What Do You Need To Do When You Have a Special Needs Student in Your Sunday School Classroom?

What preparation should you do to help this child learn to his/her fullest potential?

1. Meet with your DRE and determine what questions to ask the parents BEFORE CCD starts. Meet with the parents and gather all the information you can about their child.

ncpd.org- Samples of Registration Forms, Individualize Religion Education Plan, Alternative Religious Education Program Guidelines, Placement, Confidential Student File, Teaching Strategies, Permission for Classroom Observation, Release of Information, Volunteer Recruitment, Classroom Observation, Classroom Team Interview, Planning Meeting, Program Evaluation, and Report of Behavioral Incident.


2. Have staff training for the special needs child BEFORE CCD starts.


3. Assign an aide or “buddie” to be with the student (if needed). Make sure the aide will be present each Sunday. Students with special needs do not like change. Train the aide on how the child learns best and their accommodations. Dismiss the aide when they are no longer needed by the student.


4. Decorate and organize your classroom to fit the needs of the child. Other suggestions: kalamco.com, brightubeducation.com, etc.


5. Organize your activities in your lesson plans in the same order each Sunday (this allows the student to become familiar with your schedule and it will calm them). Give the student a Visual Schedule and have the aide go over this with the student each day so they will know what will happen and what is expected of them. Use words or pre-made pictures, or cut some out of a magazine or catalog, and you can even take pictures with your camera (you can take pictures of them doing various activities and make a personal visual schedule). Use the format that fits their needs best.

When writing up your lesson plans be sure to include strategies and adaptations for the student so you can best meet their unique needs. Go over with the aide each Sunday the lesson plan and what they are supposed to do to help the student learn best.


6. Have the child come to class to see what Sunday School is like with no other students. Introduce yourself and the aide to him and go through a normal day in your classroom would be like. Show him what he will do step by step and give him an assign seat where he will learn best. Have his aide use his visual schedule to help him know what he is supposed to do and when.