Book Reviews on Special Needs
and Disability Topics

Publisher: FUTURE HORIZONS, INC.
www.FHautism.com

March 2011

Review by Special Needs Almanac

The Child With Autism Learns About Faith,
Kathy Labosh
Publisher website: www.FHautism.com

It can be difficult to talk about God and faith with children who have autism. People with autism are highly logical. Things are concrete, not abstract, for them. Finding a way to explain a thing that you cannot draw a picture of, cannot reach out and touch, cannot pick up or measure or weigh can be difficult.

Presented from the Judeo-Christian perspective, The Child with Autism learns About Faith contains 15 prepared scripture lessons from the Garden of Eden to the parting of the Red Sea. The book is certified by the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur to be free of doctrinal or moral errer.

When on vacation years ago, the author and her family were escorted out of a cathedral by an usher when her son, Sam, began babbling during the service. Not to a cry room, but outside the building, and the heavy wooden doors were shut behind them. Many people with special needs children have experienced similar heartbreaking rejection by their church, cathedral or synagogue.

It is the height of hypocrisy to teach people to love one another, and then refuse to allow people with disabilities in your house of worship.

People with special needs children are in as much need of church or temple as anyone else – perhaps more so. When they reach out to a church or temple and are turned away, they feel isolated and abandoned. Some people have told this reviewer they even felt that God had turned away from them.

In this much-needed book, Labosh first educates the religious community about autism. You can’t begin to teach someone with autism if you don’t know anything about it. She then explains how to set up the religious education classroom to accommodate the needs of the child and make the experience better for all concerned. This is an excellent opportunity for the religious educator to teach the typical children many important lessons as well.

She explains which materials work best for children with autism, and how to structure a class. Labosh explains things that can cause sensory or other difficulties for children with ASD, so the teachers can avoid foreseeable triggers.

The 15 scripture lessons, beginning with creation and continuing through Passover and the Red Sea, have been warmly endorsed and applauded by the Jewish and Christian communities.

The author, Kathy Labosh, has developed groundbreaking techniques for making religious education work for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She teaches the clergy and parishioners about ASD and how to bring their faith to people with ASD. She has two children, both of whom have autism. Labosh is the award-winning author of several books, and is a frequent speaker on the topic of autism.

Highly recommended.

Five stars out of five.

Reviewer:
Special Needs Almanac
The Source for Special Needs
www.SpecialNeedsAlmanac.com

Copyright 2011 SpecialNeedsAlmanac.com All rights reserved.

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