Faces of Children with Special Needs

Children with special needs. We all have them in our Sunday school classes. Some make us laugh, some frustrate us and some we have a hard time understanding their behavior.  Most of us are familiar with  Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and/or autism but are unaware of other behavioral or developmental disorders that affect the children in our Sunday school classes. When we have a better understanding why a child behaves in a particular we can create our lessons in a way that is meaningful for them and be better able to managing their behaviors in a constructive way.

Every year children are diagnosed with many different behavioral, developmental or mental illness each year. For some children, they will  receive a dual diagnosis. According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), 13.1% of children ages 8-15, had a diagnosable disorder the previous year. Below are some of the statistics from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), NIMH, National Alliance  on Mental Illness (NAMI) and National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) for your reference. 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder 8.6%  (1)

Oppositional Defiance Disorder 1-6%  (3)

Mood Disorders 3.7%  (1)

Intellectual Delays  1-3% (7)

Major Depression 2.7%  (1)

Conduct Disorder 2.1%  (1)

Obsessive  Compulsive Disorder  (5) 

Dysthymia 1.0%  (1)

Anxiety Disorders 0.7%  (1)

Panic Disorders 0.4%  (1)

Generalized Anxiety Disorder  0.3% (1)

Eating Disorders  0.1% (1)

Autism Spectrum Disorder 2-6 children per 1000 live births  (5)

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder  .2-1.5 children per 1000 live births

Learning Disabilities  2.5 million students, making up 42% of students with disabilities  (4)

Tourette Syndrome  200,000 are known in the United States, but often go undiagnosed  (6) 

 Over the next several weeks I will be writing on these different diagnoses, how it effects child, what their behavior might look like and how it effects the rest of the child’s family. In addition I will include some of the techniques and tools that I have found successful in classes that I have taught over the years.

1. National Institute of Mental Health

2. Center for Disease Control

3. American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

4. National Center for Learning Disabilities

5. National Alliance for Mental Illness

6. Tourette Syndrome Association

7. The Arc