Series: Cubbies and Special Needs – Part 3

Enfolding All Preschoolers Into Your Cubbies Club

The following is an excerpt from a longer article, “Can I Come Too?” available as part of the Cubbies Teaching Plans. We wanted to share it with you on the blog as well, as this issue continues to be an important one for preschool ministry leaders and volunteers. The following is the first in a series.

Awana ministry is a good entry point for all children, including our children who have special needs. The church has volunteers, and with training, a big impact can be made on all families for God. Unfortunately, while desiring to reach out, we also realize that a local Awana club cannot meet the needs of every individual child. However, the club can still benefit the child as 
he or she feels the love of the leader and socially interacts with other children. Churches will need to decide the scope of their ministry to children with special needs.

Special needs have been defined by what a child cannot do without help that a typical peer can do. It may be delays in reaching expected educational, physical or emotional milestones, or in doing activities. The range can 
be from mild learning disabilities to severe mental retardation, to physical disabilities, terminal illness, and/or food allergies, to name a few.

Let’s get to know, love and serve all children, especially our extra-special preschoolers. They are special to us and even more so to Jesus! Let’s get to know their diverse abilities, basic needs, and challenges so we can serve them better.
 Let’s show them love through our godly attitude and actions. Finally, may we serve them through accommodating and modifying our activities to reach and include them as well as communicate and involve their parents. So what does it mean to enfold all preschoolers into your Awana ministry? Let’s find out…

To explore this topic together, we’ll break this down into three sections: Know, Love, and Serve.

We have focused on “Know,” and dived deeper into understanding various types of limitations children can face, and examples of ways to adapt circumstances to better support them. We also focused on “Love“, and how our attitude, preparation, and learning environment can support children with special needs.

This time we’ll focus on “Serve.”

Serve — make child’s needs a priority.

The goal is to give practical, easy to implement, and low-cost ideas for activities throughout 
the club meeting to help accommodate for preschoolers with special needs. Use the learning style they thrive in to teach them so that they can flourish. When working with preschoolers, practice and perseverance are keys to success.

Use multi-sensory learning strategies throughout your club meeting. Cubbies lessons naturally lend themselves to using all the senses to maximize learning. Strategies shared will help all preschoolers but are particularly important for our specially-designed little ones.  Ask yourself, “How can I make this work for this individual child?” Your answer will lead you to what to do.

Set your expectations high, focusing on what the child can do. Stand back and be amazed at what they accomplish. Here are some ideas to start your thinking, broken down by segments of a club night.

Coming In, Handbook Time And Going Home 

• While working on their craft or activity page, difficulties with fine motor skills could impact their ability to successfully complete the activity. Be alert to problems with their fingers, wrists or hands. 
Be patient and give lots of practice, repetition and encouragement.
• Play dough and lacing activities are common ones we do to help develop fine motor skills. Below are some additional ones to try
• Children may not be able to hold crayons 
or markers. Consider wrapping a foam layer around the crayon or marker. This will allow the child to grasp the crayon better. You can also use practice golf balls — the ones that
are plastic and have holes. Place the drawing instrument all the way through two holes in the ball. This allows the child to grasp the ball to color or draw or write.
• Give them activities like tearing or cutting paper, introducing different textures, thicknesses and colors of paper. They can then glue their torn/cut paper to a coloring or activity sheet. This may be easier than holding a crayon and coloring.
• Draw thick black lines around various shapes to cut out. Allow the child to tear along the dark black lines. Then the child can glue the shapes to another piece of paper to make or fill in a coloring page.
• While the child is waiting for a turn to recite the verse, allow him or her to play a matching game. Collect various sizes and colors of plastic lids and containers. Encourage the child to match the lids by color or size; they also could try to put them on the correct container. If desired, put pictures or stickers that relate to the lesson on the containers.
• Write a number from one to five on various index cards in large, bold print. Have various items in a box. Allow the child to count out the correct number of items and place them on the corresponding index card. For example, in a lesson on God made water animals include 
a series of play plastic frogs, fish, and turtles. The child would pick the correct number 
of the animal and place the animals on the corresponding index card.
• When you do any lessons involving water (creation of water animals, Noah and the ark, Jesus and the disciples on the Sea of Galilee, etc.), consider bringing in a variety of sponges and a small tub. Fill the tub partially with water and allow the children to soak up and squeeze out the water from the sponges. The sponge will 
fill up depending on the amount of water you place in the tub, so do not use a lot. You may also bring in small spray bottles that they can use to mist water onto paper.
• Allow a child to use gestures, sign language, 
a picture board, book, or any appropriate electronic technology to say the verse if needed.
• Use hand-over-hand method (where leader places their hand on a child’s hand to guide them through a task) rather than doing a task for them.
• Make a touch and feel box. Place items of various sizes, textures, and shapes inside that have to do with the unit, lesson or verse. Allow each child to put his or her hand into the box hole to feel the items inside. Let children guess what they are feeling.
• Consider painting with different kinds of brushes and objects. Some objects are vegetables,
 fruits, and kitchen utensils. You could also paint with plastic animals when learning about God creating the animals. What fun to make animal footprints on paper. Try to choose an object that goes with the lesson. Use textured glue or paint. This is good
 for the visually impaired because they can feel the contours of the raised paint or glue when it dries.
• Do a self-contained sensory scavenger hunt. Hide objects related to the lesson in a tub of colored plastic balls or small ball pit. Choose objects that are age-appropriate and safe. Consider having a picture card with each hidden object on it. Set picture cards near the tub. A child can choose a card and then look for the object in the tub or find an object in the tub and then find the matching card.
• Have a wide variety of toys for dramatic play like dolls, a playhouse, kitchen setting with toy food and utensils and large motor equipment like boxes and tunnels. Set up learning centers or stations for each unit.
• Do you need to make some curriculum modifications to allow every child to participate and if so, what? Remember there is now a shorter and longer version of the verse. Allow the parent to choose which one the child will do. It is important for the parent to see their child making progress.

Lesson Time

• Sensory integration issues may cause a child to avoid Lesson Time. In most clubs, children sit together
 on the floor in front of the leader. Some children with sensory issues are afraid someone might touch them. From past negative experiences, they expect the touch will hurt so they avoid times where they could be touched, whether during Lesson Time or other times during the club meeting.
• Allow them to participate in a way that appeals to them, such as waving a piece of ribbon to the music or running it through their hands during Lesson Time
• Music encourages coordinated movement, which helps strengthen those who are weak in this area. Use simple lyrics and familiar tunes. Consider doing songs with motions to help those with gross motor deficits. See your teaching plans for song ideas and motions.
• Allow an object to be held by a child who has sensory or attention issues. This will help keep them engaged while lessening the effect of distractions.
• Designate a space and encourage these children to be in the room even if they are not sitting with the group.
• Define “their” space with painter’s tape or carpet squares. This is especially helpful for those who need visual assistance and/or those who have trouble with body awareness.
• Explore various interactive Bible apps for the iPad. The children can touch the water and hear and see it splash on the shore, can add colors to the rainbow, and
so forth. If your group is small enough, you may allow each child to touch the screen and interact with the lesson. If your group is too large, consider having this available during Handbook Time. After the child completes their verse they may have a turn.
• Use repetition in your teaching. The teaching plans already include Total Time Teaching, which builds in the repetition of the main lesson themes in each segment of club.
• Use a child’s sense of touch (tactile) and movement (kinesthetic). Use 3D manipulatives as much as possible. Make your commands interactive; tell Cubbies to point to something with you or tell them to say it with you.

Play Time 

• Beanbags are great for throwing and catching. They are especially good for children who cannot run or walk but are confined to a wheelchair.
• For children with special needs it is very helpful to do something concrete as it helps them in their processing and understanding. By adding sound and movement along with the words it will improve their processing. Adding a picture of the animal would help even more.
• Obstacle courses are suggested in some of the Cubbies lessons and doing this activity can help strengthen large (gross) muscles.
• Maybe use scooter boards on occasion, which allow a child with spina bifida to participate in a way they normally could not. Let a child lie on the board on his stomach and propel himself across the room with his arms. All children enjoy this but children with spina bifida have strong arms and love joining in the fun! Be diligent and intentional, focusing on safety in your use of them. Only have a couple of children go at a time.
• Build a mountain out of various size pillows and cover it with sheets. Allow children to climb up and over the mountain. This also helps develop balance.
• Play Cubbie Says (which is like Simon Says, but the Cubbie Bear puppet is used as Simon). Cubbies use their sense of touch and learn to listen to directions.

Snack Time

• Be aware of any food allergies.
• Be aware of any child who may have choking problems. Make sure the snacks are age appropriate. Snack time could pose a problem if a child’s lips or swallowing is affected. Be diligent during this time and versed in what to do if a problem arises.
• Define each child’s space using placemats. This helps to give children a visual border of what is theirs.

Last Thoughts

Discuss with the parents the best ways to support their child. Be proactive, remembering parents are the expert on their child. Engage them early and often, building a relationship with them. Know the areas where their child will need extra help and support. Adjust (adapt) to the needs of the individual family and child. Serve the child and serve the family. If the child has physical challenges, develop a plan, be trained and follow it. Walk through the plan with the parent to make sure it is OK to use it.

Keep in mind that a preschooler with special needs is still only a child and wants to do the things that all the children are doing. Do you see the disability or the child? Let’s refocus our vision on the child. Learn to focus on what the child can do, not on what he cannot do. Remember to stay focused on God’s sovereign will and all-sufficient grace rather than on the child’s limitations. Put forth the effort to do something special for them.

Remember Our Motivation

Let’s get to know, love and serve these extra-special preschoolers God sends our way so that one day they can know, love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ!

Interested in this topic? Read the rest of the series!

Part 1 and Part 2