Let us follow Jesus’ example and notice people for who they are, and then ask God to help us to be Jesus to them in the ways they need it most.

Loud or echoey noise, bright or flickering lights, strong smells, too much clutter, all of these and more can affect children and young people with a hyper-sensitivity

Malchus’ story is a small footnote in the Gospels, but it is rich with impact as it contains so much that is easily overlooked in the history changing narrative.

We should do all we can to bring children and young people with additional needs into God’s presence and to rejoice with them when they make little steps of faith.

Let’s work together to ensure that every child and young person is able to learn and develop in the way that works best for them.

Creating a place of true belonging for every child and young person with additional needs, church become better for us all.

Inclusion is about the church taking positive action, not expecting a child, young person, or adult, to ‘fit in’.

As well as having fun making the chocolate brownies, what else did we learn from this activity?

“I’ll only be five minutes…” or “I’m in a hurry…” are some of the justifications given.

Take anxiety and worries seriously. It’s easy to put their concerns off, or to convince ourselves that ‘they will be fine’.

Perhaps if we dig a little deeper, we might realise that we are only acting on a part of the story; we’ve missed some vital information, and our response needs to be very different.

Let’s  do all we can to be the difference for every child and young person who chooses to journey with us.

Pray that God will give you the faith, persistence and determination to keep on praying, even when we seem to be getting no response.

Due to his various additional needs, James doesn’t really ‘get’ birthdays, but that didn’t mean that we would let the day slip by unnoticed…

While many of us love these films, we need to acknowledge the messages they can give to our children and how these messages can strongly influence them.

Items that can be helpful in supporting children and young people with a range of additional needs.

An accessible bible study series journeying with Jesus through the three times he was tempted by the devil.

Write down what you love, what you are good at, what the world needs, and what maybe you could be rewarded for.

With better understanding about our many sensory processing difficulties, and the right strategies, every leader can learn to make all that they do inclusive.

James could visit a small number of familiar safe places but couldn’t go into anywhere new that we have started to visit since epilepsy arrived. Last week, for the first time in five years, that changed.

How about thinking about whether our church, meets the needs of children and young people with additional needs and their families?

Jesus didn’t exclude any of the children. He wants to get to know them, to love them, to rescue them, to journey through life with them.

The more we practice at supporting children and young people with additional needs, the better we will get too.

Halloween can be a confusing, anxiety inducing time for children with additional needs, but they can safely also join in with some fun in an alternative way.

Families with children with additional needs have already seen services delayed, reduced or closed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The current economic climate is only going to continue this downward spiral.