want to promote a culture of modesty. Some wear them to identify with a group. Some wear them from obedience. (Obedience can be a shortcut to wisdom if you obey someone wise.) I cover my head because of power. It’s part of the uniform of my rank in God’s service. I serve the Lord God of Hosts. Hosts is the English translation of Sabaoth, which is feminine plural. That’s right. Every Sunday around the world, we share the Seraphic hymn, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth.” Well, you might say, grammar is tricky. Maybe there’s some unknown reason that in this one instance, God’s…
Categories: christian, concrete thinking, discernment, encouragement, faith, spiritual formation, Uncategorized
For those of us who ask the help of saints in our daily lives, one of the first questions that comes along with an autism diagnosis/recognition is, “Who is the patron saint of autism?” As far as I know, there are no official patron saints of autism. Yet, I can attest to the help and intervention of several saints in our autistic lives. Here are some of the saints that have made themselves known to us as helpers for autistic Christians. Holy Theotokos. Sometimes it’s easy to read past important parts of scripture, like when the educated people of the time were surprised at how much Jesus knew when he had not studied in the temple or gotten the best education of his day.…
