Title: The Child with Autism Learns about Faith: 15 Ready-to-Use Scripture Lessons, from the Garden of Eden to the Parting of the Red Sea
Author: Kathy Labosh
Length: 97 pages
Genre: Nonfiction
Publisher/Date: Future Horizons, 2011
Source: Review copy
About the Book
Endorsed by religious leaders, this groundbreaking book offers a step-by-step lesson plan for family members, educators, and church staff—including scripted narratives, group activities, prayers, scripture readings, classroom setup guidance, lists of additional resources, and more. Each lesson is also accompanied by a Scripture Study for instructors to help them prepare for each class, where the author provides additional ideas and discussion questions.
Kathy Labosh graduated from Penn State and became an economist. She is now a stay-at-home mom to Sam and Nicky, both of whom are children with autism. It became her mission to help others in similar situations. Kathy formed a Special Education Religion Class and is the author of a specialized curriculum for children with autism, currently in development. Kathy has also received an Honorable Mention for children’s fiction from Writer’s Digest.
My Thoughts
I have heard so many parents talk about difficulties with taking their children with autism to their places of worship, and it truly breaks my heart. We have had our own ups and downs with this and are currently in a period of transition with the special needs ministry at our church. While our main priority is to have a safe and supportive environment for our son so that we can attend services, we also want him to be learning about God in order to reinforce and supplement what we are teaching him at home.
It is encouraging to see the growth of ministries dedicated to reaching out to people with special needs and also to find books and websites aimed at including everyone in our faith communities. I was especially pleased to see this book by Kathy Labosh, since I enjoyed The Child with Autism at Home & in the Community so much.
The Child with Autism Learns about Faith is an ideal resource for a children’s director or pastor, with its warm and inviting style and tons of useful information. In Part 1, Kathy starts out by sharing why it is so important to reach out to children with disabilities and their families. After talking a bit about how they learn, she offers many ideas and resources for practical considerations such as classroom setup, lesson materials and creating individual packets for the children.
Part 2 consists of fifteen faith lessons, each covering a specific Bible story. Kathy gives specific examples of activities to use with the class, which could easily be adapted for use in other lessons developed within your program. She also provides a parent’s scripture study to go along with each lesson.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reaching out to children with autism in your faith community. It has been endorsed as “free of doctrinal or moral error” by both Jewish and Catholic leaders, and I’m certain it will be a great asset at my nondenominational Christian church as well. It is available directly from Future Horizons, where you can use the code INTERRUPTED to receive 15% off and free shipping in the continental US.
Note: This is Book #58 of my 2011 Reads (master list here). I received a review copy of this book for free, and all opinions and comments are my own. The Future Horizons discount code is an affiliate link.
I'm a mom with Asperger's raising an amazing son with autism, which means I'm basically the case manager/advocate/cheerleader/chauffeur. The rest of the time, you can usually find me with my nose in a book!
