Children with disabilities often need many repetitions of a Bible story to truly understand it. At the same time, volunteers and buddies may know how to connect and relate to children with disabilities but struggle with the actual teaching. Adapted Bible books are created for children with disabilities AND the people who work with them. In this article, we will talk about adapted books for children’s ministry.
What are adapted books?
For children with moderate-to-severe disabilities, The Bible can be full of unfamiliar and hard-to-understand language. (Well, that can be true for everyone.) Adapted books use language that children with disabilities can understand along with pictures and visuals of both familiar and unfamiliar words.
The goals of adapted books are:
- To give children with moderate-to-severe disabilities a way to participate in Bible lessons with resources that are engaging and not overwhelming
- To give adults/buddies ways to teach The Bible to children with moderate-to-severe disabilities
- To give busy Children’s Ministry Leaders resources to teach all children
How do I use the adapted books?
The adapted books come as downloads. Assemble them using the written and picture instructions.
In Sunday School, VBS, or other church events, present the lesson from The Bible and then reinforce page-by-page. For example, for Days of Creation, talk about how God blessed the seventh day and called it holy. Then, read the adapted book – On Day 7, God rested. He blessed Day 7 and called it holy. That gets in repetitions of the concept so that children understand better.
Then, encourage the child to find the number 7 and move it from the right page to the square on the left. This action gets in motor skills AND keeps eyes and hands busy on topic with the lesson. Adapted books won’t decrease all unwanted behavior, but they can help to direct children to the activity.
Want to try adapted books for free to see if they are appropriate for the children in your ministry?
Download Jesus Heals A Woman and A Girl for free. Just click here.
We have 48 adapted Bible books to help you teach children with disabilities. Click here to see the list. And if you need even more resources, check out our playdough mats, visual schedules and more. Click here.
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